Construction employers have come together to design a new apprenticeship standard aimed at ensuring the next generation of workers have the skills they need to succeed. The standard for plastering has been approved as part of the trailblazer initiative, which was set up to encourage business leaders to join forces to improve on-the-job training. It will be followed by a new standard for bricklaying set to be agreed in the near future, with both standards expected to be operational as early as 2017. Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said the developments would help to equip the workforce of the future with essential skills and knowledge. He said: “We believe that the new standards we are developing will ensure that future generations of bricklayers and plasterers will not only have excellent technical knowledge and craft skills, but will result in young people with careers that are packed full of potential.” The standards were created as part of a collaborative process involving small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in construction, training providers and awarding bodies. This is said to be particularly important, as two thirds of the apprentices entering the construction sector are estimated to be trained by SMEs. Trailblazer apprenticeships form part of the Government’s efforts to create three million new apprenticeship places by the end of the decade. They are said to put employers in the driving seat, helping to ensure that training meets the needs of business, as well as giving a vital career boost to trainees. Welcoming news of the new standards, Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “By giving leading employers the power to design and deliver high-quality apprenticeships, we are giving people the vital skills our businesses need. “We are committed to three million apprenticeships by 2020 because apprenticeships deliver benefits to employers, apprentices and the economy.”  

Architects, Austin-Smith:Lord have won a competitive tender to deliver architectural, interior design, landscape design and engineering services to the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol as it begins a major redevelopment of its Bower Ashton Campus. The practice, which has recently opened a new Bristol studio, will design a new centre for digital media programmes including film, animation and photography. The three storey building forms the first phase of a masterplan for the redevelopment of the campus, which will include a second arts building, central landscaped square and the refurbishment of existing space. UWE’s Bower Ashton Studios is situated in close proximity to Bristol’s Ashton Court Estate which comprises a grade 1 listed mansion, listed landscape grounds and deer park and the new building is situated in a prominent position on the approach to the Estate. Commenting on the challenge, Tim Young, Director at Austin-Smith:Lord said: “In collaboration with the client and the contractor, Willmott Dixon, we worked hard to ensure that the design enhanced the conservation area setting, whilst providing a modern facility which would meet the needs of the University. Our solution was a design aesthetic which draws on the typology of agricultural barns and local materials. “ The new building provides 2400m2 floorspace, incorporating a series of workshop and studio spaces, including a TV production studio. A large student hub zone space is located at first floor, with a full height panoramic window giving views out across the adjacent deer park. This level also provides a series of computer labs and stop-motion animation studios. The quieter top floor accommodates a series of specialist sound recording spaces as well as staff offices, editing suites and further computer labs. The building has been designed to achieve BREEAM Very Good rating. Since being appointed to work on this project, Austin-Smith:Lord has subsequently been appointed to refurbish the Arnolfini building in Bristol Alex Gilkison, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education says, “The new studio facilities will support the Faculty’s ambition to develop a modern, digitally-enabled studio campus close to the heart of Bristol’s creative and digital economy.   “The Faculty has partnerships with BBC, Watershed, Encounters and Wildscreen Festivals, Aardman Animation, M Shed, Spike Island and Arnolfini.  These links are central to the Faculty’s practice-oriented strategy where students learn in industry relevant settings and with industry partners.”

The winner of the RIBA competition to create a youth centre at Preston Bus Station has revised his design so it no longer touches the grade II brutalist structure. John Puttick, a former Make partner, won the competition last year to restore BDP’s neglected 1969 landmark and add a 2,600sq m “youth zone” alongside it. His winning entry was for a building that stepped down to slot in under the bus station’s projecting tiers. Now he has revealed a new standalone design that will be cheaper, less complex and create a clear distinction between the two buildings. It will also allow the youth sport, art and performance space to be run by an independent operator. John Puttick Associates, which is based in New York and London, worked with the Twentieth Century Society and Historic England on the revised scheme which will preserve the long views down the side of the bus station. Puttick said: “One of our key objectives has been to design a building maximising available public space in and around the bus station to create a major new square for Preston. This supports the civic quality of the project. “It has also been important to respond to the proudly utilitarian quality of Preston Bus Station by designing a new neighbour that shares and celebrates this robustness.” In plan, the youth zone’s relationship to the bus station is in keeping with the original BDP strategy of a family of satellite structures including the vehicular ramps and taxi rank which read as a sequence of sculptural objects adjacent to the main building, he said. John Puttick Associates is also designing the overall refurbishment of the bus station. Puttick said this would involve a careful restoration of existing elements many of which are in good condition but compromised by visual clutter in the building. In order to reinstate the powerful original design, the practice will pare down the interior, return features to their original colour palette and reintroduce the Helvetica typeface for signage, he said. A main entrance hall will be created to give spatial coherence to the building, improving a sense of orientation and flow.

