ESA Selected Works

Penthouse kitchen and dining

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St Silas Primary School

Location
Blackburn

Client
Blackburn & Darwen Borough Council

Status
completed 2012

Size
2 400 m2

The project consists of a three-storey Primary School built on a tight
sloping site surrounded by terraced housing.

To provide all classrooms with direct access to external play space,
the practice utilised the area’s topography, resulting in a three storey
solution totalling 2,200m² which is layered over and pushed into the
site and terraced to maximise the external area with rooftop play
spaces.

The school comprises four linked blocks wrapping around a secure
play courtyard: a single storey block with a rooftop play deck linked
to the ground with a tube slide; two three-storey blocks linked by
a bridge of class spaces of which the upper floor houses a mini-
football pitch; and a main hall block with staff accommodation on
top disguising plant areas. The practice designed the scheme in just
eight weeks during the summer of 2010; it was opened in April 2012
- just 22 months after initial client and user consultations.

The design allows for over 800m² of useable play space off the
ground level, 400m² more than was provided for the previous
Victorian school on the site.

Effects of light and colour are used throughout, with locally sourced,
coloured perspex step in-fills flooding dining areas with a rainbow
of light. The ‘wrapping’ elevation cladding system is a series of
coloured, translucent and solid perspex fins designed to create a
cost effective rapid solution.

The project received an RIBA national award in 2013

View of the platform at Ponte Arche

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View approach the proposed station at Tione

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Penthouse kitchen and dining Stair details for penthouse apartments leading through opening room light to garden terrace

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Penthouse kitchen and dining Penthouse kitchen and dining

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Witton Park Arena

Location
Blackburn

Client
Blackburn & Darwen Borough Council

Status
completed

Size
£2.4 million

Witton Park Arena is a new build indoor athletics training facility
situated in Witton Country Park, adjacent to existing, outdoor, 400m
track and field facilities. The park is a 480 acre green open space
of partially manmade landscapes wrapped round the original family
house. The Local Authority worked with both the Olympic Medal
Winning, Blackburn Harriers Athletic Club and other users of the park
to explore the viability of creating a new sports hub, alongside the
track.
The key elements of the Brief which have been delivered by this
scheme are: A Member’s Gym; A Dance / Fitness Studio; A Club
Room; Changing and WC’s; Council Office Space; First Aid /
Physiotherapy Room; Storage; Flexibility to add a Cafe/Terrace;
External seating for 200 spectators

View towards entrance with cantileverd accomodation box

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View across adjacent running track

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Island Free School

Location
Ventnor, Isle of Wight

Client
Isle of Wight Island Free School/ EFA/ Interserve

Status
completed 2017

Size
2 400 m2

The Island Free School on the Isle of Wight was set up in response
to the decline in the standard of secondary school education over
recent years on the island. It is a small school offering a focused and
formal academic curriculum. In close collaboration with the school,
Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Interserve, Capita’s design
team worked to optimise teaching space to the school’s requirements
and eliminating wasted space on a tight site.

The design solution provides the school with a more efficient, clearer,
simpler and a more elegant solution, at an affordable price and with
a delivery date that exceeds the 2017 expectation.

We achieved this by our knowledge and experience of the planning
process. Through a series of six weekly engagement meetings
and working in a multi-disciplinary BIM environment, we were able
to submit a RIBA stage 2 EFA feasibility study, on budget, in six
weeks. The EFA review cited the project as the fastest to achieve
such and to be on target for budgetary constraints. During this time
we engaged proactively with the Town Planning department and
statutory consultees, so that as soon as EFA authorised, the planning
submission was lodged at week 8. Approval was granted ten weeks
later, and, with the ongoing design development and package
release to the market, work started on site two weeks later at the end
of June 2015.

Due to the extremely fast pace, there was a need for specialist
consultants as and when needed at short notice. The Capita team
was able to draw on in-house expertise and adapt to the situation
as it evolved, keeping a step ahead of consultation and statutory
requirements.

