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Inclusion Zone Redevelopment, Donegall Pass, Belfast:
Concept & Envisioning Feasibility Study, January 2009
APPENDIX E: Discussion Document for Sustainable Measures
APPENDIX F: Practice Information – Consarc Design Group and EPEC
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Appendix A: Condition Survey, Existing Building (Inclusion Zone)
Appendix B: Schedule of Existing Accommodation – Donegall Pass Community Forum Offices, Grove House
Appendix C: Crèche and Nursery Options
Appendix D: Discussion Document for Sustainable Measures
1.0 Introduction 2.0 Grants Available   3.0 Proposals for Heat Source Plant/Electricity   4.0 Renewable Technologies
5.0 Energy Efficiency Measures   6.0 Options for Space Heating   7.0 Other Important Considerations
Appendix E: Best Practice Examples:
ŸWoodvale Community Centre ŸArdoyne Community Centre ŸMayo Education Centre, Castlebar ŸCommunity Resource Centre, North King Street, Dublin ŸPlatform 1, Kings Cross, London ŸCommunity Centre, Kings Cross, London ŸMillennium Powerhouse, Manchester ŸCentre Point, Community Centre, Killyleagh
Appendix F: Practice Information – Consarc Design Group and EPEC

Appendix E: Best Practice Examples

There are many best practice examples which can be studied to inform the Donegall Pass project.  A number of recently constructed community centres constructed by Belfast City Council in deprived areas of the city are worth looking at.  Consarc Design Group have acted as architect and lead consultant for two new build community centre projects, at Woodvale and Ardoyne, leading a team of design professionals to take each project from inception to completion.

Woodvale Community Centre

Located at the junction of Cambrai and Ohio Streets, this new build community centre is a contemporary modern 2 storey structure, which replaced an existing facility in the same location.  The accommodation comprises a main hall, community cafe, arts and crafts room, computer and meeting rooms, offices, stores and toilet areas.

Considered consultation with stakeholders and user groups informed the development of the floor plans, which were agreed and signed off by both project sponsor and the community centre committee. Belfast City Councillors were consulted as part of the process. The built accommodation is to a high specification throughout, and significant security measures were implemented, given the recent history of events in the area.  The centre was opened in 2008.  The construction works cost £626,000.00.

Front Elevation

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Ardoyne Community Centre

This new build community centre, completed in 2008, is a single storey contemporary modern building located in Herbert Street in the heart of the Ardoyne.  The building has been designed to take account of very specific issues which were raised through a process of consultation with end-users.  The accommodation is planned around a communal space or hub, designed to allow clear direction finding and good orientation.

The main hall is primarily designed for short mat bowling, but is a flexible space which allows other youth, sporting, and community activities.  The minor hall and general purpose rooms are also flexible spaces which are used by various clubs, women’s groups, pre-school groups, etc. A small external but enclosed garden is provided to allow supervised play. Security issues were high on the agenda, the building being located in an area of Belfast with a troubled past. All openings to the exterior have carefully designed roller shutters incorporated. Project costs £746,000.00

Elevation

ARDOYNE COMMUNITY CENTRE - As Built Floor Plans, RICS Awards 2008

Mayo Education Centre, Castlebar

This Education Centre is a central resource and training facility for the teaching profession of County Mayo.  The architectural intent was for a building which would lift the spirits of all those who entered.

The 640m² building is sculptural in form, with two rectangular blocks displaced by the insertion of an oval volume.  This generates a central triangular space which forms the heart of the project.  An in-situ concrete canopy establishes a civic approach up a ramp to a lead cube entrance which projects through a glass pane.

This project is relevant to the Donegall Pass project because it is highly modern, bold and distinctive, with careful attention given to building materials and architectural form.

Ground Floor Plan - Mayo Education Centre, Castlebar

Community Resource Centre, North King Street, Dublin

This community resource centre was developed by Dublin City Council as part of the HARP (Historic Area Regeneration Project) initiative.  The brief was to provide a multi functional community resource building whose principal user will be MACRO (the Markets Area Community Resource Organisation), an established community organisation, which provides a range of services to the community including information services, adult education and training, counselling services, local employment services, senior citizens care; crèche, community and youth services.  All of these uses are closely aligned with the Donegall Pass project.

A series of consultative meetings took place with MACRO management and the individual service providers to develop the brief for the building and, in particular, to understand both the specific requirements of individual uses and the complex inter-relationship between them. These meetings led to an understanding with MACRO is a significant resource in the local community and its community development projects are a significant contributor to the social and economic regeneration of the Markets area.

The principal design considerations, which informed the development of the project were:

• The provision of a community resource building, which in addition to providing specific accommodation would act as a symbol of community regeneration;
• The design of the build was to be open, accessible and engaging to the area and its residents;
• The provision of a legible and clear organisation to facilitate easy use of its various functions;
• A response to the potential of the site, particularly in its frontage onto North King Street, while simultaneously ameliorating its north facing orientation.

