WORK Designscape 2019 Edition
Designscape Architects
Specialists in Design
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Working Together Collaboration
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Technology
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Sustainability
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Procurement
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Fees
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Local Practice, National Outlook
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01 Workplaces of the Future
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02 Manufacturing
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03 Storage and Distribution
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04 Big Sheds
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05 Unusual Workplaces
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06 Creative re-use for Workplaces
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07 Sustainability & Construction Technology
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Contents
We are Designscape, a design-led architecture practice with a wealth of experience designing workplaces throughout and beyond the UK. From art galleries and offices to agricultural and high-tech manufacturing, we design buildings that are both beautiful and functional. Spanning the historic centre of a UNESCO World Heritage City, industrial landscapes and sensitive open countryside locations, our starting point is always the same. We listen carefully to the needs of each client and the building’s end users to create workplaces that work well and sit perfectly in the context of their environment. We are proud to share some of our principal workplace projects here, demonstrating our potential and outlining our approach within the commercial workplace sector.
We are Designscape
Specialists in Design Good design is at the very core of what we do. Good design comes out of a logical process and results in a solution that feels inevitable, and never forced or contrived. Knowing that the best design always results in a more successful financial outcome for our clients, at Designscape we combine our ingenuity, sensitivity and expertise to determine the right solution for your site, your programme and your budget. There is a common perception that architects are specialists, devoting themselves to a particular type of building or working within a specific industry sector. At Designscape, we are specialists. We are specialists in design. We do not limit ourselves by project type, but we bring our considerable experience to each brief afresh. We pride ourselves in approaching each new architectural challenge with critical thinking and equal insight, energy and conviction. Another misconception is that design is synonymous with style. While designing good looking buildings is important to us, it is not our only motivation. For us, good design means creating work places where people enjoy spending time, that are fit for purpose and that are inherently sustainable. We understand that designing a workplace that is enjoyed by the people who work there brings significant value to the business – helping to attract and retain the people they want, boosting productivity and reducing absenteeism. These benefits by far outweigh the costs of the initial investment. Often clients come with only an outline idea of what they want. They have a need for a building on a specific site but sometimes before a site is chosen need architectural insight to bring a project to life. This is where we begin to add significant value. We help our clients explore and refine their needs before responding with concept ideas. Not only does this help both parties ensure they are on the right path to an architectural solution but also, that every part of the brief is being met.
Park Grounds Waste to Energy, Swindon
- Nigel Richings, Facilities Manager, Alliance Pharmaceuticals
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It has recently been my privilege to work with Designscape Architects. I have found them understanding of my needs, supportive and intuitive. The designs they have produced are second to none and I can easily state that I would not wish to work with any other Architect.
Exactaform, Coventry
Working Together We like to think that when a client commissions us, we are embarking on a journey together. We take the time to get to know you, meeting on site to understand your requirement in its context. After identifying your priorities, we hope before long, to build your trust in us and develop a close working relationship that you find enjoyable and rewarding. One of Designscape’s Principals will lead your project throughout. With a breadth of experience brought with them from early careers in larger practices, both are closely supported by a dedicated team of project architects. Designscape practices a flat office structure enabling decisions to be made quickly. This means our clients designs can progress smoothly and seamlessly from concept to implementation. We strive to ensure that all of our clients find the experience of working with us, and working in a Designscape building, both gratifying and fulfilling.
Collaboration With relationships built from past collaborations and our construction industry network, we are well placed to help clients appoint other professionals whose expertise may be required in a project. We enjoy collaborating with like-minded companies that are inventive, innovative and creative. We particularly like working with companies that are leaders in their field. Adopting a team approach with structural engineers, cost advisers and construction contractors, Designscape can guide your project through an often complex and demanding process to a successful completion.
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Designscape are an integral part and foundation of our projects as we look to modernise our global facilities. They understand Seco and our people and support development of the environments we need now and into the future.
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- Paul Hipkin, Global Project Manager, Global Real Estate, SecTools AB
As engineers we are privileged to work with many shades of architect, designer and artist both nationally and internationally.
- Stephen Melville, Director, Format Engineers
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Designscape are exceptional and possess a spirit of adventure with a practical rigour and a love of detail. We greatly enjoy working with them. From an open culture of debate and mutual respect often arises something different and buildings to be proud of.
