Southern Staffs Design Awards 2013 Guidance Notes

Design Awards 2013 – Application Form

This month sees the launch of the 2013 Southern Staffordshire Building Design Awards. The Awards, run by the Southern Staffordshire Partnership, seek to promote achievement of excellence in design and construction of buildings and spaces across the south of the County. There is an award for the best scheme in southern Staffordshire, and a further award for a local architect who has made a significant contribution to a scheme any where in the world

 Commenting Jeff Marlow, Partnership Director said “We are committed to continually raising the standards of design in the built environment and this Awards scheme is one of a series of measures to underpin this and make southern Staffordshire an attractive place in which to live, work and invest. We have 2 award categories which seek to recognise high standards of design in southern Staffordshire, and one to recognise the contribution that our local architects can make to building design worldwide. Last year this category was limited to the schemes in the UK but this time we thought why not make it worldwide as we know of several architects in southern Staffordshire who are contributing to major schemes in the US, Europe and the Far East”.

 The south of the County has a growing reputation for quality design in buildings, be it new build, refurbishment or conservation work. This has been supported over the past few years by an Awards programme and monthly Design Review Panels. The Panels bring together local architects and planners who provide peer advice to new building proposals. The aim is to give a constructive and informed steer to help ensure we secure the best in quality design for the area. The Awards have been running since 2006 and we have seen a variety of buildings selected as the winning exemplars and these have included the Garrick Theatre in Lichfield, St Dominics School in Brewood, and most recently the JCB Academy in Rocester.

 The JCB Academy saw the reuse, conversion and development of a former Arkwright Cotton Mill, transforming it into a new state of the art modern Academy with associated landscaped campus, sustainable construction and technologies, new build teaching block and engineering workshops. The Mill’s regeneration was an extremely complex £22M project involving sensitive restoration of the grade II listed structure, the addition of sympathetic but contemporary new buildings, and comprehensive landscape design.

 It is important that the design of a building is not just aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but it is also energy efficient, and most critically recognises and responds to the needs of the end user. The previous winners all did just that – and you only have to ask anyone who works or studies in the JCB Academy what a good building it is to be in. It is easy to get from area to another, has plenty of artificial and natural light, cleverly mixes the contemporary with the modern, and is pleasing to the eye.

 The Awards are sponsored by Staffordshire Life and Entry Forms and Guidance Notes are attached

The Awards are open to architects, developers, builders, in fact anyone involved in a building, public realm or refurbishment project anywhere within the districts of Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth. Entries are invited for any scheme completed between June 2011 and the end of May this year with a shortlist being drawn over the summer. An independent judging panel, led by Midland Architecture and Design Environment (MADE), will view and visit individual schemes early in the autumn and an Awards Luncheon will be held later in the year.

 The last Design Awards was held in 2011 and the winning scheme was the JCB Academy in Rocester with several highly commended schemes including the Compassus Centre at St Giles Hospice in Whittington and the Burnhill Green rural residential development in south Staffordshire. This year the Partnership is looking to work with Universities, Colleges and schools to promote the importance of design to young people and to also involve them in drawing up display board for each of the schemes.

 The Awards are co-sponsored by Staffordshire Life and details are available from District and Borough Councils (Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth)

The 2012 Southern Staffordshire Regeneration Awards were held on Wednesday 5 December at the Acton Trussell Moat House.

Some of the 100 plus guests at the 2012 Regeneration Awards

Overall, 37 projects were entered into four categories in the Southern Staffordshire Regeneration Awards.

These awards celebrate regeneration projects across southern Staffordshire that were completed between 1 June 2010 and 31 August 2012.

Congratulations to all the winners and entrants!

The results

Cross Cutting category

Winner: Section 106 Agreement Funding Allocation Process (Lichfield District Council)

Highly Commended:

• Himley Lane, Swindon, Rural Housing Development (Housing Plus)
• The Dimbles Lane Shopping Parade, Lichfield (Midland Heart)

Economic Regeneration

Winner: Staffordshire Business Support Fund (Staffordshire County Council / Black Country Reinvestment Society)

Highly Commended:

• I54 Strategic Employment site – Infrastructure Works (Staffordshire County Council)
• Dunston Business Village (A J McLaughlin Ltd)

Environmental Regeneration

Winner: Foster Centre, Rodbaston Campus (South Staffordshire College)

Highly Commended:

• Rugeley Quarry reclamation work/wildlife habitat (Cemex UK)
• Lichfield Heritage Parks (Lichfield District Council)

Social Regeneration

Winner: Langan’s Tea Rooms, Burton (O’Connor gateway Charitable Trust)

Highly Commended:

