Bird College Design Competition, Kent Architecture Contest, Sidcup Building, Architects

Bird College Competition : Kent Design Contest

Sidcup Building, southeast England, UK – winning design by Gareth Hoskins Architects

Winner announced for Bird College Competition

Bird College – Dance, Music & Theatre Performance

Gareth Hoskins Architects are announced today as the winners of the competition to work with Bird College to redevelop and rationalise their facilities onto a single site solution in Sidcup, Kent.

5 Mar 2013

Bird College Design Competition Winner

Bird College is an internationally renowned provider of education and professional training in dance, music and theatre performance. As well as delivering Degree programmes accredited by the University of Greenwich and a National Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre validated by Trinity College London, Bird College is the provider of music and junior dance services for the London Borough of Bexley. Many of the College’s graduates go on to pursue a professional career in the performing arts, with a strong presence of Bird College alumni within West End musical theatre.

The College wishes to improve its facilities to match the best within the sector and accommodate increased student numbers, by creating an exciting new teaching and learning resource for the benefit of students, staff and the wider community. Following agreement in principle with the London Borough of Bexley, the College hopes to move its five current locations of operation in Sidcup to a site in Alma Road which is currently home to the Bexley Adult Education College.

Gareth Hoskins Architects was selected from a shortlist which also included (in alphabetical order) Carmody Groarke; Friend & Company Architects with Harry Gugger Studio; Mecanoo Architecten; Eric Parry Architects and Sarah Wigglesworth Architects.

As well as Trustees from The Doreen Bird Foundation and the College’s senior management team, the Jury Panel benefited from the experience and creativity of Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal and Chief Executive of Trinity Laban; Laura Lee, Chief Executive of Maggie’s Centres; together with Greg Penoyre, Senior Partner, Penoyre & Prasad LLP, acting as RIBA architectural advisor to the competition. Consistent with the calibre of the teams on the short-list, the Panel was greatly impressed by the design approaches proposed and their vision for the future of Bird College.

Jury Panel members commented:
‘I was greatly impressed by the creativity and overall response of the design team led by Gareth Hoskins, which demonstrated an excellent understanding of the brief and the needs of the College. I look forward to working with the team and the London Borough of Bexley to develop an exciting new set of facilities on the Alma Road site.’
Shirley Coen, Principal and Chief Executive, Bird College

‘We had an incredibly strong shortlist all of whom put a great deal of thought into their submissions. The Panel was really impressed by the architectural quality of the proposals and the understanding of the nature of Bird College shown by the teams. The decision was a difficult one, but the Panel was unanimous in choosing Gareth Hoskins and his team whose proposals demonstrated skilful responses to a broad range of issues and a strong empathy with the College.’
Greg Penoyre, Senior Partner, Penoyre & Prasad LLP

On hearing that he had won the competition, Gareth Hoskins commented: ‘We are thrilled to have been chosen to work with Bird College. Our initial ideas focus around creating an engaging and inspiring educational venue that supports the College’s ambitions of continuing to develop their local connections, whilst also allowing them to expand their national and international profile within the performing arts. We are very much looking forward to working with the College to take these ideas forward with them.’

Bird College Design Competition information from RIBA Competitions

Gareth Hoskins Architects

1 Dec 2011

Bird College Design Competition – Shortlist

Shortlist of Architect-led Design Teams for Bird College Competition

Having received 95 submissions from across Europe to its call for Expressions of Interest, Bird College has shortlisted its final six candidates for stage 2 of the competition.

Shirley Coen, Principal and Chief Executive of Bird College said: “This was a very challenging process as the quality of the submissions were very high – I hope this is reflected in the shortlist. This will be an exciting process for the College both in terms of what it means for our future and also the creative collaboration that we will have with our eventual winner as we move forward with a renovation of our existing buildings or a brand new facility.”

The shortlisted teams (in alphabetical order) are: Carmody Groarke; Eric Parry Architects; Gareth Hoskins Architects; Harry Gugger Studio with Friend and Company; Mecanoo Architecten; and Sarah Wigglesworth Architects. As there are currently a number of options regarding the site(s) on which the College’s facilities will be provided, the second phase of the competition will concentrate upon approach, dialogues and demonstration of understanding of the College’s requirements. The competition will conclude with shortlisted teams attending an interview and presenting their ideas to the Jury Panel at a final assessment to be held in the New Year.

