We are privileged to contribute to thoughts on Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh as part of the Ross Pavilion competition. You can view the shortlisted entries at the free exhibition in Edinburgh’s City Arts Centre until 30th July. See the full shortlisting here
Princes Street Gardens
We are delighted to say that our Creative Hub project for Edinburgh Printmakers started on site this week at Castle Mill Works in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. The building was previously home to the North British Rubber Company Headquarters and was once the city’s largest industrial operation. We look forward to working with Interserve Construction Ltd. in bringing this important listed building back to life and creating a new world class centre for printmaking and the creative industries.
Edinburgh Printmakers Interior
On Thursday 18th May our colleague Natalia Burakowska presented our work on the fire damaged Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art to the Friends of the Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr.
David Page and Natalia Burakowska spoke on Thursday night at The University of Edinburgh's Public Conservation Masterclass . Their theme lead by Natalia revolved around the restoration of the Glasgow School of Art library, with a contextual presentation by David to introduce the issues and to finish, some speculations on ideas behind the original project.
Recently our practice, Page\Park, curated a Pecha Kucha event on the theme of 'cultural architecture'. The event was organised by the arts organisation Taktal and held at the Whisky Bond, a studio complex in the Speirs Wharf area of Glasgow. We invited eight arts organisations and architects to present their thoughts on this broad subject in relation to their own work. These organisations represent a broad spectrum of the arts in Scotland, in the interest of hearing diverse views on the subject and the possibility of finding common ground within this wide theme.
Karen Nugent of Page\Park
The RICS Awards Scotland held their annual awards ceremony on Wed 26th April where our Kelvin Hall Refurbishment was awarded “Project of the Year”. The project was also award winner in the “Tourism & Leisure” category. The judges commented “The Kelvin Hall stood out for its scale, complexity, mix of uses, diverse community outreach and inclusivity. The co-location of state-of-the-art facilities for leisure, culture and learning has opened a new chapter in the history of the Kelvin Hall and has delivered a long-term viable future for an important piece of Glasgow’s architectural and cultural heritage.”
RICS Award - Kelvin Hall
We are very excited that our Kelvin Hall Refurbishment project has been shortlisted alongside 7 other projects in the Building of the Year category in the Architects’ Journal AJ100 Awards. The recently completed Kelvin Hall refurbishment transformed the former Glasgow Transport Museum, and a portion of the historic former Kelvin Hall Arena, into a new hub for sport, research, learning and archival storage. The winning project will be announced on 14th June at a gala dinner at The Tower of London.
We are delighted that the National Library of Scotland's new centre at Kelvin Hall has won an Innovation Award for outstanding library projects. Organised by Edinburgh City Libraries, the EDGE Awards recognise excellence in library-based initiatives across the UK.
The Avenue
Three of our recently completed projects have been shortlisted for the 2017 Scottish Design Awards. These include Kelvin Hall in the Lesiure/Culture Building category, the Spens Building for Fettes College in the Education category and Linburn Estate for Scottish War Blinded in the Affordable Housing category. We are delighted that the projects have been shortlisted and look forward to the awards ceremony on Thursday 25th May where each of the category winners will be announced.
Spens Building
Kelvin Hall
Linburn Phase 2
Page \ Park are thrilled to be shortlisted for the international design competition for the Ross Pavilion. For this unique and exciting opportunity we have teamed up with Rotterdam based West 8 landscape architects and global engineering firm BuroHappold to create a team of local, national and international practitioners.
As award season continues we are pleased that our recently completed project for Fettes College, The Spens Building has been shortlisted for an Edinburgh Architectural Association award in the Large Project category. The teaching building forms part of the Fettes College masterplan and sits adjacent to the Category A listed Bryce building. The awards results will be announced at a celebratory drinks event at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation on Wednesday 19th April 2017 from 6pm-9pm. A full list of the shortlisted projects can be found here .
The Spens Building
We are pleased to be supporting The University of Strathclyde Year 5 architecture students in their P'17 exhibition on 30th & 31st March, at the InCube Business Base. They will be showcasing a diverse range of architectural proposals for Pailsey. For more information please see the Studio Earth website.
P'17 Exhibition
We are delighted that three of our projects are shortlisted for the RICS Awards for 2017. St Columbkilles RC Church Refurbishment in the Building Conservation Category, Kelvin Hall in the Tourism and Leisure sector and Campus Future’s Project at Glasgow Caledonian University. The awards will be announced on the 27th April at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh.
St. Columbkilles Parish Church
Kelvin Hall
We are delighted that our Kelvin Hall project won the judges Award of Merit at the Scottish Property Awards.
Kelvin Hall Award of Merit
Friends of the Broadway Prestwick, a voluntary group dedicated to restoring the disused Broadway Cinema in Prestwick, have appointed award winning Architects Page \ Park to conduct a feasibility study. The group recently received a £15,000 grant from the Scottish Government’s Activating Ideas fund, and the appointment follows a highly competitive selection process in which a number of firms submitted excellent bids.
Our Director, Karen Pickering was filming last week with the BBC as part of a feature in a programme about Greek Thomson, talking about our redevelopment of the CCA and the Grecian Cambers.
Filming at the CCA
After several years in the making, our design for Phase 1C of the Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area will start on site this week. Over the next 18 months we will watch these 55 new flats take shape under the stewardship of New Gorbals Housing Association, the latest instalment of their long campaign to carefully regenerate the wider Gorbals area. This will be a significant development for the southern edge of Laurieston, rising to 7 stories on the corner of Cumberland Street and Eglinton Street and defining the threshold of the district. Watch this space for further updates.
Brick Elevation of Phase 1C
The Hawkhead Centre, a new day centre for our client Scottish War Blinded in Paisley, has been on-site for 8 months and is now wind and watertight. The curved roof, the shape of which was inspired by the placename ‘Hawkhead’ which prompted us to look at the shape of a hawk’s wing, is now complete and forms a striking canopy to the spaces inside. Much of the glazing has been installed and is forming framed vignettes of the landscape and the mature birch, maple, sycamore and scots pine trees that encircle the site. Now that the exterior of the building is almost complete, save for the larch jacket that will protect it from the elements, the focus has shifted to the interior and constructing a comfortable and stimulating environment for Scottish War Blinded to continue their excellent work.
Zinc Roof
West Elevation
We would like to extend our congratulations to our Director Karen Pickering who has recently been awarded her RIAS Conservation Accreditation.
RIAS Conservation Accreditation
Our project for Edinburgh Printmakers to transform the Category C listed former North British Rubber Company headquarters in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh into a new Printmaking Studio and Creative Hub has reached an important project milestone with tender documents issued just before Christmas. The building, set to open in 2019, will include an outstanding printmaking studio, two new admission-free galleries, an archive of prints never before seen by the public, a Creative Industries hub and a learning studio for people of all ages. Our client has been working tirelessly over the past six years fundraising for this ambitious Capital Project. They have raised an incredible £10m and are looking for donors to help raise the last £1m. To find out more about how to donate follow the link and you could see your name on one of the iconic industrial columns in the heart of the printmaking studio!
Impression of new printmaking studio
We have recently completed Phase 2 of a major refurbishment of St. Columbkilles Parish Church. A Celebration Mass will be held on Sunday 18th December 2016 in thanksgiving for the re-opening. With the Right Reverend Joseph A Toal, STB KCHS, Bishop of Motherwell as the main celebrant for the official opening.
St. Columbkilles Parish Church
St. Columbkilles Parish Church
Karen Pickering will be speaking at the Employee Owned Business Conference 2016, next week in Birmingham, focusing on our business model and how it is centred around employee engagement.
Karen Pickering will be representing the office in a debate at the Scotland Build Expo at the SECC on the 24th November, entitled Designing Scotland’s Future Landscape.
A number of our colleagues attended the annual Glasgow Institute of Architects Design Awards on Friday 4th November At Oran Mor. We were thrilled that our Saunders Centre for Glasgow Academy and Westwater Building for Dollar Academy both won a design award in the Education category. The Westwater Building also won the Wood for Good award for its excellent use of timber throughout the project. Four of our colleagues also won an award in the Small Works category for their pavilion at Monachyle Mhor in association with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
We are so delighted to have won the Andrew Doolan Award for 2016 with our new Saunders Centre for Glasgow Academy. Andrew Doolan reinvented the role of the architect as designer and maker in the 1980s and 90s. In a series of seminal projects in Glasgow Merchant City and the Heart of Edinburgh he and his partners lifted the spirits of the development and design community to new heights. Key to his thinking, was always to question the society which could use the buildings, the gusto in which these forms could be expressed and the sheer energy that can come out of a mixture of clever design and value for money.
The Saunders Centre
On the 2nd November, Karen Pickering joined a debate regarding the Glasgow Skyline, organised by The Glasgow City Heritage Trust , which took place in Cottiers Theatre.
Our new Junior School project with Worksop College has been granted Planning Consent by Bassetlaw District Council. The project continues our continuing involvement with the College, after completion of the boys’ boarding house last year. Gavin Horgan, Headmaster, said:
Worksop College Junior School
On the 26th October we celebrated the completion of the re-development of the Kelvin Hall. We were joined by friends and supporters of the practice, as well as the representatives from the client, design team and contractor for the project. Alex McLean and Bob Peck, from Glasgow Life , both said a few words about the delivery of the project and its success on being opened to the public. A great time was had by all.
Kelvin Hall Foyer
Vote of thanks
We are pleased to have five projects shortlisted across four categories in the 2016 Glasgow Institute of Architects Awards. The projects shortlisted are The Westwater Building at Dollar Academy and The Saunders Centre at The Glasgow Academy in the Education category; Linburn Sports Hall and Housing for Scottish War Blinded in the Leisure/Arts category; The Lyell Centre at Heriot Watt University in the Office category and Parkview for Whiteburn Projects in the Residential Category. The Award winners will be announced at the 2016 Members Dinner at Oran Mor in Glasgow on 4th November.
