Civic Trust Awards 2014: shortlisting for Gillespies projects

Two projects where Gillespies designed the public realm and landscapes have been shortlisted for 2014's Civic Trust Awards: Brent Civic Centre and Coventry University's Faculty of Engineering and Computing.

At Brent Civic Centre, Gillespies were initially engaged by Hopkins Architects to undertake design proposals for the streetscape works, interior planting proposals and the inclusion of a multifunctional garden area for use by the local community.

This led to the design of a substantial garden space, to host multi-faith wedding festivals as well as full range of other civic functions. Its wide range of plant material increases local biodiversity rates. Along with other sustainable measures such as paving drainage and green roof systems. The public realm design by Gillespies has helped the overall project to achieve a BREEAM rating of Outstanding.

At Coventry University's Engineering and Computing building, a flag ship educational facility where students, faculty, researchers and industry come together in an interactive open environment has been created.  The well-defined central courtyard acts as a gateway space to the Coventry University campus as a whole. The designs provide a high quality hard urban space that responds to the science buildings function.  Gillespies worked with architects from Arup Associates to bring the project to completion.