Take A Bow Opportunity Centre

Project Need: 

The Take A Bow Opportunity Centre is an ambitious, environmentally progressive retrofit of the New Farm Loch Community Centre in Kilmarnock, creating a future-proofed facility for Take A Bow, a charitable organisation specialising in performing arts, community, and youth development. 

Take A Bow Development Trust acquired the 1970’s community centre from East Ayrshire Council through an asset transfer in 2019 and at this time the building was not fit for purpose. Much needed investment was required to address issues of rising damp, asbestos, and water ingress from the roof, the building also suffered from having poor insulation and inefficient heating resulting in exorbitant energy bills for the charity. Alongside the need to improve the building fabric the centre lacked a viable changing space close to the stage, and in addition, the aging grey concrete and render of the exterior were visually unappealing and unconnected to its setting beside a recently regenerated residential estate and adjacent to an attractive park. 

The Take A Bow Development Trust set about appointing a professional design team in 2019 to prepare a feasibility study which would seek to address the identified issues and safe guard the building for the New Farm Loch Community. 

Project progression: 

The appointed design team which was led by O’DonnellBrown architects worked with the local community and building users to set the project priorities. This process allowed the proposals to be tailored precisely to the needs of the community and Take A Bow and all within the confirmed project budget. 

The result of this community and building user approach is a building which has been completely reinvented. All essential building repairs were undertaken and a new timber colonnade was introduced to create an extended canopy over the entrance and along the building’s primary elevation, unifying a new changing room extension with the existing building elevation and creating an enhanced accessible entrance and sense of arrival to the centre. New external wall insulation not only significantly improved the fabric performance but presented the opportunity for a new external elevation treatment aligned with the Take A Bow identity. Internally, the plan has been reconfigured to create additional meeting and workshop space to extend the offer to the community beyond the performing arts and into youth-development, holiday clubs, intergenerational programming and community lunches. 

The project was not without its challenges. An increase in project costs post tender and programme delays during the build were the two significant challenges which had to be overcome. Cost increases were managed both through an additional funding award from UK Government Community Ownership Fund and also through considered cost savings. The slight programme delay was difficult for the Trust to manage as activities had been decanted to three separate venues across Kilmarnock during the works to allow classes and community support work to be maintained during this period. The Trust worked closely with East Ayrshire Council to ensure that temporary venues could continue to be used during the programme overrun.        

Project completion and how needs were met: 

The collaborative approach which was taken during the early stages of the project meant that all design decisions have added real tangible benefit to the Take A Bow Development Trust and wider New Farm Loch community. The combination of wall, roof, and floor insulation, together with the installation of air source heat pumps has reduced the centre’s energy consumption from 265kWh/m2 to 82kWh/m2 making the building one of the most energy efficient in Kilmarnock. 

The addition of the new changing room and multipurpose room has increased revenue through additional rentals and the centre is now able to increase their youth development and ASN programmes establishing them as a key anchor organisation within the community of New Farm Loch.    

We are nominating the Take A Bow Opportunity Centre because we believe it provides a template for how community led initiatives can transform poorly performing community spaces into well loved and energy efficient community assets.    

The community were involved in all parts of the project, from the decision to purchase the building from East Ayrshire Council through to commenting on and shaping the design proposals. The result is a building which serves as a dynamic new hub and which reflects the identity and values of Take A Bow. Since moving back into the centre the feedback has been extremely positive and the number of users has increased as evidenced below; 

·        238 young people participating in our performing arts programme. 

·        Organised and delivered 10 performing arts shows at the centre with 2136 attendances. 

·        Supported 224 young people through our youth development programme. 

·        Supported 124 young people with additional needs through our ASN programme. 

·        Delivered a range of community events attracting 3,430 local people. 

·        Provided a weekly lunch club with 918 attendances. 

·        Delivered 81 children’s parties with 452 young people attending. 

·        Run an Easter and Summer Activity Programme. 

·        Delivered 70 new community activity sessions with 195 participants. 

The project adopted a retrofit first strategy over demolition and rebuild. In doing so, the project realised a significant embodied carbon saving and a familiar and much loved community facility full of memories was retained. Sustainability was a priority from the outset of the project and we engaged with Carbon Futures to provide expert energy advice throughout the design process. Carbon Futures developed an energy strategy which achieved and Energy Use Intensity reduction from 265kWh/m2 to 82kWh/m2. Circularity was also a consideration throughout the project with timber from the auditorium floor being repurposed as furniture and also as a reception desk for the Millport Town Hall which was being delivered in parallel by O’DonnellBrown.   

Prior to works taking place the Take A Bow Opportunity Centre was disconnected with its surroundings. Alongside the elevation improvements two key moves were agreed upon at the briefing stage; the first was to relocate the car park which sat between the centre and the adjacent park creating an opportunity for a new area of public realm which serves as an extension to the building providing space for outoor performances and gatherings, the second was to form a new large window opening on the park facing elevation to provide views both in and out of the café space, previously restricted due to small high level windows.   

Since completion the building has hosted over 70,000 attendances for a variety of services including; Performing Arts Classes for young people; Lunch Club; Take A Bow Tots; Children’s Parties; Youth Development Programme; Community Development Programme; Specialist Support Programme for Young People with Additional Needs; Dedicated Function and Performance Space. 

We believe that we have made a difference in the local community by saving the only community facility in the area and transforming the building into a dynamic and sustainable community hub.