As part of our continuing dissemination of what we are learning as we undertake research and project work on Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building, Brian Park will represent the practice at this week’s seminar in Inverness. “The Burning Question – Conservation or Restoration” has been arranged by a consortium of organisations under the Highlands and Islands Traditional Building Forum and will draw on research on fire damaged buildings as well as dealing with the protection of our heritage from fire. Brian will partner with Sarah Mackinnon of Glasgow School of Art in presenting the approach being taken and the lessons learned following the 2014 fire at The Mack.
This Saturday 24th September our clients Edinburgh Printmakers are opening the doors to their Union Street premises as part of the Edinburgh Doors Open Day. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about what the Printmakers do and the interesting history of their existing premises.
On Wednesday 14th September we dusted off our old bikes, added a bit sparkle to our new ones and even gave Glasgow’s public bike sharing service a go, all in aid of national Cycle to Work Day. Cycle to Work Day is promoted by Cyclescheme who we use as our provider for the Cycle to Work Scheme, supported by the Government’s Green Transport Plan.
We were pleased to participate in Cake Fest Scotland 2016 following our prize winning bake at GIA’s Edible Architecture 2015. This year we were representing Maggie's Centres baking an interpretation of our award winning Maggie’s Highlands Inverness, completed in 2006. Cake Fest Scotland, organised as part of Festival of Architecture 2016 and sponsored by Stirling Council, was a great opportunity to witness the creative energy of the professional and amateur bakers of Scotland as part of the Year of Design, Architecture and Innovation. All of the baked goods were arranged on a beautifully crafted map of Scotland. Our Maggie's Highlands cake – a mint chocolate chip building combined with matcha landscaped mounds were nestled into the surrounding seeds and oatcakes of the broader map. We had a huge amount of fun participating and look forward to honing our skills at future architecture related baking events!
Having worked on the project for four years we are thrilled to see the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow's west end re-open to the public. On 22nd August 2016 the doors were opened to the facility which houses a wealth of facilities including Glasgow Life sports halls, gym and fitness suites, teaching facilities along with archival storage and research facilities for Glasgow Museums, The Hunterian and National Libraries of Scotland’s Scottish Screen Archive.
Entrance Foyer
We're pleased to share site progress photos from the Hawkhead Centre for the Scottish War Blinded where the form is beginning to taking shape. The complex steel frame is now complete giving a great flavour for the form of the building. The roof form is composed of an elegant wing-like sweep with roof lights detailed to appear like feathers lifting in the wind. We look forward to sharing more updates from site soon!
Steel frame of the Hawkhead Centre
David Page joined the Festival of Politics debate entitled 'Power to the People' focused on community involvement in shaping the environment. The event, held at the Scottish Parliament on Friday afternoon was chaired by the Chief Architect for Scotland Ian Gilzean. The panel of participants joining David Page included Fiona Welch from Collective Architecture, Graham Hogg from Lateral North design agency and Sue John from the Glasgow Women’s Library. The debate explored the evolution of a participatory architectural movement across many strands of the economic, social and political spectrum. From calls for monetising the value of voluntary effort, recognising the potential of ‘sweat equity’, grabbing with all hands the latent potential of digital democracy, energising connectivity and seeding initiatives; a veritable galaxy of experience emerged that could be a platform for a unique Scottish perspective of enabled communities. A multi stranded view emerged in the opened up discussion ranging from a sense that the panel presented a naïve optimism (a Glasgow trait of the origins of the speakers), to a sense that Scotland has pioneered the roots of participatory shaping of the environment from Patrick Geddes on, a legacy which creates a foundation to build on and overcome the dissapointments felt by some.
Our 28 unit housing project for Loretto Housing Association at Edgefauld Place, Springburn has just received planning consent. The design is close to our project at Barclay Street, currently on site, and explores similar ideas of ‘courtyard barns’ centred on a shared space terminating Broomfield Road. Construction is expected to start from October 2016.
Today The Rockfield Centre in Oban is opening its doors again as it hosts ‘Prospect North’- the Scottish contribution from the Venice Architecture Biennale . Oban Communities Trust saved the large Victorian school building from demolition just over a year ago, after it had been lying derelict for several years. Over the past few months we have been developing a vision for how the building could be brought to life again with exhibitions, events, enterprise work spaces, and community uses. Hosting the prestigious ‘Prospect North’ exhibition is the first small step in bringing the building back into full use. Alongside the headline exhibition we’ve installed our own exhibit: banners, visuals, and audio recordings, which will give the wider community a small taste of what is to come as the building is developed and re-inhabited.
We were pleased to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for our new day centre for Scottish War Blinded in Paisley, at which Richard Hellewell, chief executive of Royal Blind, and Mhairi Black, MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire South spoke about the project’s benefit to the local community and beyond.
Scottish War Blinded
Ground Breaking ceremony
It is approaching 3 years since we shared the news that we were transitioning from a Partnership to become an Employee Owned Business. This, at the time, was termed an ‘all change / no change’ move, as we aligned the way in which we worked with a legal structure of Employee Ownership.
Karen Pickering and Andrew Bateman
Page\Park team
Our new boys boarding house at Worksop College, Mason House, was officially opened on Saturday by David Griffiths. It was enlightening to get a tour from the new residents and see the building come to life. A great chance to celebrate with our colleagues from the design team, Synergy, EP Consulting and Ward Cole and the contractors Gelder Group.
Mason House Opening
We are excited to have been appointed to work with Leeds City Council on the landmark West Yorkshire Playhouse refurbishment project. We will be collaborating with theatre consultants Charcoalblue, Arup on structural and fire engineering, Max Fordham on services engineering and Sandy Brown Associates on acoustic design.
Our recently completed Parkview Housing project for Whiteburn Developments was awarded Small Housing Development of the Year at the Scottish Home Awards 2016 last night. The project involved the conversion of a category B listed former girls reform school in the west end of Dundee into 29 residential units which take advantage of the spectacular outlook to the Firth of Tay. A series of new build flats and mews houses have also been constructed to the east of the former school, designed to echo the scale and stepped language of the historic building. The stepped form minimises the impact of the new development on the site and enabled the existing mature trees to remain undistrubed.
Parkview, Dundee
The Saunders Centre, recently completed at The Glasgow Academy, was awarded both an RIAS and RIBA award at the annual presentations and dinner held this year in Glasgow. The Glasgow Academy project was a product of contributions from a number of our specialist groups across the office. Starting with our early masterplan involvement through our City & Land team who then handed over to our Briefing team, before colleagues Sarah Jane Storrie, Marianne Keating and David Paton led the Architectural and Interior development through to delivery on site. This was then followed by the involvement of our Graphics group who developed an inspiring package of signage and murals that are featured throughout the interior.
Sarah Jane Storrie, RIAS Emerging Architect of the Year
Our McManus team members enjoyed a visit back to the building which was completed in 2010, to share insights into the design process with the McManus 168 Supporters Group . On Sunday 12th June Karen Nugent, Project Architect for the environmental works, and Justin Fenton Project Architect for the building works, gave a talk at The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum . Karen discussed our design for the environmental improvement works undertaken to the Albert Square setting, sharing how these proposals developed from the competition winning entry in 2002 through to delivery on site. Justin followed on to outline the development history of the building project sharing our approach to both the conservation works and the new interventions within the historic building to allow it to meet the needs of the client brief and to be fully accessible to the public. It was great to re-visit the project and Karen and Justin enjoyed the opportunity to share insights into the design process with the enthusiastic McManus 168 group.
The 2016 AJ100 list of the largest architectural practices in the UK was announced on 8th June. We were delighted to feature in the line up in this annual Architects' Journal organised survey which provides an insight into the performance of the profession across the UK. The list of top 100 practice's is based on the number of qualified architects employed. The full list, along with further information, is available here.
It is with great sadness that we heard that Stuart MacDonald has passed away. Stuart MacDonald as the first director of the Lighthouse, Centre for Architecture and Design in the City was instrumental in skilfully guiding the programme and management, through an at times challenging birth as an organisation. He maintained a focus on the power of design to shape our lives, through exhibitions, an energetic education programme, working with government bodies and building a broader community of support for design. He will be remembered for anchoring design as a significant contributor to our cultural wellbeing but crucially reinforcing its role in a healthy economy.
Unusually, one of our projects has been successful in the recent Kalzip Teamkal Conference and Awards Ceremony despite it not having reached completion on site! The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, due to be complete in autumn 2016, was awarded Best Kalzip Project over 1500m2 for the significant re-roofing works undertaken on the Category A-listed existing museum arena building. The project to transform this historic venue into a vibrant sports, cultural and storage facility is nearing completion. More information on the recent Kalzip award success can be found here.
Kelvin Hall roof
We were delighted to scoop two awards at the annual Scottish Design Awards held at the Radisson Hotel in Glasgow on 25th May 2016. Our recently completed Wastewater Building at Dollar Academy was winner in the Education Project category. This modest pavilion teaching building accommodates 10 new classrooms and nestles into it's site at the foot of the Ochil Hills. The judges commented that the proposal was ‘sensitive and mature, showing timeless elegance, concern and attention to detail’. We were thrilled to also picked up the award for Architectural Practice of the Year. A full list of shortlisted and award winning projects can be found here.
Sarah Jane Storrie and Marianne Keating collecting our awards. Image source: The Drum Scottish Design Awards 2016
As part of the Festival of Architecture 2016 the Leiper Gallery is hosting an exhibition celebrating the life and work of William Leiper. Page\Park are very pleased to have supported this initiative conceived by gallery owner Ewan Kennedy.
We are excited to see our vison for the Redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall taking shape. The project is now reaching the final phases of construction and due to open to the public autumn 2016. A number of exciting spaces and facilities fill the building – the new entrance forms a dramatic space overlooking the River Kelvin; the existing arched structure is used to create vast new sports halls and fitness studios; new archive and research facilities for the National Library of Scotland and The Hunterian have been formed in the area of the old Museum of Transport; all capped off with a dramatic new rooftop study centre for the University of Glasgow.
Entrance Foyer at Kelvin Hall
Our Head of Arts and Culture Nicola Walls last week attended the Theatre 2016 conference in London. Billed as the most important conference in a decade for 'anyone who cares about theatre', the delegates included theatre makers and management from across the UK - although there was a robust debate on social media about the ticket price excluding many theatre practitioners.
