Southend Pier Design Competition, Building Project News, Images, Winner

Southend Pier Cultural Centre Building

Southend Pier Development in Essex, south east England, UK

27 Sep 2012

Design: White Arkitekter, Sweden

Southend Pier Cultural Centre by White arkitekter and Sprunt is now complete. The new Cultural Centre is sited at the head of Southend Pier, the world’s longest pleasure pier.

Photographs : Luke Hayes

Southend Pier Cultural Centre

The sweeping geometric form and harmonising palette of materials of the Southend Pier Cultural Centre building celebrates the topography of the windswept site integrating it into the scenic landscape. The dynamic roof shape, which measures up to 9 metres from floor level, houses a large multi-purpose events space with floor to ceiling glazed elevations. Orientated South facing, the entrance façade is set back beneath the roof forming a sheltered entrance and café terrace from which to enjoy views out onto the water.

The centre has sloping walls and a twisting hyperbolic paraboloid roof form designed in partnership with structural engineers Price & Myers. Due to the challenging conditions of the site, contractors Kier fabricated the building off site at Tilbury Docks and craned it into place in one piece. Durable materials have been specified throughout to help achieve a long lifespan.

During the day the cultural centre’s GRP cladding has a translucent quality which changes tone, appearing white in bright sunlight and greenish grey when the sky is overcast. At night luminaires delineate the building’s sculptural profile.

Southend Pier is a landmark structure closely associated with the town and particularly to the typology of Southend’s shoreline. The Cultural Centre brings new life to the promenade and reclaims the pier as the town’s main attraction for both the town’s residents and tourists.

Southend Pier Cultural Centre – Building Information

Client: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Architect: White arkitekter
Executive Architect: Sprunt
Structural Engineers: Price & Myers
Building Contractor: Kier Construction

Photos © Luke Hayes

Southend Pier Cultural Centre images / information received 270912

16 Sep 2009

Southend Pier Contest Winner

Winner: White Arkitekter, Sweden

Entries: 74

Southend Pier Head design contest winner unveiled

Today Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is delighted to announce the winner of Southend Pier Head design contest – renowned Swedish based landscape architecture firm White arkitekter.

The company – which has also won awards for other maritime architecture projects throughout the world – clinched the top place with a design called ‘Sculpted by Wind and Wave.’
This winning scheme was chosen from among 73 international and local entries for the competition run by the Landscape Institute on behalf of the Council. The competition was run with the support of RIBA Competitions.

Southend Pier Head shortlisted design teams
– HOK
– Hugh Broughton Architects with Land Use Consultants, SKM and Spiers and Major Associates
– LandLab with Ushida Findlay Architects, Atkins Bennett and United Creatives.
– White arkitekter
– Wilkinson Eyre Architects with Schonherr Landscape and Conisbee

The Landscape Institute is an educational charity and chartered body responsible for protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public.
This contest aimed to encourage ways to revitalise the Pier Head environment and devise innovative designs, enabling established leisure, recreation and tourism uses, to continue in an attractive, high quality and appealing setting.

White arkitekter clearly demonstrated the theme of ‘maritime, environmental and relaxed recreation’ which was chosen by the public after a major consultation with residents and visitors.
This winning firm, if ratified by Cabinet and Council, would work in conjunction with British-based engineers Price and Myers to produce the scheme.

“We are excited to be selected as winners in Southend Pier Head competition. This project presents an opportunity to work on a site that calls for a unique landmark, this is why the competition caught our eye. We look forward to bringing the competition design to the next stage” – Niels de Bruin and Fredrik Pettersson White arkitekter ab and Tim Lucas, Price & Myers”.

Councillor John Lamb, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and the Environment, says: “This has proved to be a most exciting competition which attracted international entries. We were thrilled to receive so many applications of interest, from which five very high quality proposals were shortlisted, and the winner was chosen from these five.

“The next step is for us to recommend that councillors will ratify the choice of the winner and engage White arkitekter as the lead designer.

“This would be a £multi million development, which depends on us receiving a substantial Sea Change grant from the Government. We are likely to find out the outcome of our bid for funding this autumn, but have so far had very positive indications of success.”

Tom Lonsdale, who chaired the judging process for the Landscape Institute says: “The final decision was never going to be easy with such a diverse range of high quality approaches but White arkitekter impressed the most because of their exceptional sensitivity to the location and avery polished design. We could see the potential for a memorable landmark and destination to which visitors would be drawn again and again.”

19 May 2009

International Competition Seeks Designers for Southend Pier

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has announced an international competition to appoint a landscape architect to design a new landscape and buildings for the Pier Head at Southend Pier.

The competition is being run by The Landscape Institute, with the support of the RIBA Competitions Office. The Landscape Institute is an educational charity and chartered body responsible for protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public, on behalf of the Council.

The competition seeks a design that will reinvigorate the Pier and turn it once more into a major attraction for both tourists and residents.

Councillor John Lamb, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Regeneration, says: “Since the fire occurred at the end of 2005, the Council has pledged its commitment to seeing the town’s icon reinstated to its former glory. Work to restore the fire-damaged section of the Pier started in September last year, and is expected to be completed by the end of next month.
“We are delighted to be working with the Landscape Institute, which encourages the landscape architecture profession to focus on design, environment and community, to find the right design for this much-loved attraction.

“Ultimately, the winning design will develop the Pier in a way that builds on the town’s cultural attractions and also makes the most of its important heritage.”