Greenwood Place Community Resource Centre London, Camden Building, Kentish Town Property

Greenwood Place Community Resource Centre News

Healthcare Development in Camden, north London, UK: Kentish Town design by PCKO Architects

29 Jan 2014

Greenwood Place Community Resource Centre in Kentish Town

Architects: PCKO

PCKO Wins Planning Consent for Greenwood Place Community Resource Centre.

Community Resource Centre and Centre for Independent Living will provide high quality facilities and support for people with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health problems and autism in the London Borough of Camden.

Camden Council has granted planning consent to PCKO Architects’ design for the new Community Resource Centre at Greenwood Place. Located in Kentish Town, the three storey, 3,228 sq m centre will provide separate, dedicated, high-quality services for people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental health problems. In addition, it will provide new services that currently do not exist in Camden including services for younger people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and autism.

The design vision is to provide a space that promotes well-being, a good quality of life and independence, in a safe and secure environment, that is easily accessible for all.

The Centre will also host Camden’s first ever Centre for Independent Living (CIL) which will give people with disabilities a centre for advice, guidance and support, with the latest equipment and technology to help people live more independently. The centre is timetabled to open in 2015. The Greenwood Place project is part of Camden Council’s Community Investment Programme (CIP) – their 15 year plan to invest money in schools, homes and community facilities in Camden.

Paul Webb, Director at PCKO Architects said:

“With Camden Council, we entered into an in-depth consultation and engagement with healthcare professionals, carers and user groups to ensure we delivered a design that would fully meet the needs of all the users involved. The result of this hugely rewarding conversation is a building that sets a new benchmark for accessible design, significantly improving on current standards and regulations.”

PCKO Architects and Camden Council engaged in an extensive and innovative public consultation to determine how the building can meet the needs of a number of diverse user groups with complex needs, working closely with groups representing persons with cognitive and sensory impairments, physical disabilities, persons living with dementia and persons with mental health issues to arrive at an inclusive and accessible design. During the process, PCKO and Camden Council developed a variety of techniques to communicate complex concepts of building design using simultaneous speech to text interpretation, signing, use of tactile maps and models and use of carefully designed ‘easy read’ format presentations.

PCKO Architects’ commission followed the successful delivery of the second phase of public consultation and feasibility work undertaken with Kim Sangster Associates. The commission was won as part of a competitive bid and interview by the Tibbalds HCA Multidisciplinary team.

The commission was won as part of a competitive bid and interview by the Tibbalds HCA Multidisciplinary team. On appointment by the London Borough of Camden, Tibbalds acted as lead consultant on the project and took responsibility for planning, while PCKO led the consultation and design.

Andrew Vaughan, Senior Planner at Tibbalds, said:

“The development provides a unique opportunity to bring about new and improved community facilities for the benefit of many of Camden’s residents, as well as housing, including much needed affordable mobility flats for people with social care needs.”

The Centre will provide a wide diversity of facilities and space that can be used by the whole community such as a café, accessible meeting rooms, studios and flexible spaces which can be hired out by community groups when needed. The building will also provide space that can be used by social enterprises to provide training and employment opportunities.

As part of the proposed development of the Community Resource Centre at Greenwood Place, the Highgate Centre site on Highgate Road will become vacant for redevelopment. PCKO’s proposed redevelopment of the Highgate Centre site, also granted planning consent, will comprise a part 5, part 7 storey development incorporating 8 supported Living apartments to provide highly accessible, high quality accommodation for people with Learning Disabilities, alongside 34 apartments for market sale. Proceeds from the sale of the market apartments will be used to offset the cost of building the Community Resource Centre. The total combined cost of both developments is £16.8 million.

A ‘street front premises’ allied to the function of the new CIL, will be incorporated into the ground floor of the Highgate Road site, providing an opportunity for social enterprise and creating a presence for the Centre on Highgate Road.

The proposed redevelopment will also make major improvements to the public realm on Greenwood Place, which is critical for the operation of and access to the new community building.

Greenwood Place Community Resource Centre images / information from ING

Location: Greenwood Place, London, England, UK