Lakeview Village Hall Kent

Project: Lakeview Village Hall, Great Easthall, Sittingbourne, Kent

Lakeview Village Hall Website

Client: Swale Borough Council

Architect: BBM Sustainable Design Ltd

Structural Engineer: MLM

Building Services Engineers: Norman Bromley Partnership LLP

Quantity Surveyors: QS Consultant

Project Managers: Synergy

Landscaping Architect: Andrew Ramsey Associates with BBM Sustainable Design Ltd

Construction Manager: BMR Construction Ltd

Completion date: May 2017

Total floor area: 206m² 

Contract Sum: £825K (incl. of external works)

Great to have some of the team together for the grand opening of Lakeview Village Hall on Saturday. Plenty more photographs to follow!

In January 2015, BBM were awarded the appointment of architect for a new village hall within the rapidly enlarging neighbourhood of Great Easthall to the northeast of Sittingbourne in Kent. For the new building, named by local residents as Lakeview Village Hall, BBM’s pitch was to create a ‘marker on the map’; to provide a visual and community focal point within its emerging townscape and landscape setting.

After an extensive feasibility study, involving a number of sketch options and a couple of design workshops with local residents, BBM were joined by the rest of the design team to progress a preferred layout which was judged to be within budget and offered a high degree of user flexibility.

The architects wanted to achieve a main space with a strong sense of occasion implicit in its form and scale and thus be a great venue for a multitude of special occasions and the people it serves. It does this primarily with the exposed timber beams and the dramatic wedge-shaped ‘light canons’ which serve not only to help pull ample amounts of daylight into the space but also to draw fresh air through the hall. Externally the light canons provide the ‘marker on the map’ prominence the architects had been searching for.

The architect’s concern for sustainability ensured Lakeview Village Hall is kind to the environment. It does this not only by exploiting techniques for passive solar heating and ventilation and ample levels of natural daylighting, it is also constructed of materials of low environmental impact and accommodates high levels of ecological value within its built form and landscape design. The landscape and the building itself include a range of features to support a rich ecological diversity of fauna and flora.

Anticipating the needs of the future, the architects were mindful to create a building that would easily accept change and expansion. There was always a hope that the building could at some point in the future provide changing facilities for the playing fields to the south of the village hall. The design anticipated the layout of a building being added on its southeast side. The plant room and utility connections were sized to allow this to happen as well. Additionally the external canopy would serve as a covered link to a future building potential on the west side. Along the north side of the site, the car park can be extended to meet an increased parking demand. The large light canon has a significant southwest facing pitch which the designers envisaged to allow for the future fitting of a photovoltaic (solar electric) array.

BBM and the rest of the design and client team are hopeful the Lakeview Village Hall will provide a great home and focus for neighbourhood events and parties well into the future. As part of the wider aspirations from the very beginning of the project, we hope the new facility will stimulate a sense of place and belonging to the residents of Great Easthall, be a ‘marker on the map’ in terms of architectural presence and at the same time be a good custodian of its local ecosystem and minimise environmental impacts in its use and construction.