Hebden Bridge Town Hall’s role in the recent floods

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Image: SillyBilly’sToys

During the Christmas holiday period we all followed in angst the news of the flooding in the North of England. Leeds (luckily no one in the office was directly affected) and many other neighbouring places that are close to our heart being affected.

One of these places was Hebden Bridge. During the entire project life of the refurbishment and extension of the Town Hall we really got to know the local community. We were devastated to see the images of Hebden Bridge under water.

But this morning we received a truly uplifting email sent to us by an original Trustees who told us this about the Town Hall:

“You may have seen the recent floods in Hebden in the media, and how the Town Hall, as the only public building not to be affected, became the hub of the relief operations. Although no longer a trustee I was down helping and there were thousands of people throughout the building receiving help in all aspects of their lives. An amazing response from the community.

Without the Town Hall there would have been incredible suffering in the town and even though the building has been extremely successful since it opened, this must have been its finest hour.

So I just wanted to say thanks for making it so flood proof – it worked!!”

We are so happy not only to hear that the Town Hall was not flooded but above all how it is very much perceived and used as a real community asset, as the photo below (credit) show!

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“The Town Hall, hub for flood management response” Image and text by Craig Shaw

Christmas Card 96dpi

We are grateful for the year we’ve had, the projects we’ve worked on, the clients we’ve worked with and to be continuing working with colleagues who are talented, fun and ambitious. We are very much looking forward to 2016!

Bristol Festival of Ideas – Thurs 19th Nov

Irena will be speaking at a plenary session on 19th of November at Bristol Festival of Ideas- Festival of Cities in a session on New Thinking about Cities (2), Thursday 19 November 2015, 09.00-10.30 Watershed, Bristol. In this second session on new thinking about cities, there are contributions from: architect and writer Irena Bauman on resilience in neighbourhoods; writer and place-hacker Bradley Garrett on the need to oppose the privatisation of public space; Caroline Haynes (KPMG) on Magnet Cities; Charles Landry (Comedia) on ambitious cities; Mike Rawlinson (City ID) launches a manifesto for legible cities; and Melissa Sterry (design scientist and futurist) on bionic cities – how nature would design a city. Book your place here.

You can follow the event on Twitter @FestivalofIdeas and for the full programme see: http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/BCDP_BFOI_FOTFC_Brochure_Web.pdf

 

BLA at The Museums Association Annual Conference & Exhibition

We are pleased to have participated in The Museums Association Annual Conference & Exhibition held on November 5th/6th in Birmingham. This is Europe’s leading museum and heritage event and the largest event of its kind for museum and heritage professionals in Europe with over 1,500 attendees from all over the world coming together to discuss the key issues affecting the sector.

  • Irena presented a panel convened by Derby Museums Silk Mill http://www.derbymuseums.org/thesilkmill/  titled Head, Heart, Hands – Think , Feel, Do . The panel reflected on the issues of co-production learned through the successful Re-Make The Museum pilot that led to an award of £9.4 Million grant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a contribution of £4million for Derby City Council towards the development of Silk Mill: Museum of Making.
  • The panel was chaired by Daniel Martin from Silk Mill, with Helen Charman, Director of Learning and Research at Design Museum, London and Chris Keady Curator of Making and Lifelong Learning Programmer at Silk Mill as panelists.

For full details of the Conference Programme see: http://view.pagetiger.com/conference-exhibition-2015/conference-2015

Exploring Neepsend 2015 // Public Charrette

The Sheffield School of Architecture students on the MA in Urban Design Programme will be hosting a public design charrette “Exploring Neepsend 2015” this Thursday at KIAC (Kelham Island Arts Collective).

The students have been studying the area around Neepsend through a range of creative research urban design tools and methods. During the charrette they will share their findings and their views on the area, seek feedback on their proposals, and initiate a discussion around possible futures for Neepsend and surrounding areas.

This event is jointly organised by the Sheffield School of Architecture, SKINN and KIAC.

Where: KIAC, The Lions Works, 40 Ball St, Sheffield S3 8DB
When: Thursday 22 October 2015, 4-6pm

 

 

RISE Awards 2015

We were delighted on Friday evening to be the recipient of the RISE Awards 2015 for Product & Element Interface. The award recognises the development of our MassBespoke digital construction system, enabled by Innovate UK grant funding.

