Old Catton Pavilion, Norfolk

Redhead Architects are delighted to breathe new life into this popular community building.

Unusually for a council facility,  Old Catton Parish Council are located within the grounds of a recreation ground.  Whilst the building is called The Pavilion, this is very much in name only.  We saw as an ideal opportunity to make the existing building more recognisable as a true ‘pavilion’, a familiar typology for a park setting, designed to support the functions of the park and act as a back drop to the varies activities which take place there.  We also wanted to retain as much of the existing building that we could and upgrade the thermal performance so this new facility would have low running costs and meet NetZero targets.

The existing building suffers from poorly defined spaces and disjointed circulation, which takes up valuable space and makes it harder for staff and visitors to use the building effectively.  Many spaces have become redundant over time, whilst other spaces have become over-used and are therefore too small.  The existing workshop is long and thin, with restricted access which makes it difficult to operate.  Maintenance of the equipment is also hampered by the low ceiling height.   Poor thermal insulation and high running costs also make it challenging to heat the building properly, which is essential to make the community space appealing and function properly, offering activities and classes as well as allowing the council to run efficiently.

We started by turning the original T-shaped into more of a rectangle, by infilling two corners.  We then wrapped the entire building in a layer of insulation and clad it with timber boarding, providing a durable shell.  This approach allowed us to retain the existing roof structure.  The roofs of the new in-fills, are angled in the opposite direction, to create double height spaces below, which also helps to animate the facade as a series of zigzags.  - The result has transformed the appearance, whilst being very cost effective.

The new entrance to the Pavilion features a metal sign, that ‘cuts’ into the opening, creating a visual signpost to the main entrance to welcome visitors.  Internally, the arrangement of the proposed Pavilion has been carefully considered, with a clear visual relationship between the interior and exterior spaces.  A central hall minimises circulation and provides access to offices, meeting room, toilets and the community room, which is now twice the original size and is now served by a kitchen, which can double-up as a cafe serving visitors to the park.  The community room will have built in storage and can also be divided into two spaces with sliding doors. 

To the rear of the offices is a service courtyard, which allows controlled movement of large machinery and maintenance safely separated from members of the public.  New, larger sheds will provide better organised storage and maintenance of the landscaping equipment.

A new changing room and WC block is also proposed, all DDA accessible and in line with the latest safeguarding requirements.