We are delighted that the High School of Dundee’s ambitious plans to redevelop the former GPO building into a Centre for the Performing and Visual Arts have recently received Planning and Listed Building Consents.
External View
Our Monday morning meeting featured a presentation on homelessness by Lorraine McGrath, CEO of the Simon Community in Glasgow. Lorraine’s heartfelt description of the plight of many young people in our community and the shocking statistics associated with their lives and early deaths will not be forgotten.
Our Redevelopment of St.Cecilia's Hall, Concert Hall and Museum of Musical Instruments for the University of Edinburgh, celebrated reaching it's highest point in the construction of a new entrance building with an acoustic recital of a 19th century contrabass serpent. The event marked by the construction team, University students, staff and project supporters was held on site with a unique recital performed by musician Tony George. The event offered an opportunity for the team to experience some of the world's finest musical instruments which will be on public display when the building re-opens in Spring 2017.
We are pleased that our Centre for the Scottish War Blinded, located Paisley, is to start on site in mid May 2016. This is the second centre we will have developed with the client, following on from the award winning centre we designed at Linburn, West Lothian, completed in 2012.
Exterior View
We are delighted to have two of our recently completed projects shortlisted for RIAS Awards 2016 namely the Saunders Centre at The Glasgow Academy and the recently opened Westwater building for Languages at Dollar Academy. By a curious coincidence our nomination for two of the RIAS awards this year is for two school buildings by Project Architects Sarah Jane Storrie and Marianne Keating. Both buildings were designed and detailed in tandem and share ideas about how a simple plan in each instance has been extruded into an architectural promenade.
The Saunders Centre at The Glasgow Academy
Westwater Building at Dollar Academy
Our recently completed languages teaching building at Dollar Academy was formally opened on Thursday 23rd March. Named the Westwater building after a former pupil who lost his life in the First World War at Galipoli, the building provides 10 light filled classrooms with south facing views over the hockey pitch quad. The building, naturally ventilated via chimneys and featuring the use of natural materials, nestles into its setting at the foot of the Ochil hills.
Westwater Building official opening
Building in Dollar Academy setting
Our colleague Karen Pickering was part of a expert panel involved in a discussion and debate, after the film premiere screening of ‘[Re] Imagining Glasgow’ at the GFT on Sunday. The event was sold out, with 400 people attending.
We would like to extend our congratulations to colleagues Nicole Davidson, Anthony Newman and Hugo Target who recently passed their Part 3 professional practice examination. A great result after a huge effort over the last year.
Will Hutton gave the Employee Ownership Association’s annual Robert Oakeshott Lecture at the Cass Business School on 11th February and called for more engaged ownership to bring value back into the UK economy.
Our recently completed ‘atrium’ project at the University of West of Scotland in Paisley was formally opened by the Princess Royal on Friday 12th February. The space – created from an external space surrounded by refurbished 1970’s buildings – provides a new focal main entrance for the University off Paisley's High Street, with reception, social learning and café facilities.
Our team member Karen Pickering was at the Scottish Parliament this week sharing our experience of business succession planning and Employee Ownership. Talking at the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, the discussion included representatives from Cooperative Development Scotland, John Lewis, Scott & Fyfe, The Wee Agency and Portpatrick Harbour with the meeting title of Work, Wages and Wellbeing. The purpose was to give evidence to MSP’s on the benefits of co-operatives and employee ownership, with the parliament looking at how policy can be used to encourage more Scottish businesses to follow these models. The meeting was recorded and can be watched in full here .
We are delighted to have two of our recently completed projects shortlisted in the RICS Awards 2016. The awards recognise "the most inspirational national initiatives and development in land, property, construction and the environment". Our Scottish Opera Theatre Royal project has been shortlisted in both the Community Benefits and Leisure and Tourism categories while our Laurieston Phase 1A project has been nominated in the Residential category. Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on Thursday 14 April 2016 in Edinburgh.
Gareth Hoskins was always an architect you watched out for. He was always pushing the boundaries of what could be built, challenging the status quo and promoting new ways of serving the public with great architecture. Without his pioneering work, particularly with the National Health Service, the opportunity for us all to contribute to the quality of our environments would be much diminished. His loss is Scotland’s loss, and it is with huge sadness we hear of his passing.
Our newly completed project for the Scottish War Blinded at Linburn was officially opened by the Duke of Buccleuch yesterday. The four houses and community sports building were finished last week and sit gracefully in the landscape next to our Linburn Centre which was completed 4 years ago. Our client and war blinded members were in attendance at the opening and are delighted to now be able to enjoy their new buildings which add to the now well established facility at Linburn. The official press release can be read here.
Duke of Buccleuch unveiling the new projects
The Centenary Hall
As a forerunner to a major exhibition during The Festival of Architecture 2016. The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland has published a list of “Scotland’s Top 100 Buildings”. This represents the best building from every year since 1916. We are delighted to see a number of our completed projects featured including the Italian Centre and its neighbour 178-180 Ingram Street, The Lighthouse, the National Museum of Rural Life, Maggie's Centre Inverness and Laurieston Transformational Area with Elder & Cannon Architects. The full list can be found here.
A number of our team were in attendance at the annual Glasgow Institute of Architects Design Awards on Friday 20th November at the Oran Mor in Glasgow. We were thrilled that our Theatre Royal and Laurieston Phase 1 projects both picked up awards. Our Scottish Opera Theatre Royal project was successful in the Leisure/Arts category and Laurieston Phase 1 in the Residential category.
Our Laurieston Phase 1 development features in the Architect's Journal this week in an article entitled 'The Gorbals Transformed'. The new housing, delivered in this first phase of the Transformational Area redevelopment as part of the wider regeneration of the Laurieston area, follows the traditional 'close' model of the city with the blocks extending the tenemental pattern re-established by the successful Crown Street masterplan delivered in the Gorbals. The AJ article can be read in full here.
Architect's Journal
Our congratulations go to our colleague Magdalena on obtaining her Masters degree in Preservation of Cultural Heritage from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland.
Magdalena obtaining her Masters Degree
Congratulations to Sutherland Hussey Harris on winning the Doolan Prize for their eloquent St Andrews project. Delighted too, on our own behalf that the New Gorbals Housing Association project for Laurieston won a special mention with our collaborator Elder and Cannon and that the Theatre Royal project for Scottish Opera was short listed.
We were delighted to see the RIAS award Ian White landscape architect an Honorary Fellowship of the Institute. As the citation read, Ian has made a huge contribution to Scottish Landscape design but in particular also to the work of our practice. It was under Ian's guidance and mentorship that many of our projects have evolved from the first early collaborative project at Glasgow Cathedral Square. His use of powerful lines of tree planting and hedging in the grand manner stamped simple and clear frameworks on each setting. The acknowledgement of the RIAS is also a recognition of that distinctive legacy.
Stirling Council has granted planning consent for a new Academic Centre at Stirling University. The new building is a joint venture from the INTO University of Stirling Partnership. The INTO students will come from abroad and experience a year of learning language in the new Centre, before progressing to a relevant University programme.
Approach to the Academic Centre at Stirling University
Our project for The University of Edinburgh, 50 George Square , was opened by the Princess Royal, Chancellor of the University last week. Our colleagues Karen Pickering and Justin Fenton were delighted to attend the event.
50 George Square, offcial opening day
Scottish Borders Council have approved planning permission for the new Great Tapestry of Scotland Gallery at Tweedbank designed by Page\Park Architects. The Great Tapestry of Scotland is a linear pictorial history of Scotland depicting key events going back 12,000 years. It is the world’s longest tapestry at 143 metres (469 ft) long. The tapestry was created by hundreds of people working in sewing groups around Scotland with each panel taking around 500 hours to sew. It was first unveiled in September of 2013 at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh and is now set to find it’s permanent home in the Borders.
Approach to the Great Tapestry of Scotland Building
Similar to the flurry of summer school projects coming towards completion as noted within our “Back to School” article of 08 September a number of our small, (yet beautiful!) Edinburgh University projects have achieved Practical Completion:
Social space within the Galleria Extension
George Moore Dining Hall
New Galleria extension
Entrance Atrium
Interior staircase
Not the biggest ever Charles Rennie Mackintosh project, but historically very important, was his Music Salon installed within the Waerndorfer House, Vienna in 1902-03. Fritz Waerndorfer hosted, funded and commissioned artists and architects seeking to make a mark and change artistic direction around the turn of the 20th century, including Hoffman, Olbrich, Moser and Klimt (all photographed together at the house).
Music Salon, Vienna
The beginning of the school year in late August brings with it an inevitable flurry of summer projects crossing over more major capital projects coming towards completion. Three of these have just got over the line, at the Glasgow Academy, Dollar Academy and St Columba's School Kilmalcolm.
Dollar Academy, entrance approach
Glasgow Academy, ground floor foyer
St Columba's Kilmacolm
Last week colleagues Neil Boyd and Nicola Walls attended the High School of Dundee for the launch of the school’s campaign for a new centre for performing and visual arts. The school has an ambitious vision to convert the former GPO building into a new facility for the art, drama, music and food technology departments, with a social and dining facility for the whole school.
Proposed new entrance to the centre for performing and visual arts
Scottish Housing Minister Margaret Burgess visited our recently completed project at Bissett Court, Hallglen, Falkirk on 12th August to meet tenants that have recently moved in. The 26 new homes were designed for Loretto Housing Association. Inspired by the robust forms of farm buildings that once occupied the site, the geometry of the blocks is restrained in aesthetic, with a series of extruded pitched forms linked by a continuous garden wall, inspired by the remnant of stone wall at the corner of site. More information on the Housing Minister visit can be found here.
New housing arranged around landscaped courtyard
As part of our work on the new Glasgow Academy Science Building, our Jellybeans group have been designing the signage and wayfinding graphics to provide the final layer of information to the hollictic process we have gone through with the client, from masterplan, to the briefing process and now all the way to the signage installation.
