RCKa have embraced Offsite and other MMC on a number of projects, taking time to understand a range of systems which allows them to select the most appropriate for the job in hand. This research-led approach has provided them with the opportunity to employ these systems within projects which are often considered to be unlikely candidates for innovative approaches to building construction. They have also often encountered resistance to the use of new technologies; this is frequently down to a misunderstanding of what pre-fabrication really involves, coupled with concerns about appearance and longevity.
RCKa believes however, that the use of Offsite & MMC offers advantages over traditional construction methods which far outweigh any limitations. Fast construction time and accuracy of assembly are obvious benefits, but in addition, with a good understanding of the system it allows interesting architectural details to be achieved in a much more cost-effective manner compared to traditional methods.
The two examples shown on this page are winning entries for UK housing competitions both planned with Offsite in mind. The first is a design for the City Waterside development in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent. This scheme, involving the construction of some 400 new-build homes in the heart of the city, was designed to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6. Part of the environmental strategy involved the use of highly-insulated SIP panels providing both structure and envelope. The houses have large openings which look south over the landscape beyond; a clever sectional arrangement affords houses on both sides of the street the same dramatic aspect.
The second scheme is the RCKa winning entry for the Gateway goes for Guild housing competition. Set within a sensitive historic area of Preston, the use of carefully-chosen brick was an integral part of the entry for fourteen homes which responded to the surrounding context. The use of a pre-fabricated, super-insulated timber-framed panel was to help achieve Code of Sustainable Homes Level 4, through the integration of a mini district heating system, utilising an array of standard domestic boilers and solar thermal panels. A future upgrade to Level 5 will therefore be possible with only limited capital investment.
A common mistake in the use of MMC is to try to fit a particular system to a particular building style, resulting in a great deal of wastage and cost. RCKa believe that the use of a particular Offsite system should not lead the design approach; rather it must compliment it.

Run by the RIBA Competitions Office for Community Gateway Association, the competition attracted 74 entries, and the shortlist of four was announced in November last year.

Our winning scheme, comprising 14 new houses on a tight urban site to the north-east of Preston’s city centre, contains a mix of different unit sizes, with an innovative parking solution allowing an unbroken elevation to the southern boundary, and mews houses along a homezone to the north.

Dave Warlow, Community Gateway Association, said:

Throughout the Gateway Goes for Guild competition we have been overwhelmed by the responses and the quality of the submissions sent to us [74 entries].

RCKa have, with their proposal shown a thorough understanding of what we were looking for in this project.

Judges’ comment on RCKa’s proposals

This was a good team presentation from a practice that has relevant experience of housing in the region and a good balance of skills and past track record of working with Registered Social Landlords. The two lead architects both fit the ethos of Community Gateway and the local community and gave a clear indication that they would listen to the local residents and be comfortable working with them. The presentation was very sincere and the team gave the impression that this would be a special project for them.

The panel especially liked the focus on using local consultants and constructors, and the opportunities that the latter would afford for young people in the area to gain apprenticeships and employment. The house plans were well designed and suitable for the BME community, and the team had obviously got a good grasp of the site which was reflected in a well presented analysis. The issue of parking was handled ingeniously by bringing the cars into the garden spaces.

Links:

• Architects’ Journal, 21 January 2010 (subscription required)
• RCKa project page
• Community Gateway Association
• RIBA Competitions Office

RCKa, working closely with members of Lewisham’s Integrated Youth Support Service, prepared a comprehensive funding bid during the summer of 2009 which was submitted to MyPlace in September.

We will now be working closely with the MyPlace Support team and the young people of Lewisham to develop the designs further during 2009, with completion expected in early 2013.

Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, said:

“This is absolutely wonderful news. Young people need exciting places where they can just be themselves and safe places where they can access support and grasp opportunities; places where we can offer positive challenges, places that say ‘you are important, we care’.  We are very lucky in Lewisham to have young people who are committed and dedicated to strengthening their communities. The fact that they worked so hard with the Council to produce a successful bid is testament to that. We are very proud of them and cannot wait to see what will be a state-of-the-art youth facility up and running in Sydenham.”

Our proposal provides a range of house types, including eight four-bed, four three-bed houses and two bungalows on a tight urban site close to a sensitive conservation area. The scheme provides a new shared-surface homezone at the rear of the development linking through to the St. Ignatius’ Church, whilst maintaining a strong street frontage along Meadow Street and St. Paul’s Road.

Interviews to determine the winning team will be held in Preston next month.

