Rebecca Hubbard
Posted: Friday, August 6, 2010 11:06 am

The Southend YMCA eco-hub is a second chance for a socially honest building to inspire and encourage young people to create their dream eco-business.The project is supported by and has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund and it allows young disadvantaged entrepreneurs to benefit from the regeneration of a dilapidated historic building into a new refurbishment eco-hub facility.

Southend YMCA supports around 500 marginalised young people in the area and wanted to provide them with opportunities for starting their businesses as a way of helping them progress towards independence and greater inclusion.Southend YMCA has appointed Artillery Architecture and Interior Design to create 200m² of new employment space. The project will deliver five affordable and managed workspace units, multi-purpose rooms for group work and meeting rooms and conference facilities. With on-site support and access to business networks, it will also provide young entrepreneurs with advice and support to help them develop eco-efficient, ethically aware, enterprises.

Syrie Cox, Chief Executive Officer, Southend YMCA, said: “In 2009 Southend YMCA purchased a derelict Victorian stables building situated within the curtilage of a grade 1 listed church - our vision was to sympathetically restore
the building and enhance its environmental performance creating an incubation unit for disadvantaged young people starting out in business. Artillery met and exceeded our expectations creating a beautiful scheme which successfully combined design innovation with sustainability expertise and value for money.”

The design incorporates environmental principles, achieving a BREEAM “very good” rating and providing flexible studio space for environmental innovation.

Main positive outcomes of the projects are:— Retrofitting and bringing back into use a dilapidated historicbuilding, securing improvements to the urban environment through quality design and combining ecological conservation principles.— Creating an eco-efficient flagship edifice achieving a BREEAM “very good” rating.— Improving an existing site that had no ecological value byincorporating a flora and fauna scheme to attract wildlife and contribute to enhanced biodiversity.

The design proposals blend the historical context of the existing stables, London stock bricks and aged aesthetic with a contemporary, flexible interior space. The interior is designed to compliment the Victoriana, drawing on the raw existing materials, but creating a modern inspirational interior space with crisp lines and naturally lit spaces.

The exterior space maximises on the flexibility of the Eco-Hub, the existing stable flooring was re-used in the foundations and contemporary benching and planters made from re-used timber provide an infusion of old and new. The exterior has been designed to allow the remediation of the existing grounds whilst increasing the ecological value of the local area.