Third floor Chemistry stair landing
Half landing directional signage
Second Floor Biology stair landing
Ground Floor signage
Construction work is well underway on the Linburn sports hall and housing project for the Scottish War Blinded charity. The cladding is nearly complete and the interior spaces are starting to take shape. The £2.8million project is due to be complete at the end of September 2015. The buildings are located next to the Linburn Centre, which was opened in 2011.
View from the North West
Sports Hall
View from the North East
Our longstanding friendship with Dollar Academy allowed us last week to visit and share in their excitement at the prospect of our Teaching Building opening to students for this coming intake.
Approach to the main entrance
Interior view of the main staircase
Our proposals for a new day centre for Scottish War Blinded in Paisley have been granted planning approval. The centre provides facilities for visually impaired ex-servicemen and women including activity rooms, a sports hall, gymnasium, art and craft workshops, a café and bowling green. Following the success of the Scottish War Blinded day centre in Linburn, completed for the same client in 2011, we are preparing to take the project to tender in the coming months with works due to begin on-site in early 2016, and completion expected in the summer of 2017.
Scottish War Blinded, Paisley
The master-bakers of our team somewhat naively signed up to recreate, in cake form, our recently completed Theatre Royal in Glasgow for Scottish Opera. After a rigorous period of prototyping we re-envisioned the theatre in a red velvet sponge to represent the stair spiral staircase, ginger bread for the floor slabs and cast honey comb fins for the external cladding. This was accompanied by our comprehensive National Baking Specification and our creation was exhibited as part of the Merchant City Festival’s Edible Architecture competition run by the Glasgow Institute of Architects. We were delighted to have impressed the judges enough to be awarded top prize in the competition against some stiff competition!
Our winning creation
Our project for Edinburgh Printmakers to transform the former North British Rubber Company building in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh into a new Creative Hub was announced as one of eight projects being supported by a total of £1.6million funding from the Historic Scotland Building Repairs Grants Scheme. The award of £500,000 for the Edinburgh Printmakers project was announced by Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop at the Castle Mill Works building in Fountainbridge on 5th August. Project Architect Eilidh Henderson and David Page attended, leading a tour of the building to explain the Edinburgh Printmakers vision for its transformation. More information on the Historic Scotland grant award can be found here.
Fiona Hyslop MSP with Eilidh Henderson of Page\Park and Alastair Clark of Edinburgh Printmakers
We were pleased to see our Mansion House conservation project for the Mount Stuart Trust featured in The Buteman Newspaper this week. The works to the fabric of the Category A Listed building in Rothesay are nearing the halfway point on site. The three-storey building, complete with spiral staircase, was home to the Crichton-Stuart family until 1719, when the new family seat at Mount Stuart was completed.
Newspaper dated 1784
Buteman Newspaper Article
Despite 30th June being the hottest day of the year to that point, 80 delegates gathered at the RIBA London for an evening of CPD led by Brian Park and focussed on our Approach to Conservation and our work on Charles Rennie Mackintosh buildings. These sessions were the the lead-in to the final session - a focus on Glasgow School of Art under the title, The Restoration of an Icon, this following the major fire in May 2014 and for which Page \ Park are architects and lead consultants.
Our client, the High School of Dundee, have launched their campaign to create a Centre of excellence for the Performing and Visual Arts. The School has acquired the Category B listed former GPO building in Dundee, a prominent landmark in the city centre, for conversion into this exciting new learning facility for art, music, drama and the culinary arts, including new performance spaces. It is envisaged that this facility will not only fulfil pedagogical requirements but will also provide much needed social space for staff and pupils.
Centre of excellence for the Performing and Visual Arts - view of proposal from entrance forecourt
We were very pleased to sponsor the Theatres Trust conference held last week at Milton Court at the Guildhall School in London. This annual event was once again a really interesting and insightful day attended by our colleague Nicola Walls.
The Saltire Society have long been vocal advocates of innovation and excellence in housing design, rewarding particularly fine examples at their Housing Design Awards every year. The Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area (TRA) fought off an exceptionally high quality shortlist of contenders to claim prizes for the Best Multiple Housing Development and the Best Landscape in Housing. The contractor, McTaggart Construction, also received the CIOB Good Building Award for a Major Project for the development.
We are delighted that the Theatre Royal Glasgow for Scottish Opera and Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area Phase 1 picked up RIAS awards last night at the annual awards dinner in Edinburgh. The Theatre Royal won in the Buildings in Culture category and Laurieston in the Public Housing category. Our Laurieston project was also awarded an RIBA award and the project client, New Gorbals Housing Association, picked up Scotland's Client of the Year award.
We did not imagine that our business model might generate interest in fields beyond architecture. The way we work however clearly has some similarities to other professions where expertise and experience is needed to fulfil a client’s brief.
Team member Eilidh Henderson attended the AJ120 awards dinner in London last week along with our clients Scottish Opera who were shortlisted in the Client of the Year category. Despite not coming home with any prizes we were delighted to have been shortlisted for two awards in the Building of the Year and Sustainable Practice of the Year categories. The practice reached number 71 in the special edition AJ120 list of the biggest architecture firms in the country. A full run down of all of the practices in the top 120, along with each of the category prize winners, is available here.
We are delighted to be sponsoring this years Theatres Trust conference entitled ‘Valuing Theatres’. The conference theme this year explores the value that theatres can bring to regeneration, commercial development and mixed use schemes. Presentations made through the day will consider ways in which we can work collaboratively to achieve shared cultural, social and economic returns, and create new partnerships with developers to build and protect the theatres of the future.
We had a great night at the Scottish Design Awards 2015 held at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow. Our team picked up 4 awards and a commendation in the following categories:
Our annual office trip takes place this weekend with a visit to Bologna, Modena and Verona. As a result you may struggle to get hold of us on Friday 15th and Monday 18th May but we will return to business as usual on Tuesday 19th with lots of exciting memories to share!
We currently have full-time vacancies for Project Architects and post Part 2 students with opportunities to work on a range of exciting projects. An interest in Conservation as well as Revit experience will be required. Interested applicants should e-mail an up-to-date CV with examples of work, your current availability and contact details FAO David Paton. No agencies please.
We are pleased to have an ongoing relationship with The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. Every year since 2012 two students from the Conservation Department of Nicolaus Copernicus University have had the opportunity to jointly survey the Glasgow Necropolis and contribute to some of our active Conservation projects. In April Brian Park and Natalia Burakowska of our Conservation team, visited the University in Torun, a beautiful UNESCO designated historic city.
Photo by Marta Pilarska of Brian & Natalia with the students that have worked at P\P– from right: Brian Park, Monika Nowak, Natalia Burakowska, Edyta Przydryga, Ania Patelka, Sara Szerszunowicz and Urszula Jatkowska
Our project for the University of Edinburgh at 50 George Square scooped the Conservation Award at the RICS Scotland Awards 2015 on Thursday afternoon. We were delighted that our Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre project was also Highly Commended in the Community Benefit category at the awards lunch in Edinburgh. As described by the RICS, these "awards showcase the the most inspirational regional initiatives and developments in land, property, construction and the built environment."
The practice has been shortlisted for the AJ120 Sustainable Practice of the Year award. The award is given to the practice who best demonstrates their approach to sustainability and specific project achievements in this area. The winner will be announced on 3rd June 2015 in London.
The Theatre Royal is the 'Showcase' project in the quarterly Spring 2015 edition of Theatres Magazine published by the Theatres Trust. The article by Scottish Opera Client Representative Steve Green and our own Nicola Walls explains the project in detail and is accompanied by some wonderful photographs. An online version of the magazine is published here.
On 17th April we had the opportunity to contribute to the “Building on Mackintosh” Symposium at Glasgow School of Art where well over 200 delegates gathered to be updated, share and discuss the challenges going forward with the restoration of the Mackintosh Building following last May’s devastating fire. This followed a similar event hosted by GSA at the Venice Biennale last November, with the Glasgow event also attracting an international audience. Brian Park had the opportunity to share the basis of our approach as we lead a hand-picked team of consultants on the project working to deal with all aspects of the Brief and the Conservation challenges under the banner:
'Building on Mackintosh' Symposium at Glasgow School of Art
Scottish Opera Theatre Royal Glasgow has been shortlisted for the AJ120 Building of the Year award. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner and awards ceremony, taking place on 3 June 2015 at the Tower of London. The project, completed at the end of 2014, provides Front of House facilities for the audience in a new extension directly linked to the existing Category A listed Theatre Royal. This significant cultural project as envisaged by Scottish Opera, was seen by the practice as an opportunity to create a major new piece of civic architecture in our home city. We are honoured that the project has been shortlisted for this prestigious award.
We are thrilled that six of our projects have been nominated for the Scottish design Awards 2015. Our nominated projects include the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 50 George Square, Edinburgh, the West End Medical Practice, Edinburgh, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, Laurieston Transformational Area Phase 1, Glasgow and The City of Edinburgh Methodist Church.
Scottish Opera, Theatre Royal, Glasgow
We are delighted to have won the commission to lead a team to restore the world renowned Charles Rennie Mackintosh Glasgow School of Art. The official Glasgow School of Art press release is below:
Nails from the original construction of the Mackintosh Library
The making of the Library Bay model
We were pleased to hear that two of our recently completed projects have been shortlisted for the RIAS/RIBA Awards 2015. Laurieston Transformational Area with Elder and Cannon Architects for New Gorbals Housing Association and the Theatre Royal Glasgow for Scottish Opera were among 24 projects in Scotland shortlisted for an award. The full shortlist is available here with the winners to be announced at an awards dinner in Edinburgh on 17th June.
Scottish Opera, Theatre Royal
Laureiston Phase 1A
Our Martyrs Kirk Reading Room at the University of St. Andrews was awarded a Commendation at the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards 2015. The citation and judges comments were:
For a number of years now we have had an early Monday morning meeting to allow different voices in the office to share their views. After a while it became clear that these insights, often very penetrating, were being lost. When we re-launched our website we found a home for these thoughts through our Monday-word blog. Now a year on as an Employee Owned Business we are thrilled to publish an anthology of a years thinking and ideas. We have been distributing the paper around many of our buildings and cultural landmarks and hope you enjoy the insights into our thoughts and work. We'd love to hear from you if you pick up a copy! @pagepark #mondayword
The first edition of our Monday-word paper
Along with Simpson & Brown Architects we have been working with the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society to plan a programme of condition surveys of Mackintosh buildings, interiors and other Mackintosh designed elements including gravestones. The grouping of projects has been divided equally between the two practices and is based on a prioritised list derived from the categorisation in the wonderful Mackintosh Architecture - Context, Making & Meaning website launched in 2014. The purpose is to achieve an up to date picture of the current state of repair and any conservation issues which need to be addressed across a wide range of projects in various public and private ownerships.