Technology Ongoing investment in new technology allows Designscape to offer a continually improving product and excellent service. The ability to more accurately represent the built reality has been found to add real value before, during and after construction. Using the modelling tools we now have at our disposal, clients can experience a virtual reality walk through of their project from the very early stages of design. All of Designscape’s work is created in a 3D BIM model environment, so that we are able to produce information in a way that is most useful to developers, contractors and building users.
Sustainability Designscape have long been champions of more sustainable design and this is embedded into our design process - from the siting of a building, the materials which make up its fabric and the energy it uses. We believe that a sustainable building is a lasting, low energy, lowmaintenance structure, which benefits the occupier throughout the building’s life.
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Of course Designscape care greatly about architecture, and believe in its potential to make positive differences to our world. They work extremely hard to get the most out of every project. - Rob Gregory, Teaching Fellow, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, University of Bath
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By using parametric digital design tools, we are also able to optimise design performance of components. Parametric design software also facilitates the accurate digital manufacture of bespoke parts and components at no additional cost. As well as greater economy of materials and speed of construction, this has the potential to make previously rejected sites more feasible to develop.
Science Studios, Gloucestershire
Procurement We believe in using your resources to maximum effect and while this may sometimes mean being realistic about what is possible, we will be able to advise on budgetary restraints and give direction on what a project may cost to build during the early stages of the design process.
Fees In line with industry standards, we usually work on a fixed fees basis. This is tailored to the requirements of your project and is based on estimates of time. However, each new relationship is important to us, so we are flexible in our approach to negotiating an arrangement that suits a client’s needs.
Local Practice, National Outlook Having designed buildings in the UK, across Europe and further afield in Indonesia, we are not constrained by our location. From our base in Bath, we service clients from the wider geographical area who enjoy the benefit of our practice not being subject to big London overheads. Through experience we have found that close connection with a site isn’t always necessary and that beginning each new design with a fresh set of eyes can be a positive advantage when designing successful workplaces.
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Exactaform, Coventry
Our work for the Soil Association’s Head Office saw Designscape shortlisted in an international competition to redefine the healthy office environment. By taking a human-centric approach, our response and proposed scheme was based on the concept of a ‘free-range’ workforce.
Soil Association, Bristol
01 Workplaces of the Future The world of work is changing. We are in the midst of a technology revolution that many predict will have more impact on working practices than the industrial revolution. Our knowledge-based economy is generating different sorts of jobs. In fact, many of the jobs that the next generation will be doing have yet to be invented, and many of today’s jobs carried out by robots. We recognise that attracting and retaining the best people is high on the agenda for most businesses today, especially in light of the huge increase in start-ups disrupting the corporate landscape. From fostering a more collaborative working environment
to designing spaces better suited to different tasks and working styles, organisations are upgrading their workplaces in response. Looking after your people makes good business sense. A good working environment needs to be healthy and stimulating. We are working with employers to reinvent the places their people work in and count university buildings, commercial offices, art studios as well as industrial buildings in our portfolio.
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02 Manufacturing Businesses are realising the benefits of a well considered working environment which maximises the potential for communication and teamwork. Factories of the future will be efficient, clean and humane spaces, enjoyed by people who work there. Maximising natural daylight, along with acoustic and thermal comfort, are key considerations in the design of manufacturing workplaces. At Designscape, we also like to challenge the old notion of blue and white collar working relationships to design buildings that support productive and collaborative team environments.
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Hill Farm Dairy, Somerset
15 Seco Bourges, France
03 Storage and Distribution The world of logistics is fast-moving and demanding. Location, access, speed of turnaround and efficiency are key to success. Advances in digital design and manufacturing are opening up exciting possibilities for more efficient and bespoke building structures and envelopes. This means that on sites previously considered unviable Designscape are able to propose workable architectural solutions. Online retail is fast changing how goods are distributed, making new demands on the buildings that facilitate this network. Urban-edge sites for freight consolidation are needed to complete the ‘last-mile’ delivery system. Potential sites are not only limited but competing with other uses. Most recently, we have been working on ideas for new building typologies capable of responding to the changing demands of society, and challenging some outmoded preconceptions about what these buildings can be and where they can be sited. With this in mind, we think it is time to rewrite the Big Shed rule book.
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Science Museum, One Collection, Deep Storage Building 17
04 Big Sheds As large-floorplate, free-span buildings in transportaccessible locations become increasingly in demand for a very wide range of operations so buildings must evolve to fit the constraints of available sites.
