West Yorkshire LABC Building Excellence Success

Watson Batty Architects were pleased to receive two awards at last night’s West Yorkshire Building Excellence Awards at Headingley Stadium. Three of the practice’s projects nominations were shortlisted; Harold Wilson Court (Huddersfield), Student Central (University of Huddersfield) and STEM (University of Bradford) along with a practice entry for the Partnership Award. 

We are delighted to report that Student Central picked up the award in the Education category with the practice also taking the Partnership Award which recognises our commitment  to team work, the development of long-standing relationships and our co-operative approach to problem solving during the development process.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed towards the success at the awards. The winning entries will now be put forward for the national awards to be held in London on the 11th November 2014.

All Change for Arnold Leisure Centre

Nottingham’s Paralympic silver medallist James Crisp and Commonwealth champion Sasha Matthews, officially reopened the completed refurbished Arnold Leisure Centre. The £1.2m project, completed over three phases during 2013/14, culminated in a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the final phase bringing the new village style changing facilities into use along with improvements to the pool hall. All three phases were designed and run from our Loughborough office which now has a number of leisure projects under its belt.  Previous phases of the Arnold Leisure Centre included the refurbishment of the first floor 200 seat Bonington Theatre and Bar Lounge, and a new extension to the Centre’s main reception and entrance foyer.

In a local press interview just ahead of the official reopening Centre Manager Shelley Webster said: 

“Before, the changing rooms were very old and cold, and no matter what you did to them or how hard you cleaned them they looked dirty.  Now, they are really spacious and warm. We’ve had really good feedback already with people saying that the new centre really has the wow factor. It’s a much nicer place to work, and a good working environment makes for happy staff. I feel really proud to work here again.”

Leader of the Council, Councillor John Clarke added;

“This is a great boost for Arnold, we can now offer local residents a fantastic theatre, newly refurbished swimming facilities and a new car park, with free parking, across the road. We think that residents will be very pleased with the work that has been done and they will be able to enjoy the facilities for years to come.”

Royal Mail Projects Win Further Accolades

Sheffield Mail Centre and North West Parcelforce Hub have been individually awarded merits at the International Safety Awards. The awards come in recognition of the excellent Health and Safety Management which was implemented during the construction of the facilities. This was achieved by promoting a first class safety culture for the duration of the works which resulted in 140,000 man hours worked on site with zero lost time through accidents. Safety was a primary objective for the project team, given that the Mail Centre remained operational. 

The accolades come following success last year where Tyneside and Leeds Mail Centres won at the Association for Project Safety National awards.

Meanwhile further south of the country, Coventry Parcelforce Local Depot recently won the silver Considerate Constructors Scheme 2014 National Site Award. The award recognises the consideration the site made to the public, staff and the local environment. 

Further information on our involvement in the projects can be found on our website here. Alternatively please contact us directly if you would like any assistance or advise on related projects.

Further Success in Liverpool

We are delighted to be appointed by Liverpool City Council to support the design and delivery of their new flagship Lifestyles Gym in Millennium House. The commission for the project which is located on Victoria Street in the Liverpool City Centre comes following our recent success at Liverpool Hope University supporting the construction of the £10m Sports Health and Science Development.

The Millennium House scheme will see the creation of a state of the art fitness centre which forms part of the wider regeneration of the whole building. We will be working closely with the Council and BLOK Architects to extend the design concepts for the gym and develop a new ‘brand’ which will be rolled out across all Council sport and leisure facilities in the city.

Watson Batty Half Marathon Team

On Sunday 12th May, the Watson Batty Running Team limbered up to complete the 13.1 mile course of the Leeds Half Marathon Corporate Relay. With the experience of 116 marathons behind us (115 of those by veteran runner Rosemarie Utley) the team and a well-planned race strategy saw the finish line in a respectable 1 hour 58 minutes and 01 second. We were pleased to be placed 12 out of 25 in the mixed category. 

A big well done goes out to: Alison White, Rosemarie Utley, Pete White, Claire Merrills, Andrew Grindrod and Nick Page as well as the supporters who turned up to cheer the team on their way. 

Repeat Success in the RICS awards.

Success was had at this year’s RICS NW awards for Royal Mail’s, Chorley Parcelforce Hub which won the Commercial Project of the Year category. The scheme saw off competition from 7 other shortlisted entries to take the award to the delight of our client. The hub which began operating last year processes up to 12,000 parcels per hour and is a key component in facilitating Parcelforce’s expansion plans.

The award comes following success last year in the 2013 RICS NE awards which saw Royal Mail’s Leeds Mail Centre, also completed by Watson Batty, win the Infrastructure project of the year. We are delighted to see these schemes recognised in the awards and hope to continue this success further with our new forthcoming projects.

York St John University approve Temple Hall Project

We are pleased to have been commissioned by York St John University to proceed with the renovation of Temple Hall, the main conference room and registration area for functions performances and exhibitions within the university. The Hall is to be modernised to create a state of the art performance space to support the expressive arts, and provide one of the largest lecture spaces on the Lord Mayor’s Walk Campus. When complete the agile space will provide a contemporary venue to support both the academic curriculum and a wide variety of events, concerts and open days.

The project is due to start on site later this month with completion due before the new term starts in September.

The Great Associate Bake Off

As the May Day Bank Holiday beckoned Watson Batty planned to get the extended weekend off to a flying start with a staff get-together over a few slices off delicious home made cake. The competitive side soon came shining through in the planning of the soirée and it was decided that the cake making should take the form of The Great Associate Bake Off!

It may be argued that the skills of Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry were lacking but the effort and enthusiasm was not. Joint winners Keith Southernwood and Catherine Blain managed to see off the competition of Scones, Ginger Cake and a Victoria Sponge with respective treats of Rocky Road and Chocolate Fudge Cake.

A great effort by all got the afternoon and weekend off to a flying start.