Construction Skills School
The recent completion of Phase 1 sees the opening of the construction skills school which EBBA have helped to deliver after being appointed to design the scheme on the Olympic Park. The project was commissioned through an invited competition process by the London Legacy Development Corporation. The public project, which will be run by the Construction Industry Training Board and the Skills Centre, is set to be in use for the next 4 years and will provide valuable skills based “hands-on” learning to local people in the area.
The brief asked for an innovative, sustainable solution to cladding three classroom blocks on the site, to be built in two phases. The requirements included the need for a limited amount of maintenance and flexible enough that the design could adjust to the repurposed cabins being donated to the project. In addition, the design brief sought ideas for the landscaping around the site and its boundary treatment to this edge of the park, which provides a gateway to people approaching from Hackney Wick. The ambition was to create an active frontage to allow views to the activities inside the construction skills centre while also making a building that responded to the changing area.
EBBA wanted to create a lively architecture that would reflect the activities of its occupants. We used our experience of working on low-cost projects to develop a strategy that could achieve a high quality and refined result with very simple means. We like to see care taken in the creation of all building types, even those for temporary use, as they play a vital role in the development of areas and can bring delight to those that experience them.
