|
NEWS
AT HAMILTON ARCHITECTS
July 2010  Ulster Museum wins Art Fund Prize
The Ulster Museum has won one of the most prestigious museum prizes in the world - the coveted UK Art Fund Prize. The museum picked up the £100,000 prize at a ceremony in London last night, beating competition from the Ashmolean in Oxford, the Herbert in Coventry and Blists Hill Victorian town at Ironbridge.
The competition involved an on-line public vote as well as a rigorous judging process led by broadcaster Kirsty Young.
“Although the prize was not awarded for architecture, Young said, you could not fail to be impressed with how the building – essentially 1960 brutalist welded on to late Victorian – had been transformed so successfully and it was now "building a lasting legacy."
She continued “In many ways it is like so many of the UK's provincial museums, with its Victorian paintings, stuffed animals and meteorites. But Young said: "Provincial museum is a terrible phrase because there is nothing provincial about the Ulster Museum. It stands as a brilliant example of what a museum should be and has to offer and wouldn't look out of place in any major European city.”
The museum reopened in October last year after a three-year redevelopment and is now Northern Ireland's busiest visitor attraction with over 420,000 visitors to date. “We are delighted on Northern Ireland’s behalf,” said Tim Cooke, Director of National Museums Northern Ireland. “This is the first time in Northern Ireland’s history that a prestigious cultural prize of this nature has been awarded to an institution in the region. This prize will encourage us as we endeavour to play a meaningful role at the heart of our changing society”.
Stephen Deuchar, director of the the Art Fund, said the Ulster Museum was "a brilliant example of a museum that is passionate about its public". He added: "The redevelopment is stunning, capturing its visitors' minds and hearts with exceptional creative flair."
The museum has also been shortlisted for the RICS National Awards, Community Benefit Category, which will be announced in October.
June 2010
Derry~Londonderry bids for City of Culture
Derry~Londonderry has submitted its bid to be the UK City of Culture 2013. It is one of four cities along with Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield, which were chosen by an independent judging panel taken from a shortlist of 14 bidders at the end of last year.
The level of support and goodwill from the people of all ages and backgrounds has been tremendous. Winning the City of Culture title would be an immense boost to the city and Northern Ireland in general, and would further develop the city’s strong cultural base whilst also bringing economic and social benefits.
The winner is due to be announced in the summer.
Rejuvenation of The Craft Village, Derry
Hamilton Architects have been appointed by the Inner City Trust in Derry to rejuvenate the Craft Village which is located between Magazine Street and Shipquay Street within the walled city of Derry. It was opened by the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, in 1992.
This village is a reconstruction of an 18th Century street and 19th Century square and incorporates a variety of multi-purpose retail outlets comprising craft shops, balconied apartments, a licensed restaurant, a coffee shop and the Tower Museum.
Over the next six months Hamilton Architects will carry out refurbishment works to provide a high level glazed canopy over the inner courtyard, hard landscaping and DDA works, provision of new residential and commercial space, cosmetic works to existing entrances and the formation of a new pedestrian access to the Craft Village from Magazine Street.
May 2010
RICS awards the Ulster Museum for it’s significant benefit to the community
The Ulster Museum’s design team led by Hamilton Architects picked up a prestigious RICS Award this week. The Ulster Museum was awarded the RICS Community Benefit award at an award ceremony in the Great Hall at Queens University Belfast.
Accepting the award, Mark Haslett of Hamilton Architects said “We are delighted that the Museum has won this award. As a practice what we do best is creating buildings for people and this award underlines the importance of this building to the people of Northern Ireland. The entire team has worked together to create a building which is accessible to everyone.”
The Ulster Museum’s significant contribution to the community of Belfast in particular and of Northern Ireland in general cannot be over emphasised. This major refurbishment has created a more friendly and welcoming building encouraging the wider community to visit. The museum is most likely the highest profile ‘free to enter’ visitor attraction in Northern Ireland and since reopening last October visitor numbers stand at over 355,000.
The Ulster Museum has also been shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize, the UK’s largest single arts prize and last week received the Permanent Exhibition award at the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence in London.
 Ulster Museum awarded at the Oscars of the Museums World
The Ulster Museum was awarded at the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence – the Oscars of the Museums World – at a prestigious ceremony on 12 May in London.
The Ulster Museum beat off incredibly stiff competition from The Ashmolean and Natural History Museum’s Cocoon to scoop the Permanent Exhibition Award and was commended for it’s reopening Marketing Campaign. The judges were particularly impressed by Ulster Museum’s very striking interpretive mix, which has successfully ensured that the museum’s objects serve the narrative and are not subordinate to the surrounding architecture.
The Awards aim to recognise and celebrate best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions and were presented by broadcaster and journalist, Simon Calder.
The Ulster Museum was awarded at the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence – the Oscars of the Museums World – at a prestigious ceremony on 12 May in London.
The Ulster Museum beat off incredibly stiff competition from The Ashmolean and Natural History Museum’s Cocoon to scoop the Permanent Exhibition Award and was commended for it’s reopening Marketing Campaign. The judges were particularly impressed by Ulster Museum’s very striking interpretive mix, which has successfully ensured that the museum’s objects serve the narrative and are not subordinate to the surrounding architecture.
The Awards aim to recognise and celebrate best practice within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions and were presented by broadcaster and journalist, Simon Calder.
United Nations award for the Crescent Arts Centre and Hamilton Architects
The Crescent Arts Centre and it’s restoration team, Hamilton Architects, Gilbert Ash and Braecom have received a MAB UNESCO* Award in recognition of the work done in protecting the swift habitat throughout the environmentally sensitive restoration of the Crescent Arts Centre. NIEA’s Chief Executive John McMillen presented Hamilton Architects’ award to David Fletcher at the ‘Under One Roof’ Festival on 30 April organised by the RSPB and the Crescent Arts Centre.
