Proctor & Matthews uses offsite construction and historic local references in Cambridgeshire offices for Homes England
With modular construction and prefabrication widely touted as essential for the timely delivery of the housing needed in the UK, it is apt that Proctor & Matthews Architects has turned to modern methods of construction (MMC) for its newly completed office and exhibition space for Homes England’s new South East base, within Cambridgeshire’s major Northstowe development.
The 620-square-metre workspace was manufactured offsite by principal contractor, The McAvoy Group. MMC is also a defining feature of the Northstowe New Town, where Proctor & Matthews is also masterplanner and architect for the first residential neighbourhood of around 400 new homes, to be delivered by Urban Splash.
Office accommodation includes dedicated workspaces for permanent staff, and offers adaptable, flexible working areas for more temporary and collaborative uses. The open-plan office space includes meeting rooms, breakout spaces and conference facilities, plus a ground level multi-use space for public consultation events, exhibitions and presentations.
As the building sits within a major development site, and the surrounding landscape will continue to change over the next decade, the two-story building is U-shaped in plan, with an open-sided courtyard at the centre, “to create both a sense of enclosure and protection, and to give a focal point within the ongoing development”, says the architect.
Design inspiration was taken from the building’s location on the former RAF Oakington barracks and local rural heritage, expressed in a roof canopy manufactured by local craftspeople using woven willow hurdles – traditionally used as fencing – set within steel frames. “The overhanging roof creates a prominent landmark, which when observed from the south resembles a canopy of trees or the wings of the second world war Stirling bomber”, suggests the architect. The covered area below offers an outdoor working and socialising space, and optional event spaces at ground- and first-floor levels. The canopy creates shading over the internal glazed atrium, circulation and breakout spaces.
An ‘open weave’ of vertical black stained timber battens wraps around the ground- and first-floor office spaces, concealing window frames and glazed ventilation panels and referencing historic Cambridgeshire barns and farm buildings. The terracotta tone of the steel canopy frame references Roman pottery shards discovered during archaeological investigations across the site.
