Current Design Projects
Expecting more from housing developments; can we adapt house types to fit in end of row and corner locations?
Building for Life Assessors Network and 1st meeting
Saltholme RSPB reserve
17th June 2010 and ongoing
Following on from the Building for Life (BfL) Assessors training last December, Northern Architecture has been commissioned by CABE to co-ordinate a BfL assessors network for the North East. Two meetings are planned for 2010, the first of which was linked to a North East Festival of Architecture event at Saltholme RSPB at 17th June. BfL is the nationally recognised standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods. The standard brings together twenty criteria against which housing developments are being assessed. For more information visit www.buildingforlife.org. There are 19 trained assessors in the North East region, representing 12 local authorities. Prior to the June meeting, they were all invited to respond to an on-line survey, organised by CABE. The survey results gave us an insight into highs and lows in workload, responsibilities and opportunities across the group, as well as an evaluation of future support and training needs.
The aim of the first network meeting was primarily to discover how assessors have utilised the BfL training over the last six months, broaden the understanding of opportunities where BfL knowledge can be applied, and build confidence in future informal application of BfL criteria as well as formal assessments.
A presentation of the survey findings gave a framework for discussions on the subject of raising the quality of residential developments in the North East. The group felt that planning permission is still given to schemes that score/ would score low against the BfL criteria. Proposals are not always brought to assessors at a pre-application stage. There was also some optimism in the group as planning policy documents are currently being drawn up across the region with Building for Life Criteria content.
The plan for the next BfL Assessors Network meeting will take place in the autumn. We are planning to undertake site assessments of completed developments to highlight the issues most difficult to score in desktop studies.
For more information about Building for Life Assessors Network please contact Astrid Lund on 0191 260 2191. Or email astrid@northernarchitecture.com
Members Urban Design Training
Gateshead
Spring 2010
Northern Architecture have completed a series of Urban Design training sessions for Gateshead Council's Elected Members.
With support from Newcastle University we worked with Georgia Giannopoulou, Degree Programme Director for the MA in Urban Design to deliver sessions on Urban Design basics and the design of residential developments. The third session on the economics of development was delivered by Economist, Aidan Oswell. We were delighted with the enthusiasm we were met with from members who engaged in lively debate and gave us some great feedback on how valuable the sessions had been.
Following the training we created an Urban Design blog for members to use, which summarises the content of the sessions and signposts to further resources and information as well as providing a forum for members to continue to share their thoughts, discussions and debates. An evaluation report has also been produced, please contact us if you would be interested in reading this.
For more information on any aspect of training sessions from Northern Architecture please contact Astrid Lund or Lowri Bond on 0191 260 2191. Or email astrid@northernarchitecture.com or lowri@northernarchitecture.com
Group work on plans of the site
Building in Context TOOLKIT training for North Tyneside Council
North Shields
26th March 2010
Commissioned by North Tyneside Council as the first in a series of events to promote design awareness within the authority, the CABE and English Heritage funded Building in Context TOOLKIT was brought to life through a session held in North Shields in March 2010. Attended by 24 employees from Planning, Development Control and Highways departments and two Councillors from the Council’s Cabinet, the event introduced the principles of the Building in Context philosophy in the setting of a real life example, and also considered the bigger ‘context’ of that kind of development as a whole. Using presentations, a site visit and workshops, the session focussed on the challenges of producing a high standard of design when developments take place in historically sensitive contexts.
The GRADs at work
G.R.A.D Graduate Retention and Development
Plus 3 Architecture & Northern Architecture
From March 2010
Northern Architecture in partnership with Plus 3 Architecture and with support from Newcastle and Northumbria universities has recently launched the GRAD project with the aim of assisting recent architecture graduates who find themselves un- or under-employed. The project enables the GRADs to continue to gain relevant experience, work with their peers and develop their management and other core skills. In addition, the project aims to retain creative, qualified graduates within the region and give them opportunities to engage with the development opportunities in the local area.
A guide to delivering Age Friendly Communities.
North
January 2010
In September last year Northern Architecture were commissioned by the Northern Housing Consortium to work with a group of Tyneside residence on a series of workshops to investigate how the design of our neighbourhoods could be improved to better reflect the needs of older people (click here to read the news item at the time). Northern Housing Consortium have now produced a document summarising the results of this and other research they've undertaken, offering a guide to delivering age friendly communities . Click here to go to the Northern Housing Consortium site and to download the guide.
Kielder Observatory
Hadrian Award Winners 2009
North East and Cumbria regions
December 2009
Six scheme were awarded Hadrian Awards and three schemes Hadrian Award Commendations in 2009.
Click on View More to find out more.
The Hadrian Awards - Celebrating and Promoting Excellence in Architecture and Design in the North East of England and Cumbria
The Hadrian Awards are the principal awards scheme for architecture and design in the North of England; they celebrate and promote the best in architecture and the design of the built environment in the North of England. Go to www.hadrianawards.com to see all the past winning Hadrian Awards scheme, a directory of good design for the region.
Building for Life assessor training
Northern Architecture is working with CABE to facilitate a Building for Life assessor training session in December 2009.
Whalton Church of England First School, Darbyshire Architects, winner 2001
Regional case-studies of good architecture and design
From all over the North East and Cumbria
2001 - now
If you are looking for good examples of houses, offices, conversions, public buildings, schools and other types of buildings or projects in the North East and Cumbria, then start with www.hadrianawards.com. The on-line directory for the Hadrian Awards has just been updated with images and information about all 31 award-winning and commended schemes from 2001 to 2007. The directory carries text describing the brief behind the project, the architect’s response, the scheme cost and design team details, as well as images and (for more recent schemes) plans and the jury’s view of the scheme. The schemes can be searched by location, type, architect, value, or date. For each of the 7 award-winning schemes for 2007 a specially commissioned short film takes you through each building and gives you the views of its users.
The Place, Sunniside, Sunderland (Reid, Jubb, Brown Architects, Kathryn Hodgkinson artist)
Good Design in Old Places
The Place, Sunderland
25 February 2009
Officers and councillors from local authorities across the North East will descend on Sunderland in February to look at how new ‘contemporary’ architecture can not only sit successfully alongside historic buildings, but also enhance whole areas that already have their own distinctive historic value.
Designing for Life – the region speaks on sustainability
The North East
October 2008
Northern Architecture have published a major document that presents a 10-point action plan on sustainability in the North East; the plan is the collective view of a substantial cross-section of people in the North East as their response to the major challenges of creating sustainable developments in the region.
Designing for Life – a sustainable development directory for the North East
The North East
October 2008
As an addition to ‘Sustainability in North East England – a view of our responsibility’ (the publication described above) Northern Architecture has published a directory listing existing organisations that already have some involvement in the North East in one or more of the spheres of sustainable development discussed in the main document. The directory therefore gives a regional picture of the context in which the recommendations in this document should be seen as taking place.
People, places, architecture
Architecture, regionalism and the North East - Professor Steven Moore's reflections on the North East arising out of his visit to Northern Architecture as an 'Inspiring Internationalist'.
Design Awards – costs and benefits
Design Awards are a good way of showing your commitment to good design, and finding examples of good design in your area to support, celebrate and point to. Northern Architecture and the North of England Civic Trust have just published a new case study about the costs and benefits of local authorities running awards schemes as part of their work for the local authority Design and Historic Environment Champions in the North East.
What Might an Age Friendly Community Look Like in the Year 2020?
Northern Housing Consortium has invited Northern Architecture to get involved in their major, cross-disciplinary project with a central theme of inclusive design and you can get involved too.