The RISE Awards celebrates research & development in academia and industry and is hosted by Leeds Beckett University. The awards ceremony followed the “Sustainable, Ecological, Engineering Design for Society” conference, with a keen focus on innovation.

Congratulations also to CITU for winning a RISE Awards in the category “Sustainable Development & Energy” and for hosting us at their dinner table.

Little Kelham, Sheffield

We are delighted to be working with Leeds-based developer CITU on their mixed-use residential project at Little Kelham in Sheffield. Adjacent to recent regeneration projects at Kelham Island, Little Kelham will be a new energy-efficient, low-carbon neighbourhood on a former steel works complex North of Sheffield City Centre. 153 super insulated and air-tight homes are currently being constructed using offsite technologies. The project is being fully documented and delivered to BIM Level 2.

Original site model by Sturgeon North/CAL Architects

As taken from Green Lane end, phase 1b is visible in the distance with the pitched roofs.First image: Original site model by Sturgeon North/CAL Architects
Second image: Taken from Green Lane end of the site, phase 1b is visible in the distance with the pitched roofs

Urbanistas exhibition in the AJ

AJ Urbanista article

With a bit of delay, we want to share a thoughtfully written article on the AJ of the Urbanistas exhibition that Irena was part of. The article in full can be found here.

Architecture and Resilience on a Human Scale

The Building Local Resilience School Platform, of which Irena Bauman is part of as Professor of Sustainable Urbanism, is an exciting new initiative in the Sheffield School of Architecture. Currently this project is being developed as a new ‘umbrella’ research platform. A timeline of events has been part of this process, which began in June 2013 is now leading to the Architecture and Resilience on a Human Scale international conference, of which Irena has been the lead organiser.

The conference will provide the opportunity to explore the many ways that architectural academics and practicing architects are engaging with issues of resilience, to collate the emerging knowledge and set it in its theoretical context. Also, this conference celebrates the body of work developed in the Building Local Resilience School Platform and the contribution it is making towards transformational society. We share the words and sentiment of the anthropologist Henrietta Moore : .. the future  learning will not be about the transferability of whole models with known outcomes, but rather about incomplete learning, experimentation and collaboration.

The conference will be held at the Showroom, Sheffield on the 10th till the 12th of September 2015. For more information on the conference Proceedings and Programme, please see here.

New kitchens for Lister – Sheffield SYHA

Our client South Yorkshire Housing Association have produced a short video to share the new kitchens at the Lister Project (part of the LiveWell schemes), in Sheffield. We enjoyed working on this project and getting involved with both customers and staff. The kitchens’ refurbishment reinforces our belief that small design interventions can bring a positive impact to our lives and wellbeing. You can watch it here.

Passivhaus – Results Day!

We are happy to report that our Sam Wilson has passed the Passivhaus exam to achieve “Certified Passivhaus Designer” status. This new learning adds to our interest in Building Physics and ability in making and delivering low-energy sustainable places & spaces. Bauman Lyons are currently engaged in a number of projects employing Passivhaus principles – so watch this space!

 

Potteric Carr visitor centre

Planning Render 01_Final

BLA are delighted to have been selected following competitive tender to work with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in the design of the new visitor centre at Potteric Carr. We have been working with YWT since November 2014 to develop the design of the new visitor centre, which will be a naturally ventilated building requiring low energy input and constructed of timber. Materials & construction have been proposed to harmonise with the sensitive ecological setting, and visitor and staff experience will be enhanced with a close connection to wildlife and the beautiful surroundings.

 

Planning Render 03_Final

Passivhaus training

In May this year Sam attended training to become a Certified Passivhaus Designer. The course was delivered by AECB using material from the Passivhaus Institut and adapted for UK Building Regulations and practices. AECB’s Carbonlite Training is recognised by the PHI and included principles & science of Passivhaus Design, as well as use of the Passivhaus Planning Package. It was particularly useful to visit two Passivhaus projects and see the real terms benefits and in-use operation of completed Passivhaus buildings, as well as physically test performance characteristics first-hand. BLA are currently working on Passivhaus derived projects and putting the learning to good use!

The Past, Present and Future of Modern Methods of Construction

Irena will be guest speaker at the Chartered Institute of Housing Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Board: AGM on 9th July 2015 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The theme is The Past, Present and Future of Modern Methods of Construction and Irena will talk about the potential of the new technologies to disrupt the construction industry. For more information, see www.cih.org/yorkshireandhumberside