The Crescent Arts Centre is home to one of N.Ireland’s largest remaining swift colonies. While the renovation was in the early planning stages the NIEA, Crescent Arts Centre, architects and contractors worked closely together to incorporate swift nesting sites in the building and to agree a works schedule that would minimise disruption during the nesting season. This ensured the needs of birds and builders were accommodated at every stage.
This award is a great achievement by the whole team involved in this prestigious project and acknowledges the excellent work that was done for the swift colony.
*Man and the Biosphere (MAB), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
APRIL 2010
Hamilton Architects’ refurbishment of the Crescent Arts Centre complete as centre re-opens
Belfast’s Crescent Arts Centre has officially re-opened following a £7.2 million refurbishment and restoration project by Hamilton Architects and Hall Black Douglas that has doubled its capacity and injected new, cutting-edge facilities into the historic 135 year-old landmark city building. (Hall Black Douglas were architects on the scheme design, whilst Hamilton Architects worked on the detail design to deliver the completed project).
The Centre, one of the city's most revered historic venues, has been carefully restored to maintain the integrity of the building, preserving as many original details as possible, and now provides a vibrant rehearsal, performance, exhibition and arts education space.
More than half of the structure had fallen into disrepair and much of the old centre was not fit for purpose. The new-look Crescent Arts Centre boasts state-of-the art facilities, comprising a multipurpose space with retractable theatre seating, a dance studio, galleries, workshop spaces, a photographic studio, and a café.
The event marked one of the biggest capital investments made in Northern Ireland’s arts infrastructure in the last ten years.
The ambitious project, which took 18 months to complete, was supported by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), Arts Council Northern Ireland (ACNI), the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Crescent Arts Centre and the general public.
To celebrate its re-opening, the centre has a week-long ‘Crescent Overture’ festival of the arts which offers lunchtime and evening recitals, free taster workshops and guided tours of the building. Events include a reading with Pulitzer Prize winning author and new patron of the Crescent Arts Centre Paul Muldoon, Bellydance, Puppetry, Figure Drawing or Lego workshops, an afternoon with Shakespeare and lots more workshops and performances by local and international artists.
Full programme details for the ‘Crescent Overture’ festival are available on www.crescentarts.org.
FEBRUARY 2010
NEW ARDS CONSTRUCTION SKILLS CENTRE NOW OPEN
Hamilton Architects handed over the new £3.6m construction skills workshop facility to the South Eastern Regional College in January 2010. The new centre will provide workshops and ancillary accommodation for the five vocational skills, namely Electrical, Plumbing, Carpentry and Joinery, Brickwork and Motor vehicles. The new integrated facility replaces out dated substandard accommodation and will be of benefit to the whole community.
MULTI-MILLION POUND MEDICINES MANUFACTURING FACILITY NOW COMPLETE
Victoria Pharmaceuticals, a new purpose built facility in the grounds of the Royal Group of Hospitals in Belfast, is complete and will improve efficiencies and contribute towards the highest quality patient care. The facility will provide specialist medicines for a wide range of patients including intravenous feeding solutions for neonates, ophthalmic preparations, controlled analgesia and cancer chemotherapy. It will also produce and supply a range of pharmaceuticals to hospitals and primary care in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK, and is the only facility of its kind throughout Ireland.
JANUARY 2010
CIVIC TRUST NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR CHINESE COMMUNITY & RESOURCE CENTRE
The Chinese Community & Resource Centre is one of only three projects from Northern Ireland to receive special recognition from the Civic Trust Awards National Panel for their strong community initiative and for the positive impact on the people they serve. Designed by Hamilton Architects for the Chinese Welfare Association, the Centre has been commended by the judging panel for “the positive impact it provided to the local community”. The £1.4m centre comprises staff offices, a multi-purpose hall, training room, library, conference room, user room, creche and playground and is widely used by the local community.
NEW DAYCARE FACILITY OPENS IN LISBURN
The new Lisburn Assessment & Resource Centre has been completed and handed over to the South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust. The refurbishment of the existing facility and the new build extension will provide a much needed Daycare Facility for adults over 19 years old with learning disabilities, increasing the number of available day-support places to 100. The new facility fully meets the needs of its clients, who require a range of support depending on their behaviour, general health and mental health.
DESIGN QUALITY ON THE CRESCENT ARTS CENTRE, BELFAST
The Crescent Arts Centre has been used as a case study for the Design Quality Indicator (DQI), an initiative from the Construction Industry Council. The DQI is a method of evaluating the design and construction of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing buildings. On the Crescent Arts Centre use of DQI was seen by both the client and Hamilton Architects as an opportunity to facilitate a dialogue between end-users and the design team in order to inform a wide range of stakeholders about the design. By engaging end-users through DQI the Crescent Arts Centre were able to set priorities, develop consensus and find solutions to the challenge of preserving a historic Victorian landmark for Belfast while at the same time providing modern, flexible and accessible arts spaces and facilities for diverse users.
For more information on this case study go to:
http://www.dqi.org.uk/website/buildings/casestudies/crescentartscentre/default.aspa.
PLANNING APPROVAL GRANTED FOR NEW EXECUTIVE EDUCATION CENTRE AT QUEENS UNIVERSITY
Planning approval was granted in December 2009 for this project which will rejuvenate the existing B1 listed Riddel Hall building on the Stranmillis Road, Belfast, creating the highest quality seminar and syndicate rooms for executive education. The building, previously used as a Halls of Residence, will be refurbished and extended to provide a mainstream facility of further education for Queen’s University.
MORE
NEWS ....
|