View of the platform at Ponte Arche

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View approach the proposed station at Tione

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Crest Academy

Location
Ventnor, Isle of Wight

Client
Borough Council

Status
completed 2017

Size
2 400 m2

The new build Crest Academies provided a state of the art learning
environment comprising a 900 place Girls’ Academy and a 750 place
Boys’ Academy with a joint 400 place 6th Form.

The scheme provided a diverse range of internal and external
learning environments with 4 pavillion buildings set in landscaped
grounds and is accessed from Crest Road and Dollis Hill Lane.

The buildings and landscape were carefully designed to integrate
with the surrounding neighbourhood to provide the students and
the local community with an excellent learning environment and a
community resource which will deliver education excellence for all.

The proposals include:

A new build Girls’ Academy and Boys’ Academy as well as a joint
Sixth Form.

Flexible and adaptable learning spaces supported by state of the
art ICT.

Dining facilities, a theatre, a Learning Resource Centre, independent
sports halls, drama and activity studios.

External learning, sports and leisure facilities.

New performance, leisure and sports facilities including playing
fields that will be available to the community.

Vehicular and pedestrian entrances designed to aid ease of access
with car and cycle parking.

View towards The Crest Girls’ Academy students’ entrance

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Elevational detail

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View towards The Crest Boys’ Academy students’ entrance

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View towards main visitor entrance

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Engineering Faculity University of Cyprus

Location
Athalassa, Nicosia, Cyprus

Client
University of Cyprus

Status
shortlisted in international competition

Size
4 000 m2

A competition entry for a new Engineering Faculty building on the
newly established educational campus to the south west of Nicosia
city centre.
ESA architects configured three new faculty buildings around a
new student ‘quad’ with a forth buildings acting as a central hub /
information point plus deanery facilities.
The brief required labs, workshops and teaching facilities for the
Schools of Civil, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering plus a School
of Architecture also in the hub.
The configuration of the three buildings also provides wonderful
views out towards the Athalassa Islands to the south and west of
the campus thus connecting the project with its inspirational context.
The circular building at the heart of the scheme – that relates again
to the new central public plaza – is home to the Deanery and the
Architecture.

Elevated view across central plaza

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Dusk view looking towards Deanery

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Southall

Location
Ealing
Client

Hovedean
Status

Constented
Size

90,000 m2

ESA architects and the client’s design team, have gained planning
consent for the five Hectare site of the former Middlesex Business
Park in Southall town centre and adjacent to the forthcoming
Crossrail station.
The scheme includes a large quantum of residential accommodation
along with retail space, a hotel, offices and student halls configured
around a hectare of new public space. New links into the town centre
and a ‘green lung’ park (a central requirement of the local planning
framework plan) form part of this consented scheme.
Alongside the Capita team – including planners GL Hearn – we
have worked closely with the LB Ealing and the site owner to
deliver the consent through a complex pre-application process with
numerous important stakeholders including the GLA. The scheme
also incorporates locally listed heritage structures and preserves the
potential for a new link road through the town.

Masterplan

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Walthamstow Town Square

Location
Walthamstow

Client
Capital & Regional

Status
Constented 2018

Size
1.5 hectares

ESA have been appointed to design Phase Two of Walthamstow’s
established Selborne Walk Shopping Centre.

A residential and retail-led master plan and architectural design
proposal adjacent to a large shopping complex in a regenerated part
of east London. The context for the site is changing as the area
becomes a popular place to live and raise families with the benefit of
excellent transport connections to central London. The scheme sits
adjacent to Walthamstow tube, rail and bus station.

The project involves a retail extension, the redesign of the public
square to the immediate east and two residential towers which
accommodate approximately 430 residential units.

The proposed design of the retail elevation, lining the town
square, seeks to incorporate traditional east London ‘high street’
elevational patterns and classical civic building character unified with
contemporary detailing and materials.

