Stubbs Rich are pleased to have won the Constructing Excellence South West Heritage Award for our Komedia project in Bath.

We took a down-at-heel disused listed cinema and changed it into a new venue for live entertainment. We also provided a home for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen. Both have proved to be very successful.

The judges commended the way in which a redundant listed building, designed to fulfil a very specific demand as a cinema, had been found a new and valuable use.

 

We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our OJEU bid to be appointed by the University of Bath to design the new Student Centre.

This exciting project will act as a major focus for the University campus and give the students much improved facilities.  It will also dramatically improve the approach to the parade level from the east.  The design of the building is to achieve BREEAM Excellent.

By working closely with this important client and an excellent design team on this challenging project, we believe that we will help the University begin to implement their long term masterplan for the campus.

We will be working with King Sturge, Gleeds and Mann Williams.

 

Stubbs Rich are proud to be winners of this year’s Design Quality Award for their Komedia project in Bath. The judges said, ‘Stubbs Rich have breathed new life into this worthy Art-Deco building, and created an excellent venue.’ John Rich is pictured with local MP Don Foster and other award winners at the Guildhall in Bath.

 

This former Art Deco super cinema, currently a dynamic church could, in addition, become a regional concert venue.

Stubbs Rich have completed a study into transforming the Grade II* listed Bath Forum into a regional concert hall.

Bath & North East Somerset Council, together with the building owners, Bath City Church, have commissioned Stubbs Rich to identify what could be done to help the Forum fulfil the dream for Bath to host concerts throughout the year.

Working with a team of specialists, we have identified a series of discreet improvements to the auditorium which include improving sight lines, increasing stage capacity and adjusting the acoustics to suit better unamplified performances.  In order to complement the auditorium capacity of 1,655 seats, we have proposed the ‘Projection Room’: a new roof level breakout space for 600 guests with views over the city (as illustrated).

Our proposals form the input to a business plan which will test the viability and funding options.

This is the latest project in a series we have undertaken since the purchase of the Forum by Bath City Church in the late 1980s.

What does the current unstable state of the economy mean for architects out there? Obviously there are difficult times ahead and we are already experiencing the tightening of belts - yet it is not necessarily all doom and gloom. When new build projects are put on hold by budgetary constraints, refurbishment expertise can prove invaluable. Stubbs Rich, with our impressive portfolio of refurbishment projects, can work with any budget to provide innovative and economical solutions.

Our ability to work with an existing property and transform it to meet a new and challenging brief can be seen in many of our recent successful projects - several of which we focus on here:

 

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