Bat and Ball Community Centre, Sevenoaks, Kent
Sevenoaks Town Council ran an RIBA competition to replace the existing community centre in the Bat and Ball area of Sevenoaks with a new building housing conferencing and community facilities, alongside offices for the Town Council.
Sarah Williams of S Williams Architects, is the RIBA client advisor for this project and has developed the brief and helped to run the competition process to select the winning design team. The project comprises a new 250 seat conference hall with kitchen and bar facilities, a nursery facility to meet OFSTED requirements, offices, meeting rooms and other associated space. The competition was launched in January and Thies and Khan were selected as the winning team in May 2015.
The scheme puts a Kentish garden at its heart and the buildings wrap around this central space with an option to cite the nursery in 2 different parts of the site, The panel felt that the central garden space put the community at the heart of the scheme and it was felt that the overall master plan was extremely successful in achieving all the requirements and creating a focus. The various approaches from the station and entry into the building work well and it was felt that the building would be very welcoming to all visitors. The building also turns its back to the industrial centre and this was felt to be advantageous.
"We had five very different schemes and some very intriguing and rich proposals from the teams. Theis and Khans winning scheme responded beautifully to the brief whilst fulfilling the aspirations and vision for Bat and Ball." Sarah Williams
''Sarah has acted as a vital bridge between the world of professional architecture and passionate, but less technically minded, stakeholders; allowing them to feel involved in the design process, and work towards a final design that hopefully the Council and all aspects of the community will feel proud of.
Our project is far from over, and we look forward to working with Sarah over the coming months and years to deliver the project safe in the knowledge that she’ll continue to guide us through the numerous design stages with her characteristic patience and ability to translate complex information into layman’s terms.
We would absolutely recommend Sarah to any client that needs someone to demystify the world of architecture and help to facilitate community involvement in a project''.
Hugh D’Alton, Sevenoaks Town Council