Peabody has submitted plans for its vast Thamesmead site in south-east London. Masterplanned by Proctor & Matthews Architects alongside Mecanoo and landscape architects Turkington Martin the new scheme will deliver 1,500 new homes and 10,000sq m of commercial, retail and leisure space in the Thamesmead area and “remedy earlier random interventions to create a coherent community”. Thamesmead, which straddles Greenwich and Bexley boroughs, is roughly the same size as the whole of central London. It was developed in the late 1960s under the guidance of GLC division architect Robert Rigg who was responsible for including large areas of open space and lakes intended to create an atmosphere of calm. Despite this Thamesmead suffered reputation problems not helped by being the backdrop to Stanley Kubrick’s distopian film A Clockwork Orange. According to Peabody the new proposals will create a linear focus to the neighbourhood which runs from Southmere Lake in the north to Abbey Wood station in the south. The plans also address issues with the Harrow Manorway road which has acted as a barrier to integration of the area. In April Peabody brought in former chief executive of the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation John Lewis to spearhead the scheme. A detailed application for a new civic quarter has also been drawn up by Proctor & Matthews and Mecanoo. Pitman Tozer, Bell Phillips and Project Orange are part of the wider design team for later development phases. Chief executive Stephen Howlett said: “Thamesmead is a special part of London with huge potential for the future. The creation of 1,500 new homes and a new high street as part of the Abbey Wood and South Thamesmead Housing Zone, together with the arrival of Crossrail means we also have the opportunity to create hundreds of new jobs and attract new business. “Peabody is committed to working with local residents to create the dynamic and thriving place where people aspire to live, work and visit. “We are particularly excited about the design quality of these proposals, and are proud that the plans have evolved from extensive conversations with people who live in South Thamesmead over the last two years.” Active frontages for commercial, retail and leisure spaces will create a mixed-use area with a high-quality public realm, activating the lakeside and improving the experience of the surrounding landscape, he said. The development will be built in four phases, with the civic quarter due to commence in early 2017 and the final phase completing in 2021. The architects’ view Four principal design approaches are expressed in a design code that defines the scheme and the four character areas: Southmere Lane This secondary route runs parallel to Harrow Manorway. Designed as a linear neighbourhood focus which meanders across the existing urban grid, it acts as an anchor for a visually enriched townscape, and offers a safe and logical route for cyclists and pedestrians. Ensembles In a reinterpretation of late 19th-century Peabody buildings, clusters of connected (yet differently sized) residential blocks will be grouped around raised shared courtyards, creating smaller communities within the larger whole and enlivened by active frontages with a mix of uses. Squares and Specials New squares include a lakeside civic square and smaller squares forming neighbourhood focal points. ‘Specials’ buildings – such as a new Library or two ‘flatiron’ residential buildings – will be visible from a wide area, different in shape and height from the Ensembles and accentuating specific townscape moments. Connection to landscape Southmere Lane will act as the main link to the landscape surrounding South Thamesmead, with smaller scale connections reinforcing the main pedestrian links. The civic quarter – detailed planning application The new Thamesmead civic quarter by Proctor & Matthews Architects and Mecanoo occupies a large site on the edge of Southmere Lake. A stalled regeneration scheme by Gallions Housing Association (subsequently acquired by Peabody in 2014) had seen much of the original masterplan demolished, and with it many of Thamesmead’s community and retail facilities. The new civic square will act as the focal point for local residents and visitors, and restore high quality community facilities to the area. Opening towards Southmere Lake, it emanates the qualities of a traditional European square or piazza: an attractive environment that allows street life to thrive. Ensemble blocks define the square. While each has its own distinctive character, they are tied together through a uniform façade articulation. The predominant material is brick, in response to residents’ desire for contrast with existing concrete buildings. Courtyards are differentiated in architectural language, detail, materials and colour. A five-storey building height clearly defines the square, while maintaining a sense of openness towards the lake. The first two levels are articulated as a colonnade, activated at ground level with shop frontages and building entrances, while a lighter rhythm is introduced on the upper levels. Beyond the fifth storey, further residential levels are set back to maximise sunlight into the square. The majority of apartments have dual aspect, with private balconies designed to maximize views and exposure to natural light. Raised gardens and recessed ground level courtyards within each block provide an element of variety and valuable shared open space for residents. The development contains a broad range of dwelling sizes from one bedroom apartments to four bedroom townhouses, and the design team and Peabody has worked closely with CBRE Residential to provide a residential mix that delivers high quality housing across all tenures, with 45% affordable housing. Proctor & Matthews Architects has also created a new civic building, housing a library, nursery and gym, to act as a social hub and the compositional focal point of the square. A three dimensional triangular form tapers from a single storey at the lake edge, rising to five storeys in response to the buildings surrounding the square. Its principal elevation is punctuated by a water clock tower, extending the inherent aquatic theme of Thamesmead and forming an important townscape marker. One of the building ensembles designed by Mecanoo incorporates Blewbury House and Tilehurst Point. These are existing 13-storey residential