Greg Penoyre, RIBA architectural advisor said: “Bird College was delighted to receive such a large and high quality response to its invitation for expressions of interest for the new College facilities. Arriving at a shortlist of 6 from a field of 95 has been no easy task – the Jury Panel spent many hours going through the submissions and applied a rigorous assessment process against the published criteria to reach the final list. We were delighted with the eventual shortlist and acknowledge the huge body of effort represented by the submissions which was very much appreciated by all Panel members.”

The Jury benefits from the experience and creativity of Professor Anthony Bowne, Principal and Chief Executive of Trinity Laban, and Laura Lee, Chief Executive of Maggie’s Centres. Representatives from the College include Shirley Coen, Geoff Pine and Patrick Deuchar. Greg Penoyre is acting as RIBA architectural advisor to the competition being run in partnership with RIBA Competitions. June Denton is acting as the Strategic Advisor to the College.

Bird College is unique and the opportunity for creating an exciting learning environment for performing arts in the post compulsory education sector, whilst at the same time creating appropriate teaching and learning spaces for musicians and young dancers of all ages, is very exciting. It is hoped it will capture the imagination of all stakeholders and create the energy and drive such a project needs to achieve success.

Bird College Architecture Competition information from RIBA Competitions

Bird College Design Competition

Invited Design Competition

Bird College – Dance, Music & Theatre Performance

12 Oct 2pm Expressions of Interest deadline

RIBA Competitions is pleased to announce the launch of a new Invited Design Competition on behalf of Bird College, Sidcup. Expressions of Interest are sought from architect-led design teams with exceptional design skills for the redevelopment of the College’s facilities.

Bird College is an internationally renowned provider of education and professional training in dance, music and theatre performance. Bird College prides itself on providing access to world-class training for talented performers with many graduates securing work in America, Europe and beyond.

The relationship and understanding that Bird College enjoys with the industry ensures that its students are well prepared to make a successful transition to fully-fledged professionals and there is a strong presence of Bird College alumni within West End musical theatre. As well as delivering Degree programmes accredited by the University of Greenwich and a National Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre validated by Trinity College London, Bird College is the provider of music and junior dance services for the London Borough of Bexley.

The College is currently based in buildings over three sites in residential Sidcup which are owned or leased by the Doreen Bird Foundation, and in order to accommodate increased student numbers, additional space is rented in other nearby facilities. This provides a total of ~4,500m2 of accommodation and results in the College operating from six different places on a daily basis.

The College wishes to improve its facilities to match the best in the sector and create an exciting new teaching and learning resource for the benefit of students, staff and the wider community of Bexley. Feasibility studies have indicated that a capital project in the region of GBP £13million is possible and the College has identified a wish list for up to 6,000m2 of accommodation. The appointed design team will work with the College to establish the best use of existing and new buildings, consolidating College facilities on more than one of the existing sites or other(s).

Following the pre-qualification phase, up to six teams (which will also need to include the services of a structural engineer, M&E engineer and quantity surveyor as a minimum), will be invited to develop possible design approaches for the project. Each short-listed team will receive an honorarium payment of £5,000 (+VAT) and be invited to present their proposals to a Jury Panel at a final assessment. The Jury Panel will include representatives from Bird College, together with Laura Lee (CEO of the Maggie’s Centres), Prof. Anthony Bowne (Principal, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance), June Denton (Founder, VThree Ltd) and Greg Penoyre (Penoyre & Prasad LLP) acting as the RIBA Architect Advisor.

Shirley Coen, Principal and Chief Executive of Bird College commented: ‘I am delighted to be working in partnership with the RIBA on this competition to find a design team to help us deliver our vision for the future of Bird College. This is a thrilling moment in time, for us, and we are excited about not only the end result but the journey that we are embarking upon. RIBA has been fantastic in helping us this far and I have no doubt will hand hold us all the way to the conclusion’.

For further details about the Bird College Competition and how to register for the competition please visit www.architecture.com/competitions and follow the link to Live Competitions. Please note that the deadline for receipt of Expressions of Interest is 2.00pm on Wednesday 12 October 2011.

Bird College Competition information from RIBA Competitions

Location: Sidcup, Kent, England, UK

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