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Edinburgh Academy unveil £2m hockey pavilion

June 16 2015

Edinburgh Academy unveil £2m hockey pavilion
Edinburgh Academy has unveiled a £2m hockey pavilion designed by Richard Murphy Architects, part of a wider master plan for the
school’s Newfield playing pitches within the Inverleith Conservation Area.

Incorporating six changing rooms, a first aid space and storage the pavilion is orientated on a north/south axis with the tree line.
Clad in horizontal timber panels beneath a low-pitch roof finished in zinc the facility has been designed to minimise its visual footprint on neighbouring residential properties.

Commenting on the project Richard Murphy said “Sport has long been an integral feature of life at Edinburgh Academy, and the client's aim was to bring their sporting facilities up to the highest level, starting with this project to create a new Hockey Pavilion.”

The practice has now moved on-site with the next phase of work, the alteration and extension of an existing Rugby Pavilion.
A low-slung profile has been adopted in sympathy with neighbouring playing pitches
A low-slung profile has been adopted in sympathy with neighbouring playing pitches
Richard Murphy Architects have previously delivered additional classrooms and a new nursery for the school
Richard Murphy Architects have previously delivered additional classrooms and a new nursery for the school

The pavilion will become a focal point for players, visitors and families
The pavilion will become a focal point for players, visitors and families
The practice will now move onto an extension of a neighbouring rugby pavilion
The practice will now move onto an extension of a neighbouring rugby pavilion

9 Comments

james
#1 Posted by james on 17 Jun 2015 at 10:38 AM
I dunno, there seems to be a pattern developing here. Firstly, The Parliament, then the Trams and now for 6 'glorified' portakabins the bill is a staggering £2M?
Is this the Twilight Zone? Cue tune.
Yours, 'am I the only Daily Mail reader out there left?'
CADMonkey
#2 Posted by CADMonkey on 17 Jun 2015 at 13:26 PM
It's OK, I think the price includes hockey sticks.
Google before moaning
#3 Posted by Google before moaning on 17 Jun 2015 at 14:24 PM
It's also a budget spent on a building by a private institution, on private property, so actually has nothing to do with public procurement, but don't let that get in the way of a good moan.
james
#4 Posted by james on 17 Jun 2015 at 14:37 PM
hmmmmm are you 100% sure about that? Google before moaning. I'd have thought that with charitable status then this institution would make various grant applications for funding via the public purse. Also, how do the pupils and teachers get there? By private helicopter? No via the publicly funded roads. Basically, I don't think you can separate what is private and public SO easily. How were all the teachers educated? etc. etc. the list is endless.

But my point was more general, irrespective of private/public. That the amount of money spent on the accommodation is verneer close to 'obscene' if that's not too strong a word.

But ther ye go, i might be a minority of one on that.
CadMonkey
#5 Posted by CadMonkey on 17 Jun 2015 at 14:55 PM
Eh....is it not a charity.....and all the benefits that brings?
Google before moaning
#6 Posted by Google before moaning on 17 Jun 2015 at 15:19 PM
So the public have a right to moan about money I spend on my own house because I travel there using the public road? Jees you guys would moan about littering if you found a £50 note in the street.

Being a charity brings benefits, mainly from a tax point of view. That's not the same as people giving you money, and to my knowledge they're an independent school funded by fees and donations etc.

You should not maybe stick to commenting (positive or negative) on the architecture, rather than whether the institution that commission it gets tax breaks from being a charity or accesses their property using the public road network?!

Sometimes I despair of this place.
visitor
#7 Posted by visitor on 18 Jun 2015 at 08:12 AM
I like it.
There is a perennial argument about Charitable status for independent schools. The school benefits from tax breaks as a result, giving it more spending power, at the expense of the public purse. i'm not sure how the kids get to school, or where the teachers were educated is particularly relevant, however!
As for the 2M, exactly how big is it? exactly what are the facilities? what was th full scope of the contract? (access etc) can't really make full judgement without all the facts.
There are multiple posts regarding school buildings on this site regardign the quality of school architecture, and how important it is with regard a sound start in life - even to the point of suggestign that a pupils politics are going to be deeply swayed by the facade geometry and proportions of X and Y school. In the same breath, were saying they should have a portakabin...
james
#8 Posted by james on 18 Jun 2015 at 09:20 AM
Yeah, it's a funny old game, saint.

How a simple question originally put in a light-hearted way regarding £2M quids worth of vanity or value in relation to some changing rooms gets willfully morphed into a completely different debate.

Notwithstanding a piece of censoring by UR (as is their right) I can even begin to see why BC has apparently given up the ghost altogether!

So rather than get completely side-tracked into a predictable public /private debate on this forum which was began by an other, namely #3 (as I really have no interest in debating the given of whether these exclusive institutions are parasitic on the public purse as life is too short), the real question for me is this:

What are the 'values' that underpin £2M quid being spent on changing rooms? (ie a place in which one can exchange one set of clothes for another)

An actual answer to this question by #3 & #7 might be appreciated.
LB
#9 Posted by LB on 23 Mar 2016 at 17:32 PM
That's £4200 a square metre, for a sports changing room with flooring that can't take sports studs, and changing rooms that are cramped and don't have enough showers......wow

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