Talwin Morris gravestone to Mackintosh's design. Dumbarton, 1911
On 12th March the new foyers of the Theatre Royal Glasgow were officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. Our colleagues joined an invited audience of patrons, funders and the wider delivery team at a special variety performance on Thursday 12th March. Tracing the rich and colourful history of the theatre, including its use as studios for STV, the perfomance showcased the talents not only of Scottish Opera but the wide range of visiting companies and the theatre’s cultural neighbours.
We are delighted that the projects at 50 George Square and the David Hume Tower Lower Ground Floor were presented with a commendation at the Civic Trust Awards held at the Globe Theatre in London on Friday night. The building at 50 George Square was designed by Robert Matthew, Johnston-Marshall and Partners, and completed in 1970. It is Category B listed and forms part of the Category A listed grouping, which also includes the Adam Ferguson Building and David Hume Tower. These were designed to house the Arts Faculty, and this grouping is one of the key examples of Scottish Modernism.
Our housing project at Barclay Street, Springburn for Loretto Housing Association has recently been granted planning consent. The scheme comprises 49 units in 8 blocks forming a network of courtyards linked by a new central route through the sloping site, which was formerly occupied by a school and car-park. The blocks vary from two to four storeys in height and have a variety of flat types and mix of materials to create the feel of an urban village. The new route provides an attractive link from the town centre towards Springburn Park. The feature gable windows enable top-floor flats to enjoy elevated views from one of the highest points in the city.
We are delighted that our West End Medical Practice has been shortlisted in the EAA Awards 2015 Building of the Year category. The Award winners will be announced at an event on 31st March, with an exhibition showcasing the shortlisted entries being held at the RIAS in Edinburgh from 19th March to 28th April 2015. More information on the awards and the shortlisted entries is available here.
We are thrilled to hear that three of our recently completed projects have been shortlisted in the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards 2015. These include Martyrs Kirk Reading Room for the University of St.Andrews, Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre for Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area or New Gorbals Housing Association. The awards scheme celebrates good local design and conservation as nominated and evaluated by local people. It's aim is to identify projects or buildings that have had a positive impact on local communities and neighbourhoods. Entrants are assessed on their architectural, heritage and/or place making benefits. More information on the awards and shortlisted entries can be found here.
We were delighted to find out this week that a number of our recently completed projects have been shortlisted for the RICS Scotland Awards 2015. These include Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre and with 50 George Square for the University of Edinburgh in the Building Conservation category, and the West End Medical Practice in the Community Benefit category. Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Edinburgh hosted by Catriona Shearer on 23rd April.
A group of colleges from our office went to Kelvin Hall last week to see the progress being made on the phase 1 project, due for completion in May 2016. This is an exciting time to get an overview of the scale of the project whilst the existing cavernous interior is fully exposed. The project is currently at a stage where major excavations for the new basement areas are being revealed while in other areas new floor slabs and steel work are appearing, most notably with the new office extension taking shape before our eyes. It was an exciting and informative afternoon for all who made it along, and we hope to share further updates as it progresses on site.
Page \ Park colleagues visiting Kelvin Hall
HRH Princess Royal officially opened the St Mary’s Cathedral Stonemason workshop this morning. In addition to complimenting the design team on the project delivery and design, the Princess Royal emphasised the important role the workshop has in training new apprentice stonemasons. This is not only in relation to the ongoing restoration and conservation of St Mary’s Cathedral, but also in the creation of new generations of skilled craftsmen and women, essential for the preservation of historic buildings throughout the country.
HRH Princess Royal officially opening the St Mary’s Cathedral Stonemason Workshop
Our Head of Conservation Justin Fenton has recently qualified as Advanced Accredited under the RIAS Accreditation in Conservation Architecture scheme.
Justin Fenton, RIAS Advanced Accredited in Conservation Architecture
We have recently completed a phase of stoneworks at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Works included a large hood over a statue of the distinguished Scottish surgeon John Hunter FRS. The hood incorporates a number of intricately carved chimerae. Stone Engineering were the Contractors for the works.
Stonework Repairs to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Stonework Repairs by Stone Engineering
We are delighted to have been shortlisted to be considered to lead a team in the restoration of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art. The School is close to the hearts of Glaswegians and has such an immense wider standing. It is an honour to be considered for this hugely challenging project.
Our project for Scottish Opera to build new foyers onto its Glasgow home, the Theatre Royal, has opened its doors. First observations suggest the ambition to create a seamless and comfortable journey from street to seat worked as the building was first tested by a performance with an audience of over a thousand. Cafe, box office and bars are up and running and with daytime opening, the next challenge is to test how the venue can become a go to place for social meets, rendezvous and 'hanging out'.
View from corner of Hope Street and Cowcaddens Road
View through staircase across Dress Circle foyer
The central double-spiral staircase
Upper Circle foyer and the Staircase
Some of our colleagues went to visit the Scottish Power site this week to see the progress being made. Below is a synopsis from one of our colleagues.
Scottish Power, the colonnade
We are delighted to have been appointed through an RIAS organised competition to lead a design team in the development of proposals for the The High School of Dundee’s new Centre for Excellence in Performing and Visual Arts. The press release is below:
Concept Perspective
Brian Park will reflect the work of the practice at the XXXVIIè Curset in Barcelona on 11th-14th December, focusing on sacred buildings through three case studies. Below is a synopsis of his proposed presentation:
We were pleased to receive a piece from our client at St Mary's Medical Centre in response to our request for a quote to sum up their experience of working in the building!
Delighted to hear that our Laurieston project in collaboration with Elder and Cannon for New Gorbals Housing Association has won Premier Guarantee Excellence Awards 2014 Social Housing Development of the Year. The citation reads:
A number of our team attended the annual Glasgow Institute of Architects Design Awards on Friday 14th November. We were thrilled that our Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre project won a design award in the Conservation category. Built in 1924 Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre is a key component of the designed landscape setting of Kelvingrove Park. The Category ‘B’ listing of the venue reflects its architectural and cultural significance as the only remaining Scottish example of a covered bandstand and elliptical amphitheatre, despite having fallen into disuse in the late 1990’s.
Kelvingrove Bandstand
50 George Square
We were pleased to have been highly commended in the Rising Star category of the Baxendale Awards this week. Our colleague Karen Pickering attended the awards ceremony at a gala dinner in Nottingham as part of the Employee Owned Business Association Conference 2014.
Baxendale Awards Ceremony
As part of the ‘A Picture of Health: From Policy to Places Designed for People’ exhibition at the Lighthouse in Glasgow we have our Woodside Health Centre and Maggies Centre on display at this exhibition. The exhibition is located in Gallery Two and will run from the 14th of November to the 28th of January.
Team member Iain Monteith attended the Scottish Civic Trust conference last week entitled “Feeling Good: Wellbeing & the Built Environment”. Of particular interest was a talk given by Sir Harry Burns providing an explanation of the work by Aaron Antonovsky and the term: ‘Salutogenesis’ - an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease”.
Neil Gillespie’s vision, superbly managed by his colleague Laura Kinnaird, for this years Scottish contribution to the Venice Biennale was not in the traditional sense a physical enclosure around a theme, rather a carrier of the theme in the form of a newspaper. Divvying Scotland up into in a geographical north south east west split, various groups associated with university architecture departments contributed content to the newspapers on the theme of the event - namely uncovering the hidden contribution of a century of modern architectural thinking.
Our project for Shettleston Housing Association in the former Carntyne Old Parish Church has received Listed building consent. Apartments within the church served by a new ‘surrogate’ stair and lift tower adjacent creates a sheltered courtyard to the rear of the new block for the amenity of residents.
On Friday 10th October, our Conservation team hosted a visit by 15 architects from Barcelona (as well as Historic Scotland and DoCoMoMo representatives) as part of an exchange, the return leg being our participation in a three day conference on “Sacred Architecture – Interventions” in Barcelona in December. This will profile several Scottish church projects so Friday was the opportunity to visit several Gillespie Kidd + Coia churches and to end the tour at St Andrew’s Cathedral Glasgow – one of the projects we will profile in Barcelona.
We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the category of Rising Star for this year’s Philip Baxendale Awards The Philip Baxendale Awards recognise excellence in employee ownership and the Rising Star Award, endorsed by the Cass Business School, recognises an effective example of innovation within an employee owned organisation. The winners will be announced at an Award Ceremony in Nottingham on 17th November.
Our Glasgow Academy project was topped out last week. The four storey science and technology block, with a ground floor lecture theatre is taking shape with its cladding in polished white panels suspended from the concrete frame. With laboratories facing to the block back court, the circulation to the rooms is accommodated in a series of bay windowed break out spaces, over looking the main school.
Our proposals for a new boarding house at Worksop College have been granted planning consent. Sitting to the south west of the grade II listed main college the proposals create a new boarding quad next to the existing girls boarding house. The project is currently out to tender and due to start on site in November.
Press Release from Edinburgh Printmakers Ltd. “Edinburgh Printmakers has appointed a Project Team to deliver their Capital Development Project at Castle Mill Works, Fountainbridge in Edinburgh. The team includes Gardiner & Theobald LLP as Project Manager, Page \ Park Architects, Will Rudd Davidson as Structural Engineer, Harley Haddow LLP as M&E Services Engineer and Doig & Smith LLP as Quantity Surveyor and CDM Co-ordinator.
David Page recently contributed to the RTPI ‘Doors Open Day event’ at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow. Amongst a variety of speakers asked to consider the achievement of planning over the last 100 years, he tackled the subject using the evolution of the Gorbals in Glasgow as a template. What he showed was that when planners and architects adopted the principles of ‘conservative surgery’ advocated by Patrick Geddes, a new empathy emerged with the environments being created or reworked.
