Grange Pavillion
Landscape and SuDS design of a community space within an inner City Edwardian Park
Project information
Client
Cardiff University
Partners
Arcadis / IBI, Benham Architects
Location
Grangetown, Cardiff
The challenge
The former Pavillion building was a former bowls club that had become vacant and unused. Cardiff University, alongside the local community sought to redevelop the building and the former bowling green for a new heart to the community. Given the nature of the project, the design process was established to provide a considerable amount of input and engagement from the people who would become the custodians, operators and users of the building.
Our role
As landscape architect we needed to fully appreciate the community's requirements for the space, which included growing, performance, nature and space for events. We attended multiple community workshops pre and post completion to understand the performance of the landscape in the overall design. We needed to appreciate the influence of SUDS design and we needed to design a SuDS system prior to the formal adoption of the mandatory SuDS requirements in Wales. This required extensive research and testing with the drainage engineers. We also needed to fully understand the role of existing landscape features, such as existing trees, boundaries and also the high water table with tidal influences. Finally, we needed to work coherently with the architectural team to ensure that the outdoor and indoor spaces were seamless and effective.
The Outcome
The project, which has transformed an old bowls pavilion into a thriving hub of activity for the community, was awarded the RSAW Welsh Architecture Award 022 as well as the RSAW Client of the Year 2022.
The Pavilion was recognised as an ‘extraordinary community project’ and commended for exemplifying ‘true collaboration’ and for the impact that it has had on local residents.
The Grange Pavilion, which was completed in 2020, is located at the heart of Grangetown, one of the most diverse wards in Wales. The spaces around the building meet the needs of the occupiers as being multi-functional, easy to maintain, provide spaces for growing and events, while also creating spaces for biodiversity and nature.
