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.

 

154 Milton Park was a tired industrial building from the 1970s that had had a variety of low-grade uses. MEPC approached Stubbs Rich to look at sustainable development options for the creation of flexible office / laboratory and production units. Taking into account the demands of a tight programme and tighter budget, we soon concluded that refurbishment would be the best option.

Our proposal included essential remedial works to the structural frame and concrete slab, and complete replacement of the envelope. This made sense in terms of economy, speed and responsible use of resources. The result internally and externally is an elegant, contemporary building, achieved at low cost and low environmental impact. The development has achieved a ‘Very Good BREEAM Industrial’ rating.

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Bath University has grown massively in recent decades, both in size and importance, but the Student Union’s accommodation has not kept pace. Stubbs Rich has designed an extension to the current accommodation that not only gives more space and more flexibility but, just as importantly, gives the Union much more presence on campus. For the first time the Union will have a prominent main entrance. The proposal also resolves the problem of the narrow route from the main bus stop to the Parade; the project is seen as an important part of realising the University’s long term masterplan aspirations.

The proposed design is currently being promoted by the SU to the University Executive. Alex Nicholson-Evans, the SU President, has encouraged students to use Facebook to voice their support for the scheme. So far there have been nearly 3,000 students registering their approval.

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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It has been two years in the making, and many more in the minds of the Komedia team but at long last, at 7.30 this evening, the club will swell to the sounds of singer Roddy Frame and a sell-out crowd.

The buzz about town has been amazing, with so many local (and not so local) people genuinely excited about this new venue - even the front of house team at Jamie’s Italian in Bath yesterday told us they couldn’t wait!

“This is such an important venue for Bath,” says Stubbs Rich Associate Director, Paul Younger. “It brings a whole new range of contemporary entertainment into the city centre, fully complementing the existing offerings. Its combination of cafe society, comedy, cabaret, music and more is unlike anything else in the city. The former cinema has been empty for over five years and now it has been beautifully restored and re-created to provide the perfect showcase for such a wide range of entertainment.”

Information about Komedia Bath can be found at www.komedia.co.uk/bath/