Lakelands Community Centre

Agent: Apex CM
Quantity Surveyor: Dudley Smith Partnership
CDM: Dudley Smith Partnership
Structural Engineer: Rossi Long Consulting Limited
M&E Engineer: JSH Engineers
Landscape Design: Landscape and Sculpture Design Partnership
Acoustics: Cahill Design Consultants

Following an open invitation to tender for architectural services, Barefoot & Gilles was appointed to design and deliver a Community Facility for the neighbouring Lakelands Development.

The Lakelands Community Centre is part of a wider land remediation and reclamation scheme which transforms a former quarry site into a country park serving both the Lakelands Development and surrounding area.

The project was one of the first ventures of Colchester Amphora Trading Limited (CATL), a development company set up by Colchester City Council to develop sites in their ownership for sports and community facilities. The CATL developments utilize Section 106 payments to create facilities which are leased to community organisations at commercial rates.

The design was the subject of extensive public consultation and comprises a central multi-purpose Hall with Kitchen and Servery and a suite of lettable community spaces. The building can accommodate a wide range of sports activities and social functions including large social gatherings of up to 200 people.

To avoid nuisance to nearby residents the design of the main Hall incorporates restricted fenestration, enhanced acoustic insulation and a high-capacity air-handling installation. Inside the Hall itself, a sprung floor facilitates dancing, aerobics, and ball games.

The form of the building and the external materials employed reference agricultural buildings compatible with the semi-rural location. A central pitched roof element recalls barn construction whilst the outcrops to either side imply a building adapted over time. The pitched roof planes are separated to increase plan depth and reinforce the visual impact of the gable ends. A limited palette of recyclable materials is employed externally.

The straightforward massing and references to organic growth produce a building which sits comfortably in the landscape and presents a welcoming face to the community it serves.

During the course of this project the budget available was substantially increased which enabled additional floor space to be viable. We worked closely with the client to ensure that a scheme which had already received stakeholder approval could be adapted to take full advantage of the additional funds.

Our design for the Lakeland Centre benefits from experience gained in the design evolution of the ‘Nook’  where a highly serviced interior likely to receive heavy use can avoid an ‘institutional’ ambience.

The Lakelands Centre has proved to be very successful with the Hall fully booked throughout the year.