Having established that the Regional Agricultural Centre is a much loved development within local circles, it seems that national experts agree. The building has won an EG Green Award for sustainability: declared a joint winner alongside Cabot Circus (a £500m development from Land Securities and Hammerson), the Centre was highly praised by the judges for its ‘thoughtful design’. Not bad for a ’small’ development!

Washington Primary Healthcare Centre has scooped the LABC National award for Best Healthcare Building.  Developed for Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust with Laing O’Rourke, the Washington building is also shortlisted for the Building Better Healthcare Awards next month.  Congratulations to the team!

P+HS is delighted with two new appointments to its management team.

Joining the Board of Directors is Phil Bentley based in Leeds, whilst in the Stokesley office, Adrian Evans is appointed as an Associate.

The announcement comes as P+HS celebrates its 25th successful year in business, and indicates its commitment to maintaining the stability and growth of the company.  Congratulations and good luck to both Phil and Adrian in their new roles.

The Good Employer Guide 2009 is out and P+HS is the only company to be in the top five for all categories – Social Responsibility, Working Smarter, Feel Good Factor, Inspiration, Leadership, Ability to Contribute, and Current Market Conditions.

 

Editor David Rogers commented: ’Congratulations are owed to architect P+HS…this company made it into every top five for which it was eligible, the first firm to do so..the (architect) profession comes top of the feel good factor and also the smarter working index.   This may be explained in part by the fact that they have also come top of the new market condition index (a new rating, which measures how well employees believe their company is dealing with the recession).

 

Geraldine Pinder and Diana Cole were in London yesterday for this year’s Good Employer Guide announcements:  Geraldine commented:  ‘we are immensely proud of our staff and achieving this accolade from the industry is a mark of what can be achieved, despite difficult times within the construction sector, by sticking with an open, inclusive and team approach.’

 

Thanks to all staff who took time to complete the survey: the survey company tell us that they had a superb response from you and we are very grateful that you took part: results like this send out a clear, positive message to the industry about the strength of P+HS.

 

The guide is published with this month’s copy of Building and extra copies of the supplement are on order for both Leeds and Stokesley offices. A digital copy can be viewed here.

 

 

The shortlist for the Building Better Healthcare Awards has been announced, and we’re on it!

Washington Primary Care Centre is shortlisted in the Best Primary Care Design category: developed for Sunderland Teaching PCT with Laing O’Rourke, this superb building is certainly attracting attention and recently scooped the award for Best Healthcare Building at the Northern LABC awards.
To see the full shortlist for Building Better Healthcare 2009 clickhere.

The BBC recently had a days filming at the new ‘Fodder’ farm shop and cafe building we designed for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society on The Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.
Apparently, they filmed for 12 hours and somehow this has been condensed into 3 full minutes! and this will be aired this Friday 21st August on the BBC1 One Show (7pm start).

For those of you who have not been, here’s a chance to see it.

The Regional Agricultural Centre has been short listed for the 2009 EG Green Awards in the category Retail/Leisure Development of the Year.

This is a fantastic achievement for the team (Yorkshire Agricultural Society, P+HS, Houseman & Falshaw, and DKP) who all worked so hard to make this highly sustainable building a reality. Other short listed finalists in this category are Land Securities,Tesco, and Hammerson - all £multimillion/billion operations with national and international presence: so I reckon our team from Yorkshire have done pretty well!

The building was conceived as a green development from the start and it’s about sustainability right through from its timber frame upwards; using local teams, skills and materials wherever we could, and incorporating more special sustainable features than you could shake a stick at, making it one of the most sustainable buildings in Yorkshire.

It’s now down to the public vote, so here’s the link for you to show your support for what small, regional alliances can achieve with vision, creativity and honest hard graft.
Vote Here.

The new development at The Yorkshire Showground was officially opened last night: it includes superb office accommodation and meeting rooms for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, along with office space for start up businessses with agricultural links from the region. The really tasty bit though is the farm shop and cafe, where trading is brisk. ’Fodder’ as it is aptly named,  opened its doors to the public earlier this month, and it really is worth a visit:  not only is it located in a great building with lots of eco friendly features, the shop is stacked full of locally sourced fresh and speciality foods.  So if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, take a trip to Harrogate..and fill your baskets (made from recycled plastic of course).

 

Once again, P+HS have excelled themselves at the LABC Northern Region Building Excellence Awards.  In a glittering ceremony, P+HS  received two commendations for Eaglescliffe Health Centre (with Tolent Construction) and Wrekenton Health Centre (with Laing O’Rourke), and won the Best Healthcare Building overall for Washington Primary Care Centre (also with Laing O’Rourke).   Washington will now go through to the National LABC Awards later in the year.  Congratulations to all involved.  The results were as follows:

Washington Primary Care Centre for Sunderland Teaching PCT- Best Healthcare Building - Overall Winner

Wrekenton Health Centre for Sunderland Teaching PCT - Commended

Eaglescliffe Health Centre for Abstract Integrated Healthcare - Commended

   

Eaglescliffe Medical Centre was officially opened on Tuesday 5th May. Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson was the guest of honour at a well attended ceremony with representatives from all the building’s stakeholders. The Centre was developed by Abstract Integrated Healthcare and constructed by Tolent. One of the senior GP’s, Krysia Ellenger, described her feelings about the new building designed by the P+HS team.

” Just what the doctor ordered ! A building that so intimately reflects our vision and our ethos . A place of light, of healing, of comfort. A building that exudes quality, calmness and soothes pain. A building that is ambitious, that reflects the modernity of medicine, of ever expanding knowledge and yet it embraces the human side. A building that encourages wisdom, is kind to the soul and has context . ”

I think that sums it up! It’s a great example of team working delivering clients’ aspirations. Well done to everyone involved.
Photography by Doug Jackson

Following Ben’s post on green roofs, here’s the sedum one at the Yorkshire Agricultural Centre.  The intrepid Heather Parry is pictured with Stuart Falshaw giving the roof some TLC.  This piece was in the Yorkshire Post on 14th March.

One minute they’re designing fantastic buildings such as the new Regional Agriculture Centre at the Yorkshire Showground, the next they’re using their natural calming influence over one of the raw material suppliers: this is a reference to the sheep NOT the client!

In this picure Heather Parry of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Eamon Shutt of P+HS at a photocall promoting the sheepswool insulation used in this highly sustainable building.

The annual league table for Yorkshire’s Top Architects is published in today’s Yorkshire Post.  P+HS now ranks 7th in the county, demonstrating yet again the practice’s commitment to sustained growth.

“The recently complete Walkergate Hospital in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is providing a revolutionary combination of facilities for people with neurological disabilities, and a therapeutic physical environment that is being studied for its impact on patient outcomes.”

BD features Walkergate Park in March. Completed by Team Bentley, this unique facility is receiving lots of praise. Have a look at the article here

Design for Homes runs an awards system each year. Backed by the Home Builders Federation, CABE, Design for Homes, English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and the Civic Trust, the awards celebrate well designed homes and neighbourhoods. Have a look here for details of the winners in 2007.

The criteria for good schemes can be found here - a good test against which to judge all our schemes? The link includes details of what they describe as “great schemes”. This guide should be referred to when completing a Building for Life standard application. It can also be used by developers as a basis for writing development briefs, and by local authorities to demand high standards of design and assess design quality.

Suggestions from us for 2008 entries to Claire Bedford please - entries due in before the end of February.