INVITATION TO TENDER
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Western Baths Club (WBC) is a popular, thriving and successful leisure destination in the West End of Glasgow which is seeking to position itself for the coming decades by addressing a range of challenges and opportunities offered by the premises that it occupies at 12 Cranworth Street. It proposes to appoint a Design Consultant to prepare and deliver a set of architectural and design proposals based upon wide- ranging survey of the property, critically assess its strengths and weaknesses and how far it is fit for purpose to meet the needs of the current membership and future aspirations. The appointed design lead would also assemble and make known to the Baths other disciplines it would propose to work with in delivering the vision such as, but not limited to, mechanical and engineering, AV and/or structural engineering consultants. The Brief which follows is a checklist of those areas which we wish to address. The WBC is seeking a response that is thorough, considered, ambitious and creative within the means and practicalities of a working Baths.
- BACKGROUND
a) History
The Western Baths Club was opened in 1876 to designs by Clarke & Bell and has remained in continuous use for over 145 years. During the early 20th century, further improvements were undertaken by Keppie and Co. The Club remains at its original site at 12 Cranworth Street, Hillhead, Glasgow and is Category A Listed of Outstanding Architectural Importance. Together with the nearby Arlington Baths, it is one of just two clubs of its kind left in Glasgow.
The Historic Pools of Britain website describes it thus:
“An outstanding, extremely rare and intact example of an early private members’ swimming facility in Scotland.
The building emulates the form and air of a Venetian Palazzo. The interior features a grand imperial staircase and columned entrance hall; arcaded round-arched hall screen; arcaded, glazed screens with geometric glazing bars to poolside changing rooms; lancet windows in pool hall gables; decorative cast-iron roof brackets to pool with initials W and B detailed in the roundel; early pool apparatus, including hanging rings and trapeze; spittoons and corner steps to pool; extensive polychromatic floor
and wall tiling; top-lit cooling room with carved cornice; panelled rooms.
The original building houses the Pool, Turkish Baths suite, exercise room, billiard room, crèche, meeting room, bar and bistro. In more recent years the club also acquired adjacent ground and erected a new building, sympathetic to the surrounding architecture, to house a modern sports hall and gym, thereby further enhancing the Club’s facilities. It is also a founding member of the Historic Pools of Britain.”
https://historicpools.org.uk/member_pools/western-baths-club-glasgow/
Current membership of the Baths is 2,600.
b) Facts:
During the late 1970s and early 1980s the Baths almost closed following a substantial period of under-investment and repair, and membership fell to an unprecedented low level. There followed periods of immediate repairs and improvements but these are now dated and several items of plant and equipment require replacement. The Club wish to embark upon a phased refurbishment and improvement to reflect the original reputation for excellence and design.
c) Activities
The main building houses the pool hall, sauna suite, mixed sauna, frigidarium, Turkish and Russian Baths, steam rooms, saunas and associated offices and storage spaces. The former Billiard Room has been re-purposed as an exercise studio and the future of the former Committee Room needs to be addressed. The basement of the building houses the bistro and bar.
d) Members survey results
In 2017, the Club commissioned its first members’ survey. The key findings were a request for the building to be upgraded and improved to bring it in line with a more luxurious members’ experience. Quality of improvements and renovations was seen as key. Accessibility and environmental improvements should be integral to any further work.
- AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION
GENERAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
In developing their proposals, the design teams are encouraged to use their experience of delivering high quality design solutions and innovation to create a building which responds to the site, its constraints and the opportunities afforded by its setting. The Baths wishes the building to enable its future adaptation in response to changing use, needs and/or demand. The successful design will need to combine openness with security.
The design approach, choice of materials and finishes should enhance the quality of the building, with use of natural daylight to reinforce the open feel of the building. At this stage, teams are required to develop design concepts that outline their approach to the project, with indicative layouts showing how the building’s interior could be organised to accommodate the Club’s requirements. The latter will be subject to
further refinement post-appointment as part of the design development process, working in conjunction with the Baths’ Management Committee and the outcomes of future member consultation and engagement.
a) Design schemes: The Designer should prepare design proposals for all public areas of the Baths, including a recommended colour pallete, furnishings and decoration and make suggestions to bring forward a fresh, contemporary treatment for floor, plaster and timber surfaces which respects the history of the building, its Moorish Victorian style and the use of spaces.
b) Navigation and signage: The Designer should prepare a wayfinding plan for the building, highlighting any areas of current confusion and reinforcing ease of navigation through clear directional signage – taking into account graphic and material specification that forms part of an overall visual image for the WBC, including web and social media presence. The study should also focus in particular on the appearance and functionality of the Reception and Staff Office area and the connection between the two to the public spaces.
c) Over and Underperforming areas: The Designer should investigate and report on the optimal use of the Baths’ footprint identifying any underused or problematic spaces, obstructive or unclear routes, overlooked or underproductive areas or congested and over pressurised spaces, proposing any rationalisations that may be possible in rooms or circulation spaces so as to make best ergonomic use of the ENTIRE building.
d) Accessibility: The Designer should investigate and report on the conformity of the Baths’ experience with best practice DDA and wider accessibility requirements and propose solutions where identified to address areas that are below standard. This will include the long standing desire of the Baths to insert, sensitively, a lift to the Building to contribute to barrier free access to all or a majority of public spaces. One area that may be addressed is the design and functionality of the current relatively new reception desk.
e) Sustainability: The Designer should investigate and report on the measures by which the Baths may significantly cut its energy usage and/or introduce energy saving measures such as use of renewables, solar panels, recycling, and other energy generating methods, including a Circular Economy Statement, that could be employed in the Baths’ operation. Whilst the main emphasis will be on energy consumption and saving measures – this subject is unlimited in scope and the Baths welcomes the creative application of the Designers’ team in bringing forward and suggesting a range of sustainability considerations in line with the Baths’ duty to contribute to the Climate Challenges facing society.
f) Economics and Efficiencies: The Designer should assess and make recommendations as to areas where the Baths could economise and make savings in running costs by changes to practice or capital alterations to the building.
g) Floodlighting: The Designer should appraise and make suggestions for low energy, LED light sources and specification for the architectural lighting of the exterior of the Baths.
h) Green and External spaces: The Designer should appraise and make recommendations for the external boundaries of the Baths, which are currently a mixture of hard/sloping landscaping, containerised and some free planted shrubs, bin storage and external breakout space from the café/bar. The opportunity to make these spaces attractive both to users and passers by is of considerable interest.
i) Lighting: The Designers should assess the current lighting of the Baths in all areas and propose a lighting design that is coherent and allows for a phased move to a fully LED lit building, assessing lighting levels, colour, hue, adaptability (dimmers etc) and dynamic operation so as to maximise energy efficiency throughout and also contribute to the unified sense of internal space and ambience.
j) AV and audio: The Designer should recommend where and what information and AV/audio screens, speakers and other equipment required (Projector?) to allow for information messaging, screenings (e.g. sports fixtures in the bar) and messaging to be comprehensive and cohesively applied throughout the building. Consultation with Staff as to activities and timetabling etc will be expected to inform this.
k) Security: The Designer should assess and report on the measures in place for security including the efficiency of the current manned Reception, CCTV and fob access and make recommendations for improvement if necessary.
l) Future opportunities: The Designer should, after full appreciation of the activities carried out and role of the Baths make recommendations as to other opportunities that the Building complex offers which build on its health and wellbeing role e.g. spa functions; a brief comparative report on similar other undertakings in the UK of comparable size would be helpful in forming this.