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unlock the potential of a site by challenging current thinking and designing solutions that previously would have caused a site to be considered unviable.
Design and construction technology is allowing us
Our recent projects include working with digital design and manufacturing techniques to make a
to make increasingly sophisticated design proposals that will increase the viability of more diverse sites, improving sustainability and offering a range of benefits to suit the fast-changing world of work. Designscape have the vision and expertise to help
large bespoke timber frame compete on cost with a steel one. The frame is tailored for the exact needs of the occupier, minimising the building volume and envelope, and in turn the cost and environmental impact.
Park Grounds Recource Energy Park, Swindon
Above all, Designscape are nice people to work with, gently challenging our preconceptions and helping us to lift the quality of the design to give us a practical, buildable and elegant solution which we are very excited about. - Nick Ash, Project Director, Crappers Biomass Ltd
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We have worked closely with Designscape in the development of a Resource Recovery Park incorporating waste processing and power generating plants. For a complex and technical development, Designscape were central in us obtaining an expeditious planning permission.
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05 Unusual Projects As architectural problem solvers, we have worked on a number of more unusual workplace projects. Individual and unique design solutions are what we are best at and where we believe Designscape can add the most value. The headquarters of a catering company, where the centre of the building is occupied by a commercial kitchen proved an interesting design challenge.
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Science Museum, One Collection, Deep Storage Building
Our response was to place the storage area in a separate lower-spec building so the space between the buildings could act as a covered loading bay. This reduced overall costs and allowed for a much better use of the site. Designscape’s proposal for the Science Museum’s ‘One Collection’ archive facility was shortlisted in a Europe wide competition open to architecture practices.
Our design provided a mixture of large and small spaces for long term storage of a vast and diverse range of artefacts. Our design challenged the preconceived notion of a large storage warehouse by making a much more efficient building solution. A strong, flexible, column-free timber frame with minimum surface area, offered a stable internal environment, longer life and reduced maintenance running costs.
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Alliance Pharma, Chippenham, Wiltshire
06 Creative re-use for Workplaces Old institutional standards are being questioned and technology is driving change, allowing organisations to be smaller and more agile, and employees more mobile and less fixed to a single location. 22
City centres are making a comeback and people want to work in popular locations with good transport links and good business connections. With retailers vacating the High Street due to business rates rises and our shopping habits altering, the urban landscape is changing and new uses are being found for existing buildings. Creative architectural interventions to provide good quality work space for businesses in High Street locations will be key in supporting small, agile businesses, whilst continuing to preserve the quality of our town centres.
Holcombe Mill, Gloucester, Nailsworth
Some of the most attractive workplaces are buildings that were originally built for another purpose. Factories and mills, large houses and shops are all being repurposed as different kinds of workplaces.
Alliance Pharma, Chippenham, Wiltshire 23
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Environmental stability is at Designscape’s core, starting with careful efficient planning, that in pursuit of spatial delight and organisational effectiveness ensures that they only build what is absolutely necessary. When specifying materials and producing construction details, Designscape prioritise a ‘fabric-first’ approach. They spend their clients’ money wisely on enduring materials and components, instead of buying in the latest technology.
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- Rob Gregory, Teaching Fellow, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, University of Bath
07 Sustainability & Construction Technology The world is beginning to understand the need for a low carbon society, and the regulations we work to are starting to reflect this. Designscape have always been at the leading edge of sustainability and demonstrate genuine expertise in sustainable building design. Adopting a holistic approach and considering the entire range of issues from energy use and embodied energy to materials and toxicity, we also understand the costs and benefits of more sustainable buildings. We prioritise the choice of materials used in a building’s fabric to minimise the need for energy consumption, while extending its lifespan and reducing routine maintenance.
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Added to this, our skill in construction detailing recognises the unique properties of the materials we use and demonstrates our thorough understanding of how to use those materials to their best advantage. This results in buildings that not only look good, but are a pleasure to work in, cheap to run and maintain, and get better with age. With creativity and innovation, constraints can become opportunities. Meeting the challenges before us gives us the opportunity to use our knowledge and the tools at our disposal to ‘rewrite’ the rules of workplace design, and create a solution not constrained by conventional thinking.
Hill Farm Dairy, Somerset
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Designscape Architects Bath Brewery Toll Bridge Road Bath BA1 7DE
t:
01225 858500
e: enquiries@dscape.co.uk w: www.dscape.co.uk
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WORK Designscape 2019 Edition Designscape Architects