Civic Trust has designs on the best architecture

May 22 2009 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH Concert Hall has gained glowing praise from musicians and audiences across the musical spectrum, and now it has hit the right note with architectural experts.

The concert and conference venue at Perth’s Horsecross was this week announced the winner of Perth Civic Trust Awards 2009 for new building and/or designed landscaping.

The three-strong panel of assessors described the copper-domed building as “a credit to a city with a long heritage of fine architecture”.

The biannual Perth Civic Trust Award was initiated to show the Trust’s recognition and appreciation of outstanding contributions to Perth’s amenities particularly with regard to environmental design in all its aspects.

This year the Award is for any scheme of New Building and/or Designed Landscaping completed since March 2005.

The assessors visited a wide range of 10 entries, from a church to commercial premises and housing developments, and after consideration of the merits or otherwise of each scheme, awarded the top spot to the £20million concert hall, which hosted its first concerts in September, 2005.

This year’s assessors were Trevor Croft, Reporter to the Scottish Government and former Director of the National Trust for Scotland; Steve Brady, Trust Manager, Scottish Civic Trust; and architect Robert Steedman.

They bestowed two entries with highly commended certificates: Fairview School, on the Perth Academy campus, owned and submitted by Perth and Kinross Council; and Menzies Court and Angus Court, Fairfield, owned by Fairfield Housing Co-operative and submitted by FBN Architects.

Other entries were Letham St Marks Church; Audi Garage, Dunkeld Road; Muirton Park Regeneration; Elcho Court, Friarton; Fairfield office extension; and Proudfoot Court, Bridgend.

Panel spokesman Trevor Croft was a man happy with his task. “It was encouraging to see a range of entries with some high quality buildings that contribute significantly to Perth’s townscape,” he told the PA yesterday.

“The Concert Hall and Fairview School in particular demonstrate flair and imagination, and it is good to see such quality buildings, with excellent attention to detail, within a public realm that is not always noted for such quality.

“Both are a credit to a city with a long heritage of fine architecture.

“It was a pleasure to be involved in assessing such an important award, and all the assessors hope that the results will give encouragement to others to achieve similar high standards fore the benefit of everyone in the community.”

Perth Concert Hall is owned by Perth and Kinross Leisure and its entry into the Perth Civic Trust Awards was submitted by BDP.

Jane Spiers, chief executive of Horsecross, the creative organisation behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, welcomed the addition of another award to the growing array of accolades for Perth Concert Hall: “We are lucky to work with two stunning venues in Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre.

“The Concert Hall is not only a beautiful building with top notch acoustics, it is a fantastically versatile space that allows us to host a huge variety of events from leading national and international acts to local groups, art exhibitions, talks, sports demonstrations, music festivals, comedians, children’s workshops and much much more. It is also a hugely welcoming environment with lovely staff who are dedicated to helping all visitors have a delightful experience.

“Perth Concert Hall has helped establish Perth as a top destination for the arts. It provides a great sense of focus for the local community as a venue for a range of locally devised projects and is an architecturally inspiring building at the heart of the town centre.

“The Concert Hall belongs to the people of Perth and they support it really well – this award is something everyone in the town can be proud of.”

The assessors in their judgement on Perth Concert Hall described it as “a beautiful and well conceived building, which is a brave insertion into the fabric of the city and works well despite the restricted site. It is uncompromisingly modern with immaculate attention to detail.

“It does not over dominate the space around it and respects the Art Gallery and Museum and the modern building opposite at the head of Skinnergate. Its circular shape has created positive landscape areas emerging around it, as well as facilitating movement around the building.

“The extensive glass façade helps to integrate the interior of the building with the exterior both by day and at night and from all viewpoints the building presents an impressive aspect.”

Not all the entries gained favour with the assessors, whose findings were based solely on an external assessment of the entries.

In their general comments they expressed their disappointment in some cases by the standard of house design and lack of landscaping which detracted from otherwise potentially interesting schemes.

“Even in an uncompromising urban environment, a small amount of landscaping can make a significant difference, and be particularly important in urban schemes.

“On commercial developments a lack of landscaping can effectively damage the setting of otherwise important buildings.”

Landscaping was not a negative issue with highly commended Angus Court and Menzies Court, Fairfield, with the assessors’ comments praising the importance of landscaping and architects’ respect for existing lines of planting.

The combined entries “demonstrated how relatively modest buildings can make a clear architectural statement based on careful use of materials, colour and proportion.”

Positive comments on Fairview School included “good use of natural light”, “it has assumed its own clear identity

The Perth Civic Trust Awards will be presented at a ceremony in July – at Perth Concert Hall.