2022 East Suffolk Quality of Place Awards
Recognising the best in design and conservation in East Suffolk
East Suffolk Council’s Quality of Place Awards recognise efforts to conserve historic buildings and enhance the built and natural environment through high-quality design.
The 12th annual Quality of Place Awards ceremony took place on 8th March 2023 at East Suffolk House, Melton. Nominations were judged on quality of design and detailing, quality of workmanship, use of materials and sustainability.
Chairman Judge
David Ritchie Cabinet Member for Planning and Coastal Management
Design Expert Judge
Howard Nash Local Architect and member of RIBA East
Conservation Expert Judge
Bob Kindred MBE Conservation Specialist, Suffolk Preservation Society
Landscape Expert Judge
Patricia Shepherd Director of Architects Two Ltd
Guest Judge
Paul Garbutt The Beccles Society
COMMUNITY AWARD
This award is for any built or natural environment project designed to benefit the community in which it was built. Judges look at community engagement with the project and the public benefits of the scheme.
COMMUNITY AWARD WINNER
Aldringham & Thorpeness Heritage Centre, Thorpeness Thorpeness and Aldringham Heritage Group
Thorpeness was England’s first purpose-built holiday village and the Thorpeness and Aldringham Heritage Group formed 8 years ago with the aim of preserving and displaying the unique history of the village. The group fund raised, acquired the lease on the site in the car park near the centre of the village and had constructed a visitor's centre. Not only did they have great community involvement, but their membership has doubled over the time since their formation to 120.
This project has been designed for the benefit of the community with a great deal of obvious community engagement and has clear public benefits for locals and visitors.
COMMUNITY AWARD HIGHLY COMMENDED & GREEN AWARD
Carlton Marshes Visitor Centre Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Cowper Griffith Architects
The project at Carlton Marshes wanted to create a place that would enable people to get close to nature and enjoy everything the natural world has to offer. Research had shown that almost 50% of local residents did not visit the countryside on their doorstep. By building a new visitor centre and developing the nature reserve, this has become a destination for families and people of all ages and abilities, and is a well-considered and well-loved area.
The project also successfully addresses sustainability issues by creating new wetlands that will sequestrate carbon and provide habitat for local wildlife and by actively engaging the local community in its work.
COMMUNITY AWARD HIGHLY COMMENDED
The Old Hospital, Southwold SouthGen, Modece Architects
Southwold Hospital, which originally opened in 1903, was closed in 2015. Southgen (Southwold and Waveney Valley Regeneration Ltd), a community group, purchased the hospital back from the NHS and returned it to community use. The volunteers were involved from the design through to fitting out the spaces.
This building now provides a café, library, nursery and hot-desking area, as well as 4 flats and 2 houses. The efforts of the community group are recognised, as a project like this is difficult to bring to completion, and the result is a well-considered building with high potential for long-term use by the community.
DESIGN AWARD
This award is for new buildings or extensions. Judges consider originality of design, overall architectural effect, and the building’s relationship to its context.
DESIGN AWARD JOINT WINNER
Martello Café, Felixstowe Plaice Design
The challenge of this project was to create an iconic café/restaurant that would turn an unpromising but prominent site on the edge of the Martello Park into a destination building that would act as a landmark and focal point for the regeneration of the Felixstowe seafront. The judges’ site visit convinced them that the architects have fully succeeded in this mission, as it is clearly a very popular local venue.
The building’s geometry is exceedingly complex, being inspired by a clam shell. Successfully solving the resulting architectural and constructional challenges was only possible by extensive use of 3-dimesional computer-aided design. The building is architecturally distinctive, well-detailed and successfully fits into its location in terms of both prospect and aspect.
DESIGN AWARD JOINT WINNER
Heath House, Thorpeness Al Scott, IF_DO Architects
This project is a new house of strikingly contemporary architectural design which replaces an existing house built in the 1960s and located at the northern end of an unmade private road running along the clifftop. The house is designed to be a multi-generational holiday home for an extended family focussed on a large communal living space on ground floor with glazed sliding doors opening onto terraces and garden at front and rear. Bedrooms and extra living space are on the first floor.
The house is very well planned, with a clear hierarchy of spaces and free-flowing connections between them. Overall, this impressive project is sustainable, well-detailed and well-finished and has an elegant and comfortable quality complemented by a simple planting scheme.
DESIGN AWARD HIGHLY COMMENDED
Laureate Fields, Felixstowe Generator Group
Compared to other counties in East Anglia, it is still comparatively rare in East Suffolk to find new housing schemes of contemporary architectural design that avoid pastiche and have a real sense of place. The judges were pleasantly surprised however by Laureate Fields, a scheme of 195 homes of various dwelling types and tenure laid out around a landscaped square on a site of irregular shape.
The scheme has a ‘porous’ layout which connects it to its surroundings by footpaths and cycle ways as well as roads. The external facing materials are from a co-ordinated but varied palette. Storey height fenestration gives added scale to the appearance of the buildings.
The scheme was found to be encouraging and hope it will lead to better housing on other sites in East Suffolk.
DESIGN AWARD HIGHLY COMMENDED
Eastern Edge Beach Huts, Lowestoft Chaplin Farrant Ltd, PJ Spillings Builders
Although a very simple building type, beach huts are an iconic and longstanding part of British popular culture. Architecturally, what’s interesting about this scheme is the way in which the designers have managed to cleverly and distinctively re-invent the type whilst maintaining a sense of seaside fun.
The huts are modular and were prefabricated off site. They have been laid out in echelon which gives each hut more privacy and shelter and better orientation towards the sun. The stepped and staggered layout and the use of monopitch roofs combines to produce a striking and jaunty overall composition. Added interest is provided by subtle variations in the shades of blue used in the scheme’s overall colouring.
NATURE AND LANDSCAPE AWARD
This award is for projects in the natural environment, concerned with matters of ecology, landscape design and/or nature regeneration.
NATURE AND LANDSCAPE AWARD WINNER
Garden design at Willow Barn, Grundisburgh Marc Linton Landscape Design
The new garden at Willow Barn was created to emphasise the new entrance, perimeter hedging and last but not least the orchard and vegetable plot. The architect has included the benefits to the local environment and the surrounding wildlife by including aspects of relaxation, clever planting to enhance views and creation of a new sunny border to screen the main terrace from the gravel courtyard.
Colour is a major contribution to all garden schemes and here at Willow Barn there is plenty of variety including drought tolerant planting: Eryngium and wonderful deep red of Cotinus and the knockout blue of Ceanothus. The project will be a joy to look at in the summer months.
The winners of previous Quality of Place Awards can be viewed on our website. Nomination forms for the 2023 awards will be made available later in 2023.