Our proposed Redevelopment of St.Cecilia’s Hall for the University of Edinburgh has recently been granted planning and Listed Building consent. The Redevelopment project aims to transform St Cecilia’s Hall to make it fit-for-purpose as the principal destination for musical instrument display, teaching and performance and to be a key cultural and ceremonial space for the University.
David Page joins eminent practitioners and planners from Glasgow and Hamburg to compare and contrast the issues around the theme of university cities. The seminar entitled 'Universities in two World Cities - Estate Development Plans and safeguarding existing historic fabric', focuses on the University of Glasgow and University of Hamburg. It takes place on 4th September 2014 between 6-8pm at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in the Merchant City.
It is with sadness we heard of Andy MacMillan’s passing. Many of us were taught by him, learnt from his buildings, and collectively are the beneficiary of his focus on good architecture and its bedding in the city. Some thoughts and anecdotes from colleagues who benefited directly from his influence:
Our Laurieston project is to be launched on Friday 15th August 2014. The New Gorbals Housing Association has worked on plans and proposals for Laurieston with Glasgow City Council from 2003, finalising them in 2009 after extensive community consultation.
If you are on Bute during the next two weeks check out the exhibition of Phase 2 of the masterplan in the visitor centre at Mount Stuart. Building on the delivery of two refurbished properties and a new prototype house on the Mount Stuart policies in phase 1, the plan now looks to the future of a number of unused steadings and houses around the island. Clusters of affordable rented homes and holiday lets are proposed in a phased programme of renewal. That story and the individual projects are described in more detail at the visitor centre.
We are pleased to share that we have recently received full Planning Consent for further development at the Centre for the Scottish War Blinded site in Linburn, West Lothian. The proposals for a cluster of new buildings, adjacent to the main Centre, has been designed to be occupied by partially sighted ex-service men and women. The scheme comprises 4 new residential dwellings and a sports hall. These buildings complement the Linburn Day Centre, designed by Page\Park, which opened in 2011.
A new Teaching Building designed for Dollar Academy begins on site this week. The building comprises ten classrooms split between an off-set, top-lit ground floor carved into the sloping site on the Academy campus. The building is naturally ventilated via a series of rooftop chimneys and has a second floor conceived as a glass balcony overlooking the existing ‘hockey quad’. CCG are main contractors with completion programmed for summer 2015.
Kelvingrove Bandstand was launched onto an enthusiastic public in the parallel cultural festival to the Commonwealth Games, Festival 2014. Identified as one of the three 'live zones' of the celebration it became an instant hit with cosmopolitan audiences throughout the two weeks. The works have seen the terraces regraded with newly formed concrete seating, introduction of new aisles (including a cross aisle), restoration and extension of the bandstand building to provide support accommodation, and general landscaping. CCG were the main contractors with Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (GBPT) providing the management support to Glasgow Life. Full project information and photos available here.
It was sad news to hear that Richard McCormac passed away. Karen Pickering in our office always talked of the inspiration she drew from her time as a student architect working in his office. He was an inspiration for many architects during the 80s and 90s in his consummate and articulate evocations of an ‘English Architecture’ full of skill, wit and human scale. He was a constant reminder that it is possible to create settings rooted in the lessons of tradition but always in the hopeful spirit of the contemporary contribution of our time. He will be missed as a clear voice.
Some members of our Conservation team took part in a trip to Bo’ness yesterday where Gareth Jones of Pollock & Hammond Partnership kindly led a tour of the Hippodrome and several THI funded projects in the town centre. The visit highlighted the work of the Scottish architect Matthew Steele who completed a number of buildings within Bo’ness in the early 1900’s - the town itself now a rich microcosm of Scottish architectural styles.
On Thursday 3rd July we attended the first showing of a film about our recently completed Kelvingrove Bandstand project. Commissioned by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and Glasgow Life, and skilfully made by Hopscotch Films this delightful short film charts the history of the bandstand and its recent refurbishment. Drawing on reminisces of performers and those who attended events, it demonstrates the importance of this special venue to the people of Glasgow, and it is lovely to see our contractor CCG Scotland get a starring role! You can watch the short documentary here.
On Friday, aptly Employee Owned Business day, we shared our experience of transitioning from a partnership model to an Employee Owned Business. The event, organised by Co-operative Development Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, was hosted at our studio with around 40 attendees from a range of business sectors. David Page, Brian Park, Karen Pickering and Eilidh Henderson each spoke sharing their experience of our transition, giving both the owner and employee perspective. Find more on the event here and more on our business model here.
We are delighted to advise that the Campus Development Framework (CDF) we have been developing with the University of Glasgow was formally approved by Glasgow City Council on 26 June. This follows approval from Court in April after an extensive consultation programme undertaken during 2013 – 2014. Further information on the Final Campus Development Framework is available on the campus vision pages of the University website here.
David Page contributed to the 2014 ESOF conference in Copenhagen under the theme urbanisation, design and liveability. 'ESOF is an interdisciplinary, pan-European meeting, held under the auspices of Euroscience, which aims to: Showcase the latest advances in science and technology; Promote a dialogue on the role of science and technology in society and public policy;' In a session led by Julie Sommerlund Associate Dean for External Relations at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen, presentations by Jan Gehl, Carl Sundberg, Martha Karrebaek and David Page explored the theme of liveability assessments of cities.
David Page is contributing to a debate at the Euroscience Open Forum in Copenhagen from the 21- 26 June. In a session led by Professor Julie Sommerlund, David joins Jan Gehl and others on the panel to discuss ‘rankings of liveability’ under the title ‘A Liveable city: myths and realities’. The following is a broad summary of his contribution:
On Wednesday 25th June we attended the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the new teaching building at Fettes College, 150 years to the day after the foundation stone for the original college was laid the whole school gathered to mark the beginning of a new era of construction. The project will provide new classrooms for mathematics, languages and art with a new music school in the refurbished adjacent building.
The annual Solas Festival brings together music, art and ideas over a 3 day period across several fields in the heart of Perthshire with King Creosote, Lesley Riddoch, Gerry Hassan, Liz Lochhead and many others interacting, performing and exploring ideas of relevance to this years's theme - Creative Commons. Brian Park contributed on the theme of Art, Architecture & Spirituality, avoiding the obvious focus on our work with churches and our 'thin' places considered in different ways as being sacred such as Lindisfarne, Callanish and Iona...though he could not resist reference to the highly evocative sculptural work of Subirachs at Sagrada Familia.
We are excited to share that our project at 50 George Square, for the University of Edinburgh, has been shortlist for an AJ Retrofit Award 2014 in the Higher Education category. The project involved the re-development of a Category B listed building, designed by Robert Matthew, Johnston-Marshall and Partners and completed in 1970. The building has been extended externally and internally re-modelled to create a new home for the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
50 George Square project room
As we continue to build on over 30 years of work across a range of sectors, we are currently seeking people at all levels of experience in Conservation work to join our team. Please refer to our conservation pages for more information on our work in this sector. If you are interested in joining our team please send a brief CV and personal statement outlining what you think you could bring to our practice by email or alternatively by post to our studio.
A little candle for hope in architecture was extinguished in all our hearts on Friday. As we watched the unfolding horror our first thought was: tell us there was nobody left in there. Then bit by bit, those who knew the building counted off what they remembered of the inside, from the outside of every room where the flames spread: please stop, don't go there. In that cauldron, there were moments for many of us when all hope seemed lost; flames raging across the 'hen run' then seemingly raging across the back roof. It's all lost. But some amazing Glasgow fire-fighters fought it with an intelligence and calculated bravery - and somehow they stopped it. We didn't know they had been stopping it from the beginning, just that they couldn't turn it off, they needed to work it out over the long hours of Friday afternoon. But in one vicious final twist, the room we prayed wouldn't be touched, the beautiful library, it's restoration just complete, the room we willed would not be touched, that seemed to unbelievably not have been consumed, just went.
We are thrilled to have won UK Employer of the Year at the AJ100. It is vindication of our journey over the last five years towards finding a model of ownership that reflects the idea of a socially creative architectural practice. In that respect we join the ranks of our mentor practice Arup whose former Scottish Chairman Brian Veitch was instrumental in guiding us on that journey, as well as the more recent models of our immediate colleagues Collective Architecture in Glasgow and Make in London. More on the awards online here.
Alison Watt’s tapestry for the foyer of Scottish Opera's extension to the Theatre Royal in Glasgow has been ceremonially cut from its weaving frame at the Dovecot Studios Edinburgh. Seen for the first time this immense work inspired by the opera Madama Butterfly, will be a brilliant foil to the new interiors. The challenge for any artist to move from the painted surface to the tapestry lies in understanding the difference between the art forms. This has only been possible through the intensity of the working relationship with the master weaver Naomi Robertson where the subtlety and nuances of Alison Watt’s surface and colour gradations have been brilliantly captured in thread. The result is a magical mix of blended tones, sharp contrasts and intense colouring that draw, move and focus the eye across this remarkable surface. Can't wait to see it up.
The tapestry is cut from the weaving frame at Dovecot Studios
Photographer: Michael Wolchover
We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the Architects Journal AJ100 Employer of the Year 2014. The award is given to the best practice, from an employee perspective, selected from the AJ100 ranked practices. Practices are judged on staff satisfaction, workplace culture, benefits and staff turnover.
The Page \ Park team had an away day in Edinburgh last Friday visiting a number of our recently completed buildings. These included St Mary’s Medical Centre, 50 George Square and the DHT Basement at the University of Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church at Nicolson Square.
St Mary's medical centre
We are pleased to announce that we handed over our new medical centre for the West End Medical Practice at St.Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh at the end of February.
