THAME YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

A VISION FOR THAME

Thame Town Council working with Thame Youth Projects identified the need for a dedicated facility to support the youth of Thame and approached ACA to help them develop a design for a new Youth and Community Centre. The project initially involved identifying the needs of the Youth through consultations and workshops and then progressed into a site appraisal to try and identify the best possible location within Thame for the project.

The new facility will provide a range of different youth and community spaces to allow multiple groups to use the building simultaneously as well as providing new changing rooms for the sport pitches on the recreational ground which can also be used by the new community centre.

PROJECT NEED

• There is currently no provision of a building for the young people of Thame to gain help
• Thame has 926 additional homes and 403 are proposed in addition - growing need for additional community facilities
• Current community facilities are centred around sports, are insufficient for youth needs, in high demand and privately owned
• Critically, the youth need a space of ‘their own’

CLIENT BRIEF

• INTEGRATE AND IMPROVE – Existing facilities to be improved and expanded on. Anti-social behaviour to be tackled
  
• CATER FOR THE WHOLE COMMUNITY – Community facilities can help provide revenue to support the youth centre
• COMPLEMENT THE CONSERVATION AREA – Complement and enhance the existing context
• SUSTAINABLE – The design will be BREEAM accredited to achieve a low carbon design through sustainable technologies

CONSULTATION
During 2020, Thame Youth Projects (TYP) undertook a survey of young people and Thame residents. With the support of Lord Williams’s School (LWS) the survey was run throughout the school. TYP received 800 responses. Top of the needs was “A place to chill with friends”. The survey of residents received 250 responses. Top of their feedback was “Young People need a safe space”, followed by “Young People need a Youth Centre”.

Further consultation was carried out in 2022 to inform the brief for the development with the following groups/bodies: Youth Cafe, Army Cadets, Barley Hill School, Air Cadets, Lord Williams’s School, St Joseph’s School, John Hampden School, Scouts, Park Life, Youth Zone, Sports England.

Thame Young People Survey Results

Thame Residents Survey Results

LOCATION – SOUTHERN ROAD RECREATION GROUND (SRRG)
SRRG is the ideal location for new community and youth facilities because:

• It is accessible, at the heart of Thame and at the centre of youth culture in the town
• The only available site to utilise housing developer funding for community facilities within the allocated time frame
• The project can utilise housing developer funding specific to the SRRG within the allocated time frame
• The development can help to solve the issues of anti-social behaviour that currently exist on the site
• The development has the potential to improve existing facilities on the site
• Provide a safer park with public toilets, a drinks/snack servery and external seating
• Provide an in-demand community space in one of the two possible locations as listed in the current Thame Neighbourhood Plan

Existing Changing Rooms – condemned and out of use

View from Southern Road

Existing playground – to be reused

Road that splits the site – safety hazard

Hidden pockets of space – anti-social behaviour

Isolated car park – anti-social behaviour

Location Plan - Open green space to be protected. Facilities to be located on previously developed land to the north of the site

THAME YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

CONCEPT SKETCHES

SITE CONCEPT

• Maintain views and access around the site
  
• The Community Hall is located to the east, facing the town
• Youth spaces vary in privacy and scale and have access to the playing fields
• Changing rooms are located between inhabited spaces, that are given priority to light and views

FLEXIBLE USE

• Flexibility to enable 200 capacity events
  
• Direct access to the playing fields for general use and events, such as Thame Carnival
• Delivers much needed park facilities, such as WCs and a snack servery

REMOVE

• Condemned changing rooms
• Access road - safety
• Existing car park - anti-social behaviour
• Scout building to remain

NEW DEVELOPMENT

• Build in brownfield land - NOT green space
• Anti-social pockets infilled
• Views to entrances
• Access/views to the park

RELOCATE PLAYGROUND

• Re-use existing equipment
• Direct access to park
• Direct access to building
  

ACTIVITY HUB

• Expand existing car park
• Entrances located off active area in view of the road and development

THAME YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

PROPOSALS

Proposed Site Plan

SITE LAYOUT

• Existing Guides Building car park extended in line with SODC parking standards - car park within view of southern road
  
• Entrances are located around a central hub of activity in view of the street
• The playground has direct access to the new facilities and the park and benefits from new trees

Proposed Ground Floor Plan

BUILDING LAYOUT

• Flexible & multifunctional -Youth spaces can be combined with the hall to provide a 200 capacity venue Large glazed lobby looks out to external spaces and provides circulation
  
• Servery and externally accessed WCs
• Youth spaces are of varying scale and privacy with access to the park Staff facilities are located at the building entrance and overlooking external spaces Changing Rooms are to Sports England Standards
• Scout building extension provides a new entrance with much needed ancillary space
• Anti-social space infilled
• The tall roof provides double height public spaces and allows for a second floor elsewhere, maximising the building footprint
• Solar PVs and rooflights are angled to the sun, to provide renewable energy and natural light

Concept view of internal spaces

Proposed view from the east

Proposed East Elevation

Proposed Section

FORM AND MATERIALS

• A patterned brick facade references the brick buildings of Thame
  
• A standing seam copper roof is robust, unlike slate or terracotta tiles and has a natural patina, which compliments the park setting
• Proposed materials are robust yet sensitive to the park setting
• The scale and form of the development relates to pitched roof barn buildings found in and around Thame