Firstsite Visual Arts Centre

A new visual arts centre for the City of Colchester, providing gallery spaces, a gift shop, auditorium for film screenings and presentations, classrooms and education facilities, administrative offices, and a restaurant with an outdoor terrace.

The official client for the project was Colchester City Council. However, a major part of defining the brief, budget and programme for the project involved consultation with the operator (Firstsite) and their various stakeholders. A key part of the proposal development process involved convincing the planning authority to deviate from the masterplan created for the historical St Botolph’s Quarter, and to change the site’s location. The new proposed site created additional main street development area for the City, and placed the facility in a setting wrapped by public open space.

This new location also provided a better relationship with the Roman wall that borders the original town centre – a significant archaeological attraction that could now be showcased. As there was a high chance that the site contained Roman ruins, the structural solution required careful consideration and specialist advice. Given its location in a heritage area and its proximity to significant buildings, a conservation area approval was required as well as general planning approval.

The complex geometry of the building and the site conditions meant that a two-stage tender process was carried out to ensure appropriate build-ability advice was fed into the design process, to create a partnership approach.