Scout Headquarters

New Build Scout Hut

Scout Headquarters

New Build Scout Hut

The new Sea Scout Headquarters building is located in the heart of one of the city’s principle urban regeneration areas – The Old Port of Chester. This triangular area of land, which is sandwiched between the rail viaduct approaching from the south west and the tidal stretches of the Dee was, until the early 20th Century, a working port.

The brief was to solve the Scouts’ practical needs with a building that evokes something of the local heritage. Our design drew reference from the maritime past, with the form of building being inspired by the medieval trading vessels with their high ‘stern castles’. The profiled sheet chosen for the roof is deliberately white to give an allusion to sails folded along a boom. After much debate, the cladding was arranged vertically to allow for a more economical construction and make long-term maintenance more straight forward.

The idea was well received but the budget was a constraint, so great efforts were made to contain cost. Extra support for the scheme was achieved through its practical contribution to the community and its place-making function within the regeneration programme. Steel portal frames standing (appropriately) on a raft slab were chosen as the structural system.

This was the only new building to win an award in the Cities’ Millennium Civic Awards.