The Ballet School – Glasgow

Overview:
The Ballet School is a bespoke student housing project located within the densely populated Woodlands Conservation Area in the west end of Glasgow. The project comprises the conversion of a Grade B Listed sandstone tenement and the construction of two new apartment blocks to provide enhanced living accommodation for up to 103 students attending universities across the city.

Project Type/Application:
The extensive renovation and the reconfiguration of the layout of the tenement building produced a total 37 one bedroom apartments and office facilities for the student housing management company, CRM students. The remaining 66 apartments were constructed across two four-storey blocks located in the rear courtyard of the tenement, a site size of just 0.23 hectares.

The courtyard was broadly taken up by a WWII army drill hall and various out buildings. Occupied tenemental properties immediately flank the perimeter which, compounded with a single access road, meant that effective project management was crucial to successfully delivering the project. Thus, the Site Team made use of an abandoned school playground next door, a school that has since been converted by CCG to house more student apartments, which ensured that none of the limited courtyard space was taken up by a site compound. This compound was accessible via another road which ensured construction traffic, a mix of articulated lorries and a large crane, was not bottlenecked to one point of access; effectively reducing the impact on the surrounding community and roads.

Due to the limitations set by the site size and access arrangement, traditional construction methods were not viable. A solution to this was the use of a panelised timber frame system manufactured in a long panel format by CCG OSM. Complete with wall linings, service zones and CCG-manufactured windows and doors, complimented by off-site manufactured roof and floor cassettes, the system was installed and erected in a much faster time period, so much so that the project was completed ten weeks in advance of the 65 week contract programme. This completion date ultimately enabled the client to enhance their sales and marketing strategy by utilising a show apartment leading to every apartment being let out a month in advance of the 2014/2015 academic year.

Outcome/Results/Success Factor:
With a mix of ‘old and new’ represented by the 1800s sandstone building, the modern, aluminium clad apartment blocks, stunning interiors and a wide array of local amenities, ‘The Ballet School’ offers the students of Glasgow with a truly bespoke, environmentally friendly place to live and study, and that is why in 2014, the project was awarded ‘Best Design’ by the RIAS and RIBA.