Southend Pier Design Competition : Information

16 Sep 2009 Southend Pier Contest Winner Winner: White Arkitekter, Sweden Entries: 74 Southend Pier Head design contest winner unveiled Today Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is delighted to announce the winner of Southend Pier Head design contest - renowned Swedish based landscape architecture firm White arkitekter. The company - which has also won awards for other maritime architecture projects throughout the world - clinched the top place with a design called 'Sculpted by Wind and Wave.' This winning scheme was chosen from among 73 international and local entries for the competition run by the Landscape Institute on behalf of the Council. The competition was run with the support of RIBA Competitions. Southend Pier Head shortlisted design teams: - HOK - Hugh Broughton Architects with Land Use Consultants, SKM and Spiers and Major Associates - LandLab with Ushida Findlay Architects, Atkins Bennett and United Creatives. - White arkitekter - Wilkinson Eyre Architects with Schonherr Landscape and Conisbee The Landscape Institute is an educational charity and chartered body responsible for protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public. This contest aimed to encourage ways to revitalise the Pier Head environment and devise innovative designs, enabling established leisure, recreation and tourism uses, to continue in an attractive, high quality and appealing setting. White arkitekter clearly demonstrated the theme of 'maritime, environmental and relaxed recreation' which was chosen by the public after a major consultation with residents and visitors. This winning firm, if ratified by Cabinet and Council, would work in conjunction with British-based engineers Price and Myers to produce the scheme. "We are excited to be selected as winners in Southend Pier Head competition. This project presents an opportunity to work on a site that calls for a unique landmark, this is why the competition caught our eye. We look forward to bringing the competition design to the next stage" - Niels de Bruin and Fredrik Pettersson White arkitekter ab and Tim Lucas, Price & Myers". Councillor John Lamb, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and the Environment, says: "This has proved to be a most exciting competition which attracted international entries. We were thrilled to receive so many applications of interest, from which five very high quality proposals were shortlisted, and the winner was chosen from these five. "The next step is for us to recommend that councillors will ratify the choice of the winner and engage White arkitekter as the lead designer. "This would be a £multi million development, which depends on us receiving a substantial Sea Change grant from the Government. We are likely to find out the outcome of our bid for funding this autumn, but have so far had very positive indications of success." Tom Lonsdale, who chaired the judging process for the Landscape Institute says: "The final decision was never going to be easy with such a diverse range of high quality approaches but White arkitekter impressed the most because of their exceptional sensitivity to the location and avery polished design. We could see the potential for a memorable landmark and destination to which visitors would be drawn again and again." 19 May 2009 International Competition Seeks Designers for Southend Pier Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has announced an international competition to appoint a landscape architect to design a new landscape and buildings for the Pier Head at Southend Pier. The competition is being run by The Landscape Institute, with the support of the RIBA Competitions Office. The Landscape Institute is an educational charity and chartered body responsible for protecting, conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public, on behalf of the Council. The competition seeks a design that will reinvigorate the Pier and turn it once more into a major attraction for both tourists and residents. Councillor John Lamb, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Regeneration, says: "Since the fire occurred at the end of 2005, the Council has pledged its commitment to seeing the town's icon reinstated to its former glory. Work to restore the fire-damaged section of the Pier started in September last year, and is expected to be completed by the end of next month. "We are delighted to be working with the Landscape Institute, which encourages the landscape architecture profession to focus on design, environment and community, to find the right design for this much-loved attraction. "Ultimately, the winning design will develop the Pier in a way that builds on the town's cultural attractions and also makes the most of its important heritage." The brief for this two-stage completion is available from the Landscape Institute website: www.landscapeinstitute.org. Closing date 15 Jun 2009

Rafael Viñoly Architects

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