The scaffolding continues to drop along Gorbals Street, revealing the first building phase of the Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area. Now wind and water-tight, attention has turned to the internal fixtures and finishes whilst the landscape is excavated, laid and planted outside, gradually stitching the buildings into the fabric of the city in anticipation of the new tenants arriving in the summer. Margaret Street (previously 'Road 4') is the defining feature of this first stage, creating opportunities to activate the edge of the new city block. From here the full effect of the 3-brick mix is evident as the building shimmers in the winter sun, each tone reflecting the light differently with a vibrancy that belies the simple palette. Timber balcony screens and chunky recesses articulate the facade and lend a human scale to the development; crafted and tactile in its execution and reminiscent of a traditional Glasgow tenement. 'Places, not edges' was the aim at the outset and the coming months will reveal how successful that has been; the first glimpse though, is encouraging.
Our project at Cambo Estate near St.Andrews has recently obtained planning consent. The project involves the sensitive restoration of the Category A listed Stables, Coach House, Glasshouses and ancillary buildings within the Walled Garden at Cambo Estate. The project will result in the creation of enhanced visitor facilities including interpretation of the Estate and landscape and a “learning loft”/research space with a future phase providing living, study and recreation accommodation for garden students, volunteers and people seeking work experience. The project has been awarded a grant from HLF with further fundraising currently underway. Subject to funding, the whole project is to be completed by 2018.
We are pleased to announce that we have been successful in obtaining planning permission for a new Modern Languages Teaching Building within the existing Dollar Academy campus. Designed as a ‘pavilion’ building to be built in a gap site along one edge of the recently completed all weather sports pitch, the proposal has 10 classrooms over 2 levels. The building completes the ‘academic quad’ concept developed in the 2008 masterplan connecting two existing legs of teaching accommodation along a civic linking path which edges the sports pitch.
View across sports pitch to new teaching pavilion
Planning consent has been granted for our project at Dunoon Burgh Hall. The building was partially brought back into use in 2010 by works carried out by The John McAslan Family Trust. Our commission will complete the realisation of the arts based community venue with 3 key additions; a new entrance terrace/ramp, reconstruction of the Main Hall roof and a new conservatory cafe extension into the west facing garden, which will create a new 'attraction' for the refurbished building.
View of proposed cafe extension
The Methodist Church building on Nicolson Square has until recently been one of four Methodist churches in Edinburgh. In 2009 the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church (CEMC) commissioned a study of their existing assets with a view to rationalising and creating new accommodation to serve one single congregation, either by reconfiguring an existing church or development of a new building which would reflect the 21st century needs of the Methodist Church. Nicolson Square was recommended as the locus for CEMC as it is located in the heart of Edinburgh Old Town and carries its own Category 'A' listing. The recommendation was subsequently accepted and Nicolson Square was set to become the new home for CEMC.
The repair and conservation of the Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Library windows was completed in December 2013. The Library windows were removed in their entirety before a process of careful restoration was undertaken to return them to their original glory. This is the latest element of work in Page \ Park's long association with the repair and conservation of the Mackintosh Building and, as in other areas, required thorough research on Mackintosh's original details. All is not as it seems as these windows had been repaired and adapted in previous generations due to failure of the original details. The spirit of Mackintosh's architectural treatment of this world famous but highly exposed west elevation has been respected but with unseen adjustments to ensure long term integrity.
Season's Greetings from all at Page\Park Architects. Our studio will close on Friday 20th December, re-opening on Monday 6th January 2014.
Our new medical centre, in the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh is progressing well on site and is due for completion at the end of February. The completed building will be the new premises for the West End Medical Practice, with accommodation for ten GP’s. The works also involve the re-landscaping of the cathedral grounds and an extension to the Walpole Hall. The project is funded by NHS Lothian.
Site progress at St.Mary's West End Medical Practice
Page \ Park became an Employee Owned Business on 1 December. This initiative has been supported by Cooperative Development Scotland - a wing of Scottish Enterprise which has as one of its objectives to maintain business ownership in Scotland.
We have been appointed in the successful Gardiner and Theobald led team by Heriot Watt University and the British Geological Survey to design a new centre for earth and marine science and technology. The Charles Lyell Centre will be one of Europe’s leading centres for research and expertise in the earth and marine sciences, creating a world-leading research cluster to tackle major issues of natural resource and energy supply in a responsible and sustainable way.
We are pleased to announce that the redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall has secured a £4.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are working with Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow and the National Libraries of Scotland to transform the Kelvin Hall into a major mixed use facility.
Contractors CCG have recently begun work to refurbish the Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre in Kelvingrove Park. This much loved venue will be back in use next year ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Concrete benches being cast in the outdoor amphitheatre
Martyrs Kirk Reading Room is awaiting the arrival of books following completion last week. The project, commissioned by the University of St Andrews in December 2012, is located at the heart of the University campus. The University took ownership of the building in November 2012, with the proposal to convert the church into attractive reading and research rooms for the Faculty of Arts and Special Collections.
Following 9 years of involvement by Page\Park, the Rosslyn Chapel Conservation & Access Project reached another milestone on 5th September when Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Fiona Hyslop, together with the Countess of Rosslyn marked completion of almost 5 years of conservation work on the Chapel.
Our Conservation CoG had an afternoon out of the studio visiting Rosslyn Chapel and William Adam's Mavisbank. At Rosslyn, Brian Park and Nicolas Boyes, gave a fascinating overview of the new visitor centre and conservation works to the chapel. Nic explained their painstaking approach to stone conservation and the enormous care that they take when intervening in existing fabric.
Nic Boyes describes the stone conservation works
We are pleased to announce that our £25m refurbishment project at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow’s West End received planning permission last week. The works are the first phase of a wider plan to turn the Kelvin Hall into a major west end hub for culture and sports. The first phase of the project will provide archive storage space for both Glasgow Museums and Hunterian collections along with new Glasgow LIfe sports facilities including a large gym, sports hall and dance studios. The project will also provide office and education space for the Hunterian and the Scottish Screen Archive.
Impression of proposed entrance approach
On 1 August 2013 we issued the Practical Completion certificate for the conservation of Rosslyn Chapel. Not normally a newsworthy event but this comes as the final milestone in a journey which has taken us through 9 years since appointment by Rosslyn Chapel Trust in June 2004. That length of time might suggest we have been dragging our heels but not at all. It has been a complex, exciting and rewarding journey as we have dealt with one of Scotland’s most sensitive sites ensuring the long term integrity of the Chapel through specialist conservation works while also adding in a new building to facilitate a much-enhanced visitor experience.
Rosslyn Chapel elevation drawings
We are pleased to sponsor an exhibition organised by Glasgow City Heritage Trust and produced in association with Docomomo Scotland entitled 'Building Scotland 1945-1985'.
Our project Dalmeny House, a new girls boarding house at Fettes College, Edinburgh had it’s official opening on Friday 28th June. The pioneering girls who’ve helped establish the house have been living there since last August and paid us the greatest compliment in describing it as their home now rather than a house.
We are thrilled to announce that at an annual members dinner and awards held in London the practice scooped the prize for 'Best Place to Work: Scotland'. The 'Best Place to Work' awards are based on staff satisfaction, benefits, salary and HR achievements collated from the employee survey and validated by the AJ100 survey.
The RICS awards celebrate inspirational initiatives in the land, property and construction sectors. At this years RICS Scotland Awards 2013 the Scottish National Portrait Gallery received the coveted Scotland Project of the Year Award.
RICS Awards 2013 Programme
Our student residences project Bluebell View at the University of Warwick was last night announced as winner in the Residential Category at the West Midland RICS Awards.
Bluebell View, RICS Award Winner
We are pleased to announce that Glasgow City Council have granted full Planning Consent for a new headquarters building for ScottishPower in the centre of Glasgow.
Following completion of a feasibility study in 2011 we have recently been successful in a competitive process to develop proposals for the redevelopment of St.Cecilia's Hall for the University of Edinburgh.
Concert Hall at St.Cecilia's
We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the 'Best Place to Work - Scotland' category of the AJ100 Awards 2013. The AJ100 is a survey of the largest architecture practices in the UK and also consists of awards that recognise and celebrate the UK's most innovative and successful practices. The 2013 AJ100 rankings and prize winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 8th May in London.
Our project for 26 units, a mixture of flats, maisonettes and houses, with Loretto Housing Association and Merchant Homes has recently been granted planning consent. The £2.5million project is located on Glenburn Road, Hallglen in Falkirk. The well known 1970's estate is highly visible from the Edinburgh to Glasgow train-link.
Two of our recently completed projects have be nominated in the Scottish Design Awards 2013. Our Olympia project has been nominated in the Regeneration category with Rosslyn Chapel Visitor Centre and Conservation project nominated in the Leisure/Culture Building category.
Our client Glasgow Building Preservation Trust in conjunction with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland are hosting a special event at the Kelvingrove Bandstand.
Our Olympia and Rosslyn Chapel Conservation & Visitor Centre projects have been shortlisted from 75 entry submissions for a RIAS Award 2013. The RIAS shortlisted projects also compete for the national RIBA awards with the eventual award winners competing for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award.
Construction of St.Mary's West End Medical Practice, Edinburgh has commenced on site. The £2.6million facility sits within the grounds of the Category A listed Cathedral and precinct, incorporating the existing Walpole Hall, a new masons workshop and yard, and new build pavilion with GP and treatment rooms.
David Page contributed on Friday to a conference hosted by the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies and organised by James D. White and Dr Ruxandra-Iulia Stoica on the subject of New Architectures and World Heritage. In the session on Materiality, Prof Robert Morris explored the transition point in Edinburgh history in the third quarter of the 19th Century between development informed by imported ideas and new materials, countered by the emergence of ideas of protection for the built inheritance, all within an overall context of the importance of story telling. Dr Dorian Wiszniewski related the exquisite drawn documentation of the story of the interior detail of Lambhouse in Leith, and Dr Dimitris Theodossopoulos the technical story of our understanding of the stones that have built the city. Seen in isolation each talk examined one contemporary characteristic of Edinburgh's historical legacy, but as a whole they represented a remarkable gazetteer of the variety of influences that shape and mould the special places we admire.
A number of award shortlists have been announced over the last week with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery nominated in the Building Conservation and also the Tourism & Leisure category at the RICS Awards Scotland. Our student residences for the University of Warwick, Bluebell View, has been shortlisted in the RICS Awards West Midlands.