• Cherry Orchard Gardening Services
• Tamworth Community Cafe

Young Persons Contribution to Regeneration category

Winner: Mazeley BMX Track (Mazeley Wheels/Mazeley Youth Club)

No less than 37 projects have been entered into our 2012 Southern Staffordshire Regeneration Awards competition. Following a challenging short listing exercise the following projects are going forward to the final judging in November, and all will be showcased at the Awards event on the 5th December at the Action Trussell Moat House

Economic Regeneration: Staffordshire Business Support Fund; Dunston Business Village; Tamworth 4 Business Programme; Burton Workclubs; I54 Strategic Investment site; Burton Worklessness project; South Staffs Workclubs

Social regeneration: Tamworth Community Café; Cherry Orchard Garden Services Burntwood; Springfields Cannock; BMX Track Fazeley; Langan Tea Rooms Burton; STAR Foundation Burton

Environmental Regeneration: Bargates Burton; Dunston Business Village Phase 2; East Staffs Low Carbon Community; Lichfield Heritage Parks; Travelodge Burton; Foster Centre Rodbaston College; Rugeley Quarry

Cross Cutting Projects: Lichfield S106 Agreement funded projects; Cherry Orchard Garden Services; Himley Lane Swindon (rural housing exception site); Inner Burton Housing Initiative 2; The Dimbles Shops Lichfield; St Georges Park (FA Centre) Burton; Lichfield Heritage Parks

Over the past few years the Awards have helped play a role in putting the area firmly on the regions regeneration map, with community groups, local authorities, businesses and local partnerships across Southern Staffordshire once again all contributing entries to this year’s Regeneration Awards.

Though Southern Staffordshire may not, in the traditional sense, be seen as a centre for regeneration activity it has already benefited from a range of economic, social and environmental interventions though these are often overshadowed by those of its neighbouring more urban areas.

Commenting on the initiative Partnership Director Jeff Marlow notes, “We are keen to address regeneration in a holistic way and strive to make our communities more economically and environmentally sustainable in the longer term. An Awards Competition will be central to this as we seek to recognise and promote the breadth and quality of regeneration activities across southern Staffordshire. In addition to some of our flagship multi million pound projects we are, in particular, keen to showcase those enduring initiatives that are inspired by local people which enhance our local neighbourhoods and communities”

This month a small team of practitioners from across the area will meet to do the challenging but rewarding shortlisting exercise. Southern Staffordshire is one of the few non urban areas to run such an Awards Programme reflecting the importance that is given to economic, environmental and social regeneration across the area. It is likely that any project in the area will be able to enter as there are individual categories for economic, for social and for environmental regeneration projects

The Awards are part of a wider initiative to develop the knowledge base on regeneration using exemplar projects, promote and share best practice on regeneration schemes across southern Staffordshire, create a culture of, and reputation for, innovative regeneration, and to raise the profile and relevance of economic regeneration within the partner organisations.

Jeff added, “Whilst the Awards Competition will reward the best in Southern Staffordshire this is as much about supporting all the projects, organisations, individuals and groups involved in regeneration. We want to show that in many cases we have the ability to deliver, and that we are always looking to boost our capabilities and skills. This is key to whole initiative where we will be looking to support continuous improvement and development across all those involved in regeneration. As well as for projects in the specific themed categories we also have awards for individuals, and for young people.”

The Partnership is also keen to adopt as wide a definition of regeneration as possible noting firstly that towns, communities and business are continually going through a renewal process and secondly that small scale projects addressing community safety, service provision, skills development and environmental improvements are as relevant as many of the larger scale redevelopment programmes.

There are Award categories to cover Economic, Social and Environmental regeneration and renewal activities as discrete interventions. These would broadly reflect interventions that impact on business, people and place respectively. However we recognise that some activities have more than just an economic, social or environmental focus and we will therefore allow projects to be entered into up to two categories, and we have also included a “cross cutting” category for projects that clearly make contributions to all three areas of activity.

In addition we recognise the important role that individuals can have on regeneration activity and therefore this year we have a category to recognise an outstanding contribution made by an individual during the past 2 years, and also one for a group of young people who have made a contribution to local regeneration.

Our objectives are to:

• develop the knowledge base on regeneration using exemplar projects
• promote and share best practice on regeneration schemes across southern Staffordshire
• create a culture of, and reputation for, innovative regeneration, and
• raise the profile and relevance of economic, social and environmental regeneration within the partner organisations.
• Promote and celebrate volunteering
• to reward the best in regeneration across southern Staffordshire

The awards recognise work that was carried out or completed during the period 1st June 2010 to 31st August 2012. Judging will take place during November and will be carried out by an independent team of judges.

Download the awards guidance notes 2012