Inspiration for architects: Jason Hawkes’ aerial photography

Paul Zara, head of Conran and Partners Brighton, just brought to our attention the wonderful photography of Jason Hawkes.

© Jason Hawkes

Friday Tip: Make your own kind of Munich

The Olympic flame will shortly be wending its way through Kent. To mark the occasion, UCA Canterbury is holding a very special exhibition of graphic design.

Will London’s legacy be this pretty?

This week’s tip comes from Paul Zara, head of our Brighton architects.

Brightening Hove

New architectural projects often involve difficult choices – especially in Britain.  We live in a crowded country: there are 660 of us squeezed into every square mile of land we have, versus 83 Americans, or 295 Frenchmen. This puts developable land at a high premium.

Demolition of the crumbling Granada cinema on Portland Road, Hove, is now underway. The site is being redeveloped by Conran and Partners‘ Brighton office, and will encompass 35 flats, a GP surgery, a pharmacy and a separate leisure space.

It is a controversial project: undoubtedly, the loss of a 1930s art deco cinema, even if derelict, is notable. The local community has been divided on the project: many have mourned the loss of an historic cinema; others note that the dilapidated state of the building does little for Hove’s image, and that new housing is badly needed in the town.

The derelict cinema building

We’ve led restoration projects throughout our existence: Terence Conran teamed up with Paul Hamlyn to save Michelin House, and our recent Boundary development resides in a sensitively-restored Victorian warehouse. Sadly, the Granada cinema was beyond saving.

The new building will have high sustainability credentials, and will include 14 affordable units. The flats will have roof terraces with sea views, and a shared garden to the rear. In a nod to the site’s heritage, the corner of the building will be clad in multi-coloured Roman bricks, Additionally, an artist is being commissioned for an installation in the stairwell, which will be inspired by the memory of the cinema, or perhaps of Diana Dors, who opened the building as a bingo hall in the 70s.

Four years on: Our Brighton architects lead the way in housing design

Four they are jolly good fellows! 

This week sees the 4th birthday of the Conran and Partners Brighton studio.  Despite the recession kicking in soon after opening, after four years of trading the studio has doubled in size.  The team has had some very significant London successes, including winning the project to redevelop Green Man Lane in Ealing to create over 700 new homes for A2Dominion/Rydon, to helping L&Q on their plans for the former Walthamstow Stadium. Most recently they won the project to redevelop the listed Lillian Baylis School in Lambeth.

Green Man Lane

A vision of Walthamstow stadium...

Sketch for Lilian Baylis School

In Brighton the team is working on the redevelopment of the Granada Cinema site on Portland Road in Hove for Affinity Sutton, further refurbishment of Embassy Court, the modernist landmark on the seafront (top of page), an amazing house on the beach in Hove, proposals for an apart-hotel on the former ice rink site in Queen Square and the city’s greenest office building on Gloucester Place.

The latest on the Queen's Square development

Lee Davies and Paul Zara lead the 18-strong team and are confident about the future, despite the state of the world.  

“The demand for housing is so great that it must eventually kick-start growth.  We have an excellent track record locally and nationally and are well placed to assist our clients in moving their projects forward…

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Paul Zara

Lee Davies

It’s been a very interesting four years, and I am very proud of the team we have built, they have strong skills and we are ready to take on any challenge that comes our way!”

Long may they continue..!

Conran: Our Brighton ‘Pin Up’

As the saying goes: It’s good to talk. Jamie Campbell from Conran & Partner’s Brighton office gives us an insight into some valuable ‘time out’ from the computer screen which is paying off in spades…

For the last couple of months the Brighton Office of Conran and Partners have been getting together once every few weeks to share expertise and present the projects that their teams have been working on.  We’re calling it ‘pin up’. It’s really an informal approach to presenting and discussing projects. The aim is to share expertise across the team and enrich the different projects presented. The discussions often lead to interesting avenues of thought or the discovery of exciting precedents that inform the project. 

There are usually 14 people, including interior designers, architects, directors, Part 1’s and 2’s. The mix of experience and enthusiasm really shines through when we all get together and the informal approach makes for a relaxed atmosphere.

Usually we are all busy getting on with our different projects but it’s really important that once a month we get together to sit and chat about the work we are doing. We are a studio not an office after all! And it’s a good way of showing the work we are all doing has a bigger place in the greater scheme of the office and of Conran as a whole. 

It’s easy to get buried under piles of paperwork and waylaid by an inbox stacking up with unread emails but once in a while things like this prove the best thing to do is sit down (maybe even with a nice cup of tea) and have a good chinwag.