Masterplan

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The Gates

Location
Durham
Client
Clearbell
Status

due for completion 2019
Size

1.3 hectares

A complex development of retail, 250 new student units and leisure
uses on an existing multideck 1970s shopping centre.
The site is adjacent to the River Wear and creates a new riverside
promenade lined with restaurants and a cinema overlooking one
of England’s most sensitive historic views, the UNESCO World
Heritage Site of Durham Castle and Cathedral.
Our scheme received planning permission with a unanimous
decision from council members. Our response to this challenging
site is fully supported by Historic England and has been welcomed
by the community.

Masterplan

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Peckham Town Centre

Location
Peckham, London

Client
Tiger Developments

Status
Pre Planning

Size
50,000 m2

ESA were appointed in 2013 to undertake a detailed urban feasibility
study for this major site in Peckham Town Centre.

Our brief is to develop a strategy and outline design for the
redevelopment of the ‘high-street’ shopping centre / mall area
including the provision of new employment space, retail and a tall
residential building.

The work we have done with Tiger Developments, Southwark
Planners and G.L.A Design Panel, Southwark DRP has culminated
a major mixed use regeneration of Peckham town centre. The ESA
scheme will provide over 1000 new private market and affordable
homes, public spaces and retail opportunities as part of a masterplan
tying the new development into the city.

Masterplan

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Ascot Road

Location
Watford, Hertfordshire

Client
Cortland UK

Status
Constented 2017

Size
1.3 hectares

Capita/ESA architects have been instructed by Orion Land to
prepare a full planning submission for a brownfield site in Croxley
Green, Watford. This key gateway site sits adjacent to the
proposed Cassiobridge underground station on the Metropolitan
Line extension.
The scheme, submitted for planning in January 2017 consists of
485 Residential units and around 1,000sqm of commercial space,
community space and over 5,000sqm of new publicly accessible
green space.

Masterplan

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Nicosia

Location
Riviera, Nicosia, Cyprus

Client
Plaza Exclusive Projects

Status
Constented

Size
17 hectares

Mixed use masterplan scheme in the suburbs of Nicosia, Cyprus for
Plaza Exclusive Projects.

The 17 Hectare site sits adjacent to a tree-lined creek and the old
village of Lakatamia to the soutwest of the capital.

The scheme will provide around 500 new modern homes as well as
offices, shops, a hotel, community facilities and a linear park that
strengthens the creek edge.

Masterplan

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Kevin Wylde BA (Hons), DipArch

Director - Architecture

Kevin joined ESA in 2003 as a senior design lead; his experience lies within
design and delivery of complex design led commercial architecture, he has
experience throughout the UK, and particular expertise unlocking complex urban
sites within London, the West End and UK wide. Kevin relishes the challenges
set within complex urban sites and marrying contemporary architecture within the
conservation and heritage context of the city. Kevin became a London director
in 2007.

Recent projects include; large scale mixed use regeneration schemes in
Durham and Walthamstow, HQ office buildings alongside residential, retail and
public realm works in Marylebone and Oxford Street, London, the major mixed
use redevelopment of a complex island site on the East end of Oxford Street,
comprising a listed buildings, retained facades and new build; a Boutique Hotel
and private members club within a Grade II listed building on Cavendish Square,
London.

Kevin is one of the key director business leads for ESA Architecture.

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Marek Sroka BA(Hons), BArch, RIBA, ARB

Director - Architecture

Marek joined ESA architects in 1998 and became a Director in 2004 and is
responsible for both the successful design and delivery of our projects and the
continuing development of the practice.

Marek has extensive experience in the design and delivery of a wide range of
successful projects varying in scale from small scale niche projects through to
complex large scale developments. These projects range from heritage and
conservation schemes, large scale HQ commercial offices through to complex
large scale mixed use and residential developments. He has a particular
expertise within the commercial office sector and has helped deliver over a
million square feet of ‘Grade A’ office space in the UK.

