WBA Double Award Nomination

Watson Batty Architects have had not 1 but 2 recently completed projects nominated for the York Design Awards – ‘Peoples Award’ hosted by the York Press. WBA’s work at Our Lady’s RC Primary School and the refurbishment of the Fountains Learning Centre have been well received and we are delighted that the success of the projects has been recognised through the nominations.

To register your vote and support please click the link below:

YORK DESIGN AWARDS - ‘PEOPLE’S AWARD’

Watson Batty Client Evening

Watson Batty would like to say a big thank you to all that attended our annual client evening which took place on Thursday the 29th of November in our Leeds office. The evening was well attended and a great success.

We would like to say a special thank you to Philips Lighting who did a fantastic job at lighting the exterior of the Watson Batty Office on the night. Watson Batty have been working closely with Philips Lighting over last few months designing the external feature lighting at the (recent planning approved) University of Huddersfield Student Learning and Leisure Centre. For more details on the products and features provided by Philips see www.philips.com

Curtain Goes Up On John Leggott College Performing Arts Building

The new Performing Arts Building for John Leggott College opened it's doors to welcome students this Autumn. The state of the art facility provides a range of dedicated teaching, learning and performance spaces, including specialist acoustic practice and technology spaces. Watson Batty Architects were appointed by the contractor to complete the design and support the project through to completion. We are delighted to be involved in this high profile project for the College.

Morrisons Blyth Progressing Well

With the stores envelope practically complete, McLaren Construction, are now focused on undertaking the internal fit out and second fix of the services as the milestone of mains power is completed this month to the store.   

On completion of the works, due January 2013, the existing stores staff will transfer to the new store and the existing Morrisons building will be demolished to make way for additional car parking and Section 278 works. The external works and new access in the redeveloped site are due to complete in summer 2013. The new store will create an additional 200 new jobs for the local area and forms part of the Blyth town centre regeneration programme.

Watson Batty Architects will be working closely with all involved in the construction phase to ensure a successful delivery of the store

Planning Approval for the Graham Solley Sports Development Centre

Planning permission for the development at Graham Solley Sports Development Centre was granted on Monday the 22nd October.

      

Sheffield City Council have approved a second planning permission on the site for a Pavilion,  Sports Hall and two Synthetic Grass Pitches.

The pavilion comprises of a  two storey building with 14 changing rooms on the ground floor and a Student Social Hub on the first floor offering 4 sided viewing balcony and 360 degree views onto the 8 sports pitches on site for cricket, football and rugby.

The proposed sports hall building comprises of multi-purpose 4 court sports hall, changing rooms , main entrance on the ground floor and a multi-purpose room and viewing gallery on the first floor. The new sports hall building will be linked to the existing sports hall on site on the ground and first floors.

Construction works will commence on site in January 2013 with a completion date set in September 2013.

University of Bradford Consultants’ Framework 2012 – 2015

Watson Batty Architects have been successfully appointed onto the University of Bradford Consultants’ Framework for a further 3 years. Initially appointed onto the framework in 2009, we have now been awarded a position on the latest framework which will run until 2015 with an option to extend the appointment for a further year. Our successful working relationship with the University has seen a number of high profiled projects being delivered on the City Centre Campus. Of note is Student Central, the £7m extension and refurbishment of the Students Union and Student Services building, and the £1m refurbishment of the ground floor JPB Library. We are now on site with Bradford STEM, currently assessed to BREEAM Outstanding and PassivHaus accreditation, possibly the first building to ever achieve both standards simultaneously. We are looking forward to working with the University in the next few years.

Leeds Bradford Airport Apron Walkway Almost Complete

Watson & Batty were commissioned to design an apron passenger walkway at Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) in October 2012.

The walkway was to offer a covered access for passenger access & egress aircraft from gates 8 to 14 inclusive and totaled distance of 155 metres. To give full flexibility the structure has three aisles offering interchangeable access to both arriving & departing passengers to balance peak demand.

The structure is naturally vented & fully glazed for passenger comfort.Phase one & two of the project were completed in October 2012 with phase three due for completion at the end of 2012.

Royal Mail Projects win two National CDM Awards

The recently completed projects at Tyneside Mail Centre and Leeds Mail Centre, part of the Royal Mail North East Transformation Programme, had received three nominations to the 2012 Association for Project Safety National CDM Awards. Royal Mail Group Property, with their Consultants and Contractor, were outright winners of both the Regional Health & Safety Awards and CDM Co-ordinator of the Year Award.

The APS Awards are the construction industry's premier showpiece for excellence in Design and Construction, they recognise projects with an outstanding and innovative approach to Health & Safety.

On the two Mail Centre projects the Royal Mail operators, main contractor Wates Construction and the design team collaborated to promote a culture of zero-tolerance to H&S risks which resulted in over 200,000 accident free hours across the two projects over an 18 months period. Innovative measures included a red-card system for unsafe acts, stringent policy on the use of PPE, weekly planning meetings of the work ahead and monthly rewards for individuals and sub-contractors demonstrating exemplary H&S awareness and initiative.

Overall a great team effort.

The new extension at Tyneside Mail Centre

Leeds Mail Centre during construction