The community resource centre is entered from Green Street, a quiet local street, which is more amenable than the traffic orientated North King Street.  The building is organised around a central space, which is seen, in terms of materiality and quality of light, as an extension of the public realm of the street, and admits natural light into the centre of the building.  This space divides the plan of the building between a circulation/service zone on the southern boundary adjacent to the Debtors Prison, and the community use areas, which are organised towards North King and Green Street.

Externally the building is articulated as two principle volumes, which reflect the basic organisation and, in particular, its public accessibility, a board-marked concrete service and circulation block and a blue engineering brickwork-clad element, containing the main services. The Green Street elevation has a covered entrance space, with the screened crèche courtyard above, separating these two volumes and signifying the entrance and central space and void within.

First Floor Plan - Community Resource Centre, North King Street, Dublin

Ground Floor Plan - Community Resource Centre, North King Street, Dublin

Platform 1, Kings Cross, London

Designed by Gollifer Langston Architects, this recently constructed city learning centre is an exemplar model, very cost conscious project, built for £1,350,000 (£1310 /m²).  The building is more than flexible. It is adaptable, and capable of reconfiguring in the future by the removal of partitions.

The entrance to the building is under two plane trees, whose roofs dictated the boundaries of the surprisingly generous courtyard.  Otherwise it is barely landscaped.  The public entrance leads to a distinctive lobby, which is a bright and airy space. Bright colours are used throughout, especially in the crèche area, located at the front of the building.  Very careful selection of furniture and control of the fit-out elements provide a very high quality feel, setting a high standard for other city centre learning centres to follow.

3D Plan View - Platform 1, Kings Cross, London

Community Centre, Kings Cross, London

Priory Green lies at the centre of the Peabody Trust’s 10 housing estates between Angel Islington and Kings Cross in North London. A lack of social facilities led the Trust to commission a new community centre. (Total cost £2,044,447 - £2375 / m²).

JCMT Architects were commissioned to design a two storey centre, which comprised of 3 buildings within a timber frame, comprising community meeting rooms, a large hall, a crèche, a manned entrance hall, and estate and regional offices for The Peabody Trust.  The community hall, located at first floor level, projects over the entrance lobby, and is a simple beech-lined room with glazed ends overlooking playgrounds on either side.  Externally, it is wrapped in pre-patinated copper. On the first floor, rooflights for natural ventilation enhance daylight levels.  The building is seen as a symbol of regeneration by the people who live on the estates.

Plan View - Community Centre, Kings Cross, London

Millennium Powerhouse, Manchester

The Moss Side estate in Manchester is known as Britain’s “Bronx”.  This new build community centre is a major youth provision and community hub for the estate.  Designed by architects Mills, Beaumont, Lavery, Channon, it was completed in 2000 at a cost of £2,437,998 (£920 /m²).

The building comprises a well equipped resource centre, art studios, a vehicle maintenance workshop, a large indoor sports hall, café, crèche, residential accommodation, music and rehearsal rooms.  The combination of so many functions is unusual. A courtyard separates but somehow links the café with the residential wing.  The crèche sits in a shaped space in the corner of the courtyard.  Above the café is the resource centre, something like a library but with computers and a space dedicated for homework clubs. There are also quiet rooms for counselling, an art studio, and acoustically isolated recording rooms. The architect has strived to create challenging spaces wherever possible.  The entrance to the courtyard, on the west elevation, slips between the café/resource area and the crèche. The staircase to the main resource area has intriguing light sources and glimpses into the other parts of the building. This building is a very good example of a user-friendly community centre.

Plan Views - Millennium Powerhouse, Manchester

Centre Point, Community Centre, Killyleagh

Designed by Todd Architects of Belfast, and commissioned by Down District Council, this project was completed in 1999 at a cost of £700,000. The accommodation is arranged around a multi-use hall, and comprised a minor hall, reception and exhibition areas, and changing facilities.

The hall is visually and physically separated from the adjoining ‘lean-to’ accommodation by a circulation spine which is glazed along the full length of its roof and at either end. This glazed ‘slot’ allows natural light to flood into the space, which together with the introduction of splashes of colour in the interior, creates a brightness and airiness often missing in buildings of this type.  The design process has been extended into a careful consideration of the building’s detailing. For example, bulky roller shutters, required to secure external spaces, are concealed from view. The spaces in this building are exceptionally well organised.

Plan View - Centre Point, Community Centre, Killyleagh

Location Plan - Centre Point, Community Centre, Killyleagh

Appendix F: Practice Information – Consarc Design Group and EPEC

Consarc Design Group - Architects and Quantity Surveyors

Consarc is unique in the Northern Ireland marketplace in offering these 2 disciplines under one roof. Consarc is the largest architectural practice in Belfast and Ireland, with 90 staff in offices in Belfast (The Gas Office), Dublin and Londonderry. The study is supported by cost information provided by the Quantity Surveyors.

epec – Gordon Welsh, Director

epec is an economic development consultancy specialising in projects with a built dimension. These envisioning feasibility studies include the creation of a new village, (as an affordable housing development), in County Cork, a business/enterprise/learning/workspace hub in Bangor and, with Consarc, work for the National Trust at the Giant’s Causeway.

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