Community centre design wins Huddersfield Civic Society award

An architect student’s vision for a community centre in a northern city has won a prize from Huddersfield Civic Society.

Stacey Barratt, a Master of Architecture final year student at the University of Huddersfield, had drawn up a sustainable architecture design for the Hull Youth Art and Education Centre.

She was awarded the £200 annual Peter Stead Award by Sylvia Johnson and Gideon Richards who are Huddersfield Civic Society (HCS) Committee members and members of the judging panel.

The judges particularly liked how the development integrated itself into the Hull landscape and community with a strong campus emphasis being for and managed by the local community.

Sylvia said: “Having been to that area of Hull a few times I could picture the project sitting in Hull very well.”

Stacey considered the use of sustainable materials to create a campus that meets the needs of all its occupants and takes into account its future operations and climate change such as flood risk management.

Stacey’s design was one of four judged by HCS.

Gideon said: “We would like to thank the students for their innovative approaches to sustainability in the built environment.”

Huddersfield-born Peter Stead, who died in 2000 aged 77, was a pioneer in urban design. Farnley Hey, his Bauhaus-inspired house built at Farnley Tyas near Huddersfield in the 1950s was recognised as a revolutionary concept and awarded a medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The other students’ work was also thought provoking.

Katie Ambler’s mycelium research and remediation project to better integrate and support Savile Town and Dewsbury demonstrated innovative thinking about new materials.

Oliver Cuddeford looked at the retrofitting and conversion of an office block into apartments, supported by new businesses. Tyler Dale’s passivhaus project was set in the heart of Camden, London.

HCS congratulates them all and wishes them every success in their careers.