Landmark Success for JDDK Ltd
January 26 2007
Newcastle-based architects, Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall (JDDK) Ltd, are celebrating triple success at the Newcastle Journal’s 2006 Landmark Awards held on Thursday 19 October. The prestigious Rivergreen Centre just outside Durham City won not only the Environment Award but also went on to be named the overall North-East Landmark of the Year, whilst the Office Development Award was taken by another JDDK scheme, Horton Park at Stannington in Northumberland. The two projects are very different, resulting from different sites and different briefs.
The innovative £2m conversion of redundant farm buildings into modern office units at Horton Park created six flexible, inter-linked lettable units of some 1,400 sq m. floor space on the Blagdon Estate, just to the north of Newcastle.
With construction work by D.P. Builders of Amble, the development involved the refurbishment of the existing 1857 buildings, a classic Northumbrian model farm which includes a rare three storey Poultiggery, used for keeping pigs on the ground floor, poultry on the first and pigeons on the top floor. The project has added two new, contemporary single storey extensions with sedum roofs linked to the original structures to create highly flexible office units.
All the offices are open plan with trunking for networking and broadband connections. A central foyer provides access to all areas with a lift to the first floor, ample car parking is provided on site and the whole area is to be carefully landscaped with trees and shrubs to enhance the existing mature woodlands.
The brief for the Rivergreen Centre at Aykley Heads, Durham, was very different - to create a flagship serviced office and conference building which would be not only a healthy and pleasurable place in which to work, but also have a minimal impact on its immediate surroundings and the wider global environment. The design was to provide office accommodation for up to 300 people in spaces ranging in size from one and two person offices to open plan areas for up to 100 staff, with an additional conference suite for 200 people and catering facilities.
JDDK’s solution is a 40,000 sq ft two storey, timber framed structure in a slightly offset cruciform plan which utilises the building’s orientation and natural ventilation to eliminate the need for air conditioning. Timber louvers, adjacent to the thermally insulating double glazed window units, open to provide further ventilation and assist night time cooling.
Additional winter heating is from a biomass boiler fed with wood pellets, whilst recycled rain water is used for the toilets and irrigation of the organic sedum blanket roof covering. Internally, Europe’s largest internal rammed earth wall provides a high thermal mass which passively moderates the temperature and humidity, reducing daily fluctuations and thus reliance on additional heating and cooling systems. The centre has already been awarded a BREEAM (British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) accreditation of Excellent.
JDDK Director, Nicky Watson, commented, “To win two of the five possible categories would be great news in itself, but then to win the overall award is fantastic and we’re obviously delighted, not only for ourselves, but also for our clients and our contractors with whom we worked so closely on both projects.”