Fourways 2, Amble Development Trust, Amble
Amble Development Trust was established in 1994 to take forward the economic, social and environmental regeneration of Amble, which is a coastal town in Northumberland. The Trust was established following a Civic Trust study which showed that this fishing and former mining community set in the rural coalfield area required significant investment and new impetus to address the decline of the community.
A key element of the work of the Trust is asset development - this takes forward the regeneration of Amble and earns income thus increasing the financial viability of the Trust. The Trust's assets include the Fourways Enterprise & Opportunities Centre and the town square.
The Trust has recently developed Fourways 2 to provide office, conferencing and meeting facilities in the heart of Amble. The building has been designed in a contemporary manner, creating a striking yet welcoming building from the outside and high-quality office and conference/community spaces internally, the choice of local materials and massing to reflect the previous building on the site and those in its locality, clearly rooting the new development in its location.
Prior to the development of Fourways 2 no community building of this type had been built in Amble within living memory. Since its completion, the building has become a focus for community use, local business, groups and clubs frequently holding events and activities in the conference space. In recent months the building has housed a public enquiry, an exhibition of local artist's work and plans to hold similar events in the future.
The Site:
The site is a long rectangle in shape, on the south west corner of the junction of Dilston Terrace and Percy Drive, to the east of the town centre and had previously been the location of The Norseman Public House, this building having been demolished prior to the development of Fourways 2 commencing. There is a fall of approximate one half of a storey from the rear (south) of the site to the front, facing Dilston Terrace.
An existing terrace of houses abuts the site to the west, to the south there is a rear lane whilst to the west of the site there is open public space in front of further housing, this time set back from the road.
The Design Brief:
The design brief set by Amble Development Trust was to create high quality office space and state of the art conference facilities in an area that to date had no such facilities available to the local community and businesses. The project was to create an iconic building at a gateway to the town which would be the catalyst for further investment in the locality. The planning department restricted the height of the new building to be no higher than The Norseman building that had been on the site.
The Design:
The design response to the site, design brief and planning requirements focuses on maximising the site footprint, exploiting the fall across the site, introducing a natural ventilation and daylight strategy, creating a high quality internal environment, utilising traditional local materials while using a contemporary architectural language to create a building that will act as a landmark for the regeneration of Amble.
The office and conference accommodation is set over two floors at the rear (south) end of the site and over three floors at the front facing Dilston Terrace. The circulation core is set between these two parts and externally all three sections of the building are articulated separately by the use of three distinct roof forms: a curved aluminium standing seam roof over the rear section; a connecting flat roof over the circulation core; and a duo pitched roof over the three storey part facing Dilston Terrace, the rear pitch glazed and the front pitch slated to relate to the buildings adjacent.
The building is accessed from the centre of the long east elevation which is visible from a distance as one approaches the town centre and the contemporary design of the entrance steps, ramp and canopy articulate the building's entrance, whilst the palette of contemporary and traditional materials including a blue rendered panel bring vitality to the street.
The North elevation at street level has a more restrained character, where local stone has been utilised to define a solid plinth to the building. Sitting above this is a more lightweight bay window structure, maximising north light into the building whilst offering a dynamic 3-dimensional feature that is visible from all directions.
Due to the long, thin shape of the site and the presence of the adjacent properties to the west there was a danger that any accommodation towards the centre of the west side of the site would be unable to receive daylight and natural ventilation. However the innovative use of a glazed light-well, open to all floors, in this location brings daylight onto the heart of the building and via opening roof glazing allows natural ventilation via the stack effect drawing warm stale air out at high level and fresh cool air being drawn in via windows in the office space.
A key element of the design brief was to maximize the environmental sustainability of the building. The building has a Breeam rating on the building of "very good" (BRE Environmental Assessment Method).
Construction:
The competitive tender for the construction of Fourways 2 was won by Amble firm DP Builders, and so the construction contract employing local tradesmen and suppliers was one that directly supported the economic sustainability of the town. Furthermore the sense of ownership towards the building felt by those undertaking the construction is reflected in the high quality of the end product.
Funding:
Funding support for the development of Fourways 2 was received from Northern Rock Foundation, One NorthEast, Northumberland Strategic Partnership, Adventure Capital Fund, Alnwick District Council and ERDF.
