If you manage, own or operate a sports club or school there will come a time when you will need to renovate or build new facilities to make sure you are competitive with the other clubs.
You will want to be the club or school of choice in the area.
To test the viability of doing work you will need to write a brief outlining your aims, your priorities, your vision, what you need and who it is for.
You may need help with workshops involving staff and management.
Once you have this brief then you will need an architect/ design advisor to help you research and then test what is possible.
What problems you may have?
You will most likely have clarity about your project’s outcomes, but you will depend upon your adviser for advice on design, construction, budgets and sporting requirements. You have to trust us that we will give you the right information and lead your project in the right direction.
You will need accurate information when it comes to making decisions regarding the viability of your project. You might have a very good understanding of your project from a business or strategic angle, but it is critical to make sure that your vision is possible and meets your budget.
How can a strategic brief help you?
Working with us as your architect will help you discover what is possible to fit on your site without spending a fortune. If you have a Project Manager we can work with them using our spatial design skills to help you understand both the constraints and opportunities of your site.
Reasons to write a brief and then follow up with a feasibility study include:
- To help you clarify why you want to do the project.
- To help you select the best long-term solution for your club, school or development.
- To clarify what the return on investment might be.
- To clarify the impact on your business, school or club.
- To stress test the assumptions you have made in your business plan (if you have one).
- To clarify the risks associated with planning.
- To clarify the construction budget.
Six things you need to know about a feasibility study
1. The steps in the feasibility study process are: Research, Test, Review, Rework.
The research stage involves reviewing the historical development of the area including previous planning applications. We review local planning policy.
The test stage is where your brief is translated into diagrams and models. These diagrams or ‘test fits’ help us understand what activities you can accommodate on your site.
The review and rework stage: We review the diagrams with our planning consultant where the initial ideas are explored, reviewed. We look at access, impact on neighbours and cost. The diagram is then reworked following feedback.
Next Step after feasibility:
Once you have an idea on costs and risks and degree of difficulty you can then decide if you want to proceed to a pre-application meeting with the council.
2. Does the feasibility study include writing my brief?
Your brief should be written before you commence the feasibility study.
3. How long will a feasibility study take?
Normally on a complex project involving an estate of buildings it would take 2 months.
For a new building or renovation to a club or school a feasibility study may take up to 6 weeks.
4. How much does it cost?
This varies from £3000 plus vat for something relatively simple to £25,000 plus vat if this involves landscape, infrastructure and multiple buildings.
5. The prevention VS cure proposition
The most value comes early in the briefing process. You should concentrate design thinking at the beginning of your project, distilling and communicating everyone’s ideas and vision. This vision must then be the basis for your project’s business case.
Your Value Proposition is a statement of desired outcomes based on the needs and desires of you and your customers. The Value Proposition will include the financial value of your project, and other less tangible dimensions.
Social, economic, and environmental values include better thermal performance, wellbeing, productivity, employment opportunities, how your project will help connect communities, how all ages and groups will be able to access and benefit from the project. These less tangible dimensions will be crucial to articulate clearly in order to gain planning permission for your project.
6. What do I exactly get when I commission a feasibility study?
- Planning and site research.
- A design workshop where we find out your objectives and what works and does not work currently at your club or school.
- Design drawings accurate enough to demonstrate spatially how we can organise what you need on the site.
- A written report summarising our findings.
- A design that incorporates social, economic and environmental sustainability.
What can happen if you do not work with us to complete a feasibility study?
- You may struggle to define your brief.
- You may struggle to find out if your brief is possible with the site constraints until it is too late.
- You may end up with a rejected planning application.
- Critical parts of the brief are missed, such as equipment you need installed in the building.
- Your budget may be unrealistic.
Case Study – The River Club
This sports club in Surrey is located in Metropolitan Open Land, therefore we anticipated that planning would be challenging. It was important to look at the entire site and anticipate how changes to buildings, car parking and landscape might be made over time. We developed ‘test fits ’ or spatial diagrams which informed the written strategic brief and helped the client clarify what was possible.