Links:

• Architects’ Journal
• RIBA Competitions Office Press Release
• Gateway Goes for Guild Competition Page

RIBA Competitions Office Press Release:

Gateway goes for Guild Social Housing, Preston – Shortlist announced
Community Gateway Association, Preston’s largest housing association has announced the names of the 4 shortlisted teams in the competition to design a social housing development in Preston city centre, anticipated to be built and occupied to coincide with and celebrate Preston Guild 2012.
Preston Guild is a famous and unique celebration with more than 800 years of tradition. The Guild dates back to the granting of Preston’s first Charter by King Henry in 1179. Linking the city’s glorious heritage and past with its ambitions for the future, the Guild is Preston’s most important and historic event and is held every 20 years. The next Guild is in 2012 with the theme of ‘Innovation and Creativity’.
Architects were invited to develop innovative design proposals for a social housing development in the centre of Preston, where people would aspire to live. The winning scheme, with an emphasis on design quality and energy efficiency, was to be a project demonstrating that affordable does not equate to ordinary, and act as an exemplar for future social housing developments in Preston and elsewhere.
74 first stage entries were received and included submissions from Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Serbia, and the Netherlands. The four shortlisted teams in alphabetical order are:

• Conran & Partners, London
• KOSI Architects, Chichester
• Original Field of Architecture, Oxford
• RCKarchitects, London

Each of the shortlist will attend a final interview on the 8th December and discuss with the assessment panel their proposals. Each of these teams will receive an honorarium of £3,000.

The proposal includes a range of exciting activities for young people as well as education, support and health services providing much-needed facilities to a deprived area of the city.

The scheme includes an external Multi-Use Games Area, skateboard park and climbing wall, as well vocational training facilities including a training kitchen and IT suite.

A new “street” running through the centre of the building, providing a route through to the park at the rear. This dramatic, double-height space provides access to all of the activity areas and includes a cafe area which is served by the training kitchen, as well as providing views across the external play areas.

Candidates should ideally have at least one year’s experience working in practice, be competent with Microstation / Powerdraft, Sketchup and Photoshop.

Please email CVs and examples of work in PDF format (max. 5Mb) to jobs@rcka.co.uk.

No agents, please.

The exhibition runs until the 27th of October.

Hall viewed from stage

This bulging bag of brilliance includes a 450person nightclub, a 1000person live music hall, a 12m climbing wall passing up through an internal/external cafe with its own lamposts!, a training kitchen, IT/education zone, Dance Studio, listed conference suites, a health clinic, a youth theatre with recording studios and green rooms and a building-wide wifi information system.

OPEN’s ambitious aim is to expand its services to provide a positive environment for the young people of Norwich, with exciting activities, gigs, learning opportunities guidance and information, until it is literally OPEN 24/7.

Working alongside hudson architects the directors of RCKa have been involved from start to finish, including administering the building contract on site with John Youngs, who have also been great, and OPEN who are simply an unparallelled force for good in East Anglia.

RCKa would like to thank all of the OPEN team, especially Russ Dacre for his amazing fundraising and Les Brown for his tireless championing and project management. It has been a real pleasure and inspiration.

Climbing wall

Designer WCs!

Tim Riley, Director of RCKa, has been appointed as a Design Quality Enabler for the Transform South Yorkshire (www.transformsouthyorkshire.org.uk) HMR partnership.

TSY is the sub-regional housing and regeneration partnership for the South Yorkshire region. The organisation is spending around £250m on residential regeneration across Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield.

Crucially, TSY are placing good quality design at the heart of their strategy. Tim’s role will be to advise and guide key stakeholder groups on the best way to ensure that good quality design plays a fundamental role in procurement strategies.

Delivering Design Quality – Enabler’s Profile – Tim Riley

Whilst we were not responsible for the original design of the house, we were brought in to refine the design and obtain building control approval for the new home, which employs an innovative pre-fabricated timber construction system developed in Poland.

As well as being constructed from load-bearing timber profiles, the house employs a range of sustainable building technologies, including air-source heat pumps, rainwater recovery, wood-burning stove using locally-sourced timber and solar-thermal heating to achieve a Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3; an outstanding achievement for a single dwelling.

Credits:

• Pre-fabricated building system: Buildmer (www.buildmer.co.uk).
• Planning Consultants: WGDP (www.wgdp.co.uk).
• Code for Sustainable Homes / SAP Assessments: Brooks Devlin (www.brooksdevlin.com).