Blog: SECBE Awards 2022 finalist - Hale End Court

14 April 2022

Project of the Year over £10m sponsored by Hill Dickinson

Hale End Court (submitted by HNW Architects) 

Building Project of the Year over £10m SECBE Award 2022 finalist

Hale End Court is a leading example that collaborative working, collective vision and careful design can truly realise a project’s potential and shape a sustainable social legacy for all generations.

1. The core design team were retained as a ‘golden thread’ from planning stages through to project completion to ensure project knowledge was retained. Open and constructive dialogue tangibly improved programme and quality. 

2. The overall programme was accelerated through an early engagement with the supply chain, achieving a completed building within 16 months of achieving planning committee approval (despite challenges of Covid and Brexit).

3. All environmental briefing targets were exceeded dramatically, particularly minimising carbon where the selection of Cross Laminated Timber sequestered some 845,510 kgCO2e.

4. Whether through statutory consultees or end users, the design and finished building have received outstanding positive feedback and customer satisfaction (see example quotes).

5. A high degree of off-site manufacture was employed on the project to improve programme, minimise waste and achieve high quality. To mitigate against potential supply and delivery impacts from new border arrangements associated with Brexit the Cross Laminated Timber manufacturer, Contractor, Client and Design Team worked to accelerate the construction programme and locate storage to ensure the project wasn’t delayed.

Woking Borough Council’s vision for the former Car Showroom and Garage site was for a high quality, modern, sustainable, and purpose-built Living Facility emphasising Independence, whilst providing aspects of extra care distinguishing the facility from typical residential care.

The scheme provides 48 Independent Living apartments along with combined communal, administrative and care facilities. Set across four storeys on a constrained sensitive site, homes have been designed to exceed Nationally Described Space Standards and provide familiar accommodation which can be adapted to each resident's needs.

Woking were keen to support a contemporary aesthetic whilst remaining sympathetic to the historic Old Woking High Street and adjacent listed buildings. The scheme is a highly sustainable project and was designed to enable use of MMC and off-site fabrication to minimise impact of working on the constrained site, reduce overall timescales and ensure quality.  While ambitious, the massing, scale and careful consideration of materials satisfied Planning and the Conservation Officers of the increased density on this site through a collaborative and proactive engagement process.

Benjamin Bailey, Planning Officer said, ‘although achieving a higher density than prevailing within the surrounding area, the proposed development would respect and make a positive contribution to the street scene and the character of the area’.

The result is a high-quality building which is purposefully understated, yet reveals itself through careful detailing, external spaces and material selection. The scale has been carefully considered, aesthetically mimicking a human scale and terraced streetscape with an elegant and set back zinc mansard roof beyond.

The new residents of Hale End Court are a mixed dependency population, yet all able to enjoy a lively, sociable, and supportive environment through a high quality, sustainable and inclusive design with generous and carefully considered external amenity spaces.

Key achievements:

• Sustainability – Delivered Less than half the kgCO2e/m2 compared with a typical build and 35.9% improvement in energy performance compared with a typical build.

• Innovation – Adopted a Cross Laminated Timber approach to MMC to ensure delivery against a tight programme and mitigate supply and delivery concerns associated with Brexit.

• Feedback – A collaborative and inclusive design approach sought opinions and views to inform and improve future design stages resulting in a design receiving outstanding client and resident feedback and satisfaction.

Client: Woking Borough Council

Project Partners: Willmott Dixon Construction, Engenuiti (structural and civil engineers), Van Zyl & de Villiers (consulting engineers), Lizard Landscape Design & Ecology

Find out who wins at the Constructing Excellence SECBE Awards 2022 Ceremony on Thurs 30th June 2022.

About the Building Project of the Year over £10m Award (sponsored by  Hill Dickinson):  

Project of the Year delivers outstanding outcomes for all those involved in a construction project.  It showcases the benefits achieved through the application of many of the principles described in the other award categories. More info.

>> Find out more about the other Constructing Excellence SECBE Awards finalists here