His skills range from initial brief development and early conceptual work, the
detailed design and key planning stages of a project through to its delivery and
completion working closely with the client, design and contractor teams at each
of these key stages.

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James Gott BA (Hons), DipArch, RIBA, ARB

London Design Director - Architecture

James joined ESA in October 2002 having previously worked with a number of
design led architectural practices including Richard Rogers & Partners, Future
Systems and high profile practices in both Hong Kong and Sydney.

His particular expertise is in front end design, taking projects from concept to
developed scheme design, utilising 3D modelling and visualisation for which he
has received an RIBA award. His work is permanently exhibited in the foyer of the
Virtual Reality Centre in London and he has been an invited critic at the Bartlett
School of Architecture.

Having worked on central London projects for the last 20 years he has extensive
knowledge of designing deliverable buildings in highly sensitive locations. Recent
projects include; The Gates in Durham a mixed use scheme on a 1.2 hectare site
on the River Wear and adjacent to the World Heritage site of Durham Cathedral;
Oriana a 210,000 sq ft retail and luxury residential scheme to the east end of
London’s Oxford Street; the new UK headquarters for the US medical company
Stryker, and new masterplans for the Alakati City quarter of Nicosia Cyprus,
Peckham town centre and Southall in London.

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Gavin Urquhart BA (Hons), DipArch, RIBA, ARB

Director of Transport Architecture

Gavin joined Capita ESA in January 2011 to head up the architectural team
delivering transport related projects. He has 24 years experience in a number of
sectors, delivering projects in both the UK and internationally from the UK.

With exposure early in his career to the ramifications of rethinking construction
advocated first by the Latham report then by Sir John Egan at BAA, the continuous
improvement of design management and integrated working with clients and
contractors alike continue to be an interest and foundation for Gavin’s ongoing
effective and efficient project delivery.

A portfolio of sometimes large and complex projects have been successfully
developed through managing comprehensive stakeholder engagement, to
capture and develop the aspirations and the brief, accommodating functional
processes within a design solution which embodies flexible, adaptable and
efficient facilities able to meet future and changing demands

Gavin’s previous role evolving to Practice Director at Llewelyn Davies Yeang,
provided a wide and varied experience from master planning and concept
design particularly of transport focused development, adjacent & complimentary
commercial development optimising transport interfaces, to detailed design
delivery in complete co-ordination with management contractor’s procurement
requirements.

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Yasser el Gabry BA (Hons), DipArch, RIBA, ARB

Director of Education Architecture

Yasser joined the ESA Capita team in May 2014. His experience of over twenty
years encompasses a diverse range of sectors, typology, scale and locations in
the UK and worldwide, most significantly in educational environments, including
primary, secondary, further and higher.
Projects have ranged in scale from strategic master planning to delivery of large
complex new builds and modest expansions.
Key skills include: engagement and management of stakeholders, particularly
multi-headed, publicly accountable clients; developing briefs and designs for
complex building types on constrained and often live sites; leading teams of
architects across several projects whilst overseeing consistency of delivery.
He has spoken at Ecobuild and as an invited speaker at the Internationale
Deutsche Schule Brüssel ’Schule neu denken’ Symposium, also hosting a
workshop jointly with Stefan Behnisch.
Yasser studied at the Universities of Manchester and Westminster, registering
as an architect in 1994. He spent his formative years in practice with Foster and
Partners in London and Hong Kong, Troughton McAslan in London and Simpson
Associates in Manchester.
Award of Oberdick Fellowship by the University of Michigan in 1995 allowed
investigation of design through leading undergraduate and postgraduate design
studios and construction classes.

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ESA architecture 65 Gresham Street LONDON EC2V 7NQ www.esa-ltd.com e: [email protected] t: 0207 580 5886 LONDON