A new community centre for Weymouth, designed for accessibility and public use.
The Steps Youth and Community Centre in Weymouth is a new-build facility comprising a double-height sports hall occupying approximately half of the building, together with a large living room area, studio, toilet block, cafe, viewing balcony and ancillary spaces across a floor plan of around 500 square metres.
The building was designed for use by the local community and general public, with a particular emphasis on suitability for high-dependency disability groups. This occupancy profile had a direct impact on the fire engineering strategy and the specification of the building services throughout.
An engineered fire strategy for a constrained site with a single direction of escape.
Osborn Associates prepared the overall site fire engineering strategy based on a performance-based engineered approach, taking the design through to approval by both the Building Control Department and the Fire Brigade.
The heavily inclined site and single fire escape direction of movement presented a significant life safety challenge, particularly given the building's intended use by high-dependency disability groups. The engineered approach allowed the team to develop a strategy that addressed these constraints while maintaining full code compliance.
Full building services design coordinated with the Council's in-house team.
The company designed the complete mechanical and electrical building services installation including lighting, small power, fire alarm and detection, ventilation, heating and comfort cooling, sanitation, rainwater services, water services and facilities for the fire services.
All work was carried out in close collaboration with Dorset County Council's in-house team of architects and engineers, ensuring the building services design integrated seamlessly with the architectural vision and the Council's own sustainability and environmental policies.
Delivering a compliant scheme on a constrained site with sensitive neighbours.
The condensed, steeply sloping site presented numerous design challenges. Beyond the fire engineering constraints of a single escape direction, the team had to address neighbour considerations including noise breakout from the sports hall, light pollution from the building's glazing and security for the surrounding residential area.
Balancing these competing requirements while delivering a building that was welcoming, accessible and compliant with building regulations required close coordination between all members of the design team throughout the project.