We are proud to share that our Scottish National Portrait Gallery project has been awarded a Civic Trust Award. The Civic Trust Awards are assessed not only on a project's architectural merit but also on the benefit to the local community.
Page \ Park are delighted to have received a Carbon Trust Award for Refurbished Building 2013 for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, showing what can be achieved with a sensitive approach to the upgrade of a listed building. Working closely with Harley Haddow Services Engineers, a sympathetic yet distinctive transformation has been achieved that is both rooted in tradition whilst addressing contemporary sustainability issues in a creative way.
Karen Nugent contributed to an Ian Appleton inspired conference in Edinburgh on the role of public art, ‘The Essential Monument’. Joining a number of speakers Karen spoke on the value of public art in representing a popular mandate as well as an artistic position. In considering and valuing the legacy of history it is important to understand the public will that put it there. Drawing on Karen’s work at Albert Square in Dundee and the practice’s work at Glasgow Cathedral Precinct, the Gorbals and St Andrew’s Cathedral, the importance of valuing consensus was explored.
Two of our Conservation CoG members Sarah Jane Bogle and Andrew Taylor have recently achieved their RIAS Accreditation in Conservation Architecture.
Our recently completed Olympia building in Bridgeton, a collaborative project by our Creative Workspace, Arts & Culture and Conservation CoG's, has been added to our project directory. View the full project here.
Justin Fenton attended a Heritage Lottery Fund Heritage Grants briefing session on Tuesday 22 January at their Scottish headquarters in Edinburgh.
Despite the cold weather, the first phase of a three phase residential development at Laurieston, Glasgow is starting to take shape. This first phase consists of 201 flats and houses by Page \ Park and Elder & Cannon Architects and is due for completion in 2014.
Laurieston regeneration phase 1 comes out the ground
Our project for the University of Edinburgh to refurbish 50 George Square and the David Hume Tower basement is well under way on site. The School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures will be relocated to the completed 50 George Square building with a central teaching hub being formed in the linking DHT basement.
50 George Square and the University of Edinburgh in construction
Our recently re-opened Olympia building in Bridgeton has been featured in the Winter 2012 edition of Urban Realm. The feature describes the impact that the newly completed building has had on the area describing the building as having "given Bridgeton back its soul".
Season's Greetings from all at Page\Park Architects. Our studio will close on Friday 21st December, re-opening on Thursday 3rd January.
Karen Pickering and Jennifer Senfield gave a talk at Strathclyde University on 4th December on the practice approach to Sustainable design. They presented a series of completed projects and described how we use a Sustainability checklist at each stage of the design process.
The library at our recently revamped Olympia building is now open. This forms the first phase of Olympia's re-opening with boxing gym facilities and offices to follow. The Category B-Listed building has been an integral part of Bridgeton's social fabric in Glasgow's East End. Our redevelopment with Clyde Gateway has transformed the former theatre building into a new community facility. Read more about the Glasgow Life operated library facility here.
We were recently selected to present work for this year’s Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Architecture Open Exhibition.
Competition submission model for Heriot-Watt University entrance
At the RIAS Andrew Doolan Award 2012 ceremony at the Scottish Parliament on 8th November our Scottish National Portrait Gallery project was one of five that was merited a 'Special Mention'.
We were delighted on Friday night to receive two awards from the Glasgow Institute of Architects.
The Royal Scottish Geographical Society at Fair Maid's House, Perth
Iain King presented his account of the Rosslyn Chapel Lecture 'Revisiting Hallowed Ground: Stonework Conservation Then and Now' by Oliver Caroe to the wider office at a lunchtime this week. We were delighted to have Dr Peter Burman MBE and Nic Boyes input into the presentation and share in our thinking.
Nic Boyes, Iain King and Oliver Caroe
Kamil Shah presented our Development Framework and Vision for Milngavie Town Centre to the Milngavie Civic Trust and wider community. The study was commissioned by local community group ‘We Like Milngavie’ and sets out the immediate and long term vision for the town centre. Key principles underlined in the framework consider the holistic approach to the development and growth of the town centre; one which is proactive rather than reactionary to individual proposals. There was a good turnout from the community and the presentation was followed by an engaging Q&A session.
This week we add a 16th project to our portfolio of currently 'live' jobs working with church buildings. This time round it is the former Martyr's Church in the heart of St. Andrews, now acquired by the University to extend the study and reading accommodation of their Arts Faculty.
Martyr's Church, St. Andrews
Karen Pickering is attending the RICS Awards 2012 Grand Final this afternoon where our Centre for Scottish War Blinded and St.Andrew's Cathedral are in the final of the 'Design and Innovation' and 'Building Conservation' categories respectively. The Grand Final Ceremony is being held at the Savoy Hotel in London. Read more about the RICS Awards here.
Our Visitor Centre at Rosslyn Chapel has been reviewed by Andrew Guest for the architectural journal A10. The project to conserve the Chapel itself is scheduled for completion early 2013. Read the full article on the A10 website.
The finishing touches are being made to our Olympia project at Bridgeton Cross, with signage and façade lighting being installed and tested this week. The £5.5million redevelopment to include the relocated Bridgeton library and café, the Headquarters of Amateur Boxing Scotland and two floors of rental office space, is programmed for completion December 2012.
Olympia at Bridgeton Cross, in final stages on site
The backbone of our architecture is our thinking, but the pressures of everyday practice can often leave little room for reflection. Some years ago we felt the need to create a little extra space to allow us to articulate our architectural principles.
Our Rosslyn Chapel Visitor Centre project has been shortlisted for The Wood Awards 2012 in the 'Repair and Adaptive Reuse' category.
Following our success in the 2012 RICS Scotland Awards, Karen Pickering was invited to speak at the launch of the RICS Scotland Awards 2013 on the Scottish Project of the Year 2012, the Centre for Scottish War Blinded. The launch event was hosted at the RICS Scotland headquarters in Edinburgh on 27th September. The Centre for Scottish War Blinded and St.Andrews Cathedral will represent Scotland in the national RICS Awards held in the Savoy in London on 19th October 2012. Read more here.
Our recently completed BREEAM Excellent student residences project for the University of Warwick has been featured in the Autumn 2012 Brick Bulletin. The full document can be downloaded here.
Bluebell View at University of Warwick
Glasgow City Council Design Guide : New Residential Areas
Consultation response - Page\Park Architects 20/09/12
Project Architect Mel Goode was invited to speak at an evening seminar for Royal Town Planning Institute members entitled 'Rosslyn Chapel: Carving a New Visitor Experience'.
'Carving a New Visitor Experience' seminar held in Rosslyn Chapel
Our Science and Technology Building at Glasgow Academy has been granted planning consent after going to committee.
Proposed Science and Technology building
Our projects at Dollar 6th Form, Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Fair Maid's House have each been shortlisted in the Glasgow Institute of Architects Awards 2012 in the Education, Conservation and Commercial categories respectively. The results will be announced at a members dinner on 9th November. Read the full shortlist here.
Project Architect Melanie Goode sent this photo from a site visit to Rosslyn Chapel Visitor Centre this afternoon.
Timber, leather and glass at Rosslyn Chapel
It has been reported that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is exceeding target visitor numbers by 50%. Great news for our multi-award winning project. Read the full article here.
David Page was invited as a guest speaker at the AGM of Loretto Housing Association where he spoke on 'Making Places'. More details can be found on the Loretto Housing Association website.
David Page sharing Christopher Alexander's 'A Pattern Language'
We have been appointed by Whiteburn developments to explore options for the re-development of the former Girls Reform School, Parkview in Dundee.
We are pleased to report that we've recently been appointed to develop plans for Dunoon Burgh Hall. The project to bring the neglected building back into community use is being developed with the Dunoon Burgh Hall Trust.
We are delighted to announce that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery won both a RIAS and RIBA award at the awards ceremony in Glasgow on Wednesday 20th June 2012.
Section through Scottish National Portrait Gallery
At the Scottish Design Awards dinner on Friday 25th May 2012 Page \ Park were announced as winner of Practice of the Year.
Justin Fenton, Karen Pickering and Brian Park at the Scottish Design Awards
Working closely with Nomad RDC and Chris Churchman Landscape Architects we have been successful in bidding for the 'Heart' project at Glasgow Caledonian University. The project is to include activating the Saltire and Mbeki courtyards, upgrading the lower levels of George Moore and Hamish Wood buildings as well as providing new student services, refectory and conference facilities.
Initial sketch
At a ceremony in London on 16th May Page \ Park were announced as winner of the AJ100 Regional Practice of the Year: Scotland 2012 for the second consecutive year. From AJ100: “This Glasgow institution is cherished by staff proud of its design integrity, which relies on all levels of staff pitching in from concept to completion. As one says: "I would not find this teamsmanship elsewhere."
Karen Pickering collecting our AJ100 Award
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is the only Scottish museum or gallery to have been shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize 2012. The winner of the Prize will be announced on 19 June at the British Museum.
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded was recently announced winner of the Design and Innovation category and overall Project of the Year award winner for Scotland at the RICS Scotland Awards 2012.
Centre for Scottish War Blinded, Linburn
We have recently been appointed with Harley Haddow, Buro Happold, David Adamson & Partners and Ian White Associates, to develop proposals for a new multi-use community facility in Girvan Harbour. The proposals are to contain a swimming pool, community hall and restaurant facilities overlooking the harbour to Aisla Craig.
We are delighted to announce that two of our projects have won awards in this years RICS Awards. The St. Andrew's Cathedral project in Glasgow has won the RICS Building Conservation Award and our Centre for Centre for Scottish War Blinded in Linburn has won the RICS Design and Innovation Award.
Centre for Scottish War Blinded, Linburn
St.Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow
Team member Sarah Jane Bogle picked up a ‘My Place Award Commendation’ presented by the Scottish Civic Trust, for the Fair Maid’s House Project in Perth. The award ceremony was at the Lighthouse on Tuesday 27th March.
Sarah Jane Bogle collecting My Place Award. Photo by Donald MacLeod
We are pleased to find that all of our projects submitted in the Scottish Design Awards 2012 have been shortlisted for an award.
Bluebell View, University of Warwick
St. Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow
