Barmulloch Residents' Centre

The new Barmulloch Residents' Centre opened in 2017 and was principally funded by The Big Lottery Growing Community Assets Fund.

The centre is designed to be highly sustainable and provide flexible activity spaces to meet the needs and aspirations of local residents.

The building uses innovative glulam timber frame construction and locally sourced sandstone, providing a thermally efficient building fabric. Air source heat pumps provide underfloor heating throughout to reduce running costs and sustain the building well into the future.

The new centre has been carefully crafted to provide a landmark hub to serve the surrounding community and its future generations.

Collective Architecture was appointed in 2007 to undertake a feasibility study for the existing community centre which explored a number of refurbishment, extension and new build options. It took ten years from that initial appointment to deliver the project on site and in this time, we continued to work closely with the client to help achieve the capital funding targets from over eight funding bodies.

The design maximises the site constraints within a densely populated residential street whilst retaining the scale, charm and simplicity of the original hall to provide an easily managed centre for the community group.

The building delivers two main flexible activity spaces separated by a folding partition, contained within an elegant single storey sloping roof. This allows the smaller space to act as a stage for community events by capitalising on internal level changes. Ceiling coffers formed by the structural grid of the glulam beams provide a strong identity for the building whilst also framing generous rooflights intended to reduce the need for artificial lighting during the day. The grid pattern is carried through into BCDC signage and building manifestation to provide continuity of architectural language.

All spaces are organised around and accessed from a central foyer and waiting area. This overlapping of functions and careful plan arrangement allows a light and generous volume to act as the vibrant heart of an exceptionally efficient floor plan.