Fast forward three years and motorists blasting their way up or down the M5 en route to or from the West Country will be able to pull in to a motorway service area (MSA) that, rather than just providing a pit stop, will be a veritable oasis.
While burger franchises, supermarket concessions and depressing views of motorway traffic thundering past may be the province of other MSAs around the country, the proposed Gloucestershire Gateway Services on either side of the M5 between junctions 11a and 12, will feature local produce and stunning views of the Cotswolds landscape.
The views inside the building will be pretty spectacular, too, largely down to extensive use of timber which, according to project architect James Spencer of Glenn Howells Architects (GHA), will make a “memorable” impression on visitors.
The £35m Gloucestershire Gateway Services project, comprising two facilities buildings and two petrol filling stations, is the result of a partnership between a charitable trust – the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust – and MSA developer Westmorland Ltd and will plug a gap in the motorway network.
Keira Knightley
Westmorland owns and runs Tebay Services on the M6 in Cumbria, an award-winning site that has been described variously as “the most innovative MSA in the country” and “the Keira Knightley of service stations”. The intention now is to build on the Tebay model and that’s where timber – and GHA – come in.
“Timber was specified by the client at the outset,” said Spencer. “Tebay is a very traditional looking timber and stone building that was built in an almost agricultural way, with a real emphasis on the Cumbrian vernacular.
“It actually feels more like a country lodge than a service station and there is a huge amount of timber in the building, from bespoke joinery and furniture to reclaimed timber beams to a Scandinavian kit shed in their farm shop.”
The plan is for Gloucestershire Gateway to emulate this “second generation rural” and it was the desire for using timber with a contemporary twist that pointed them in the direction of GHA, a practice renowned for that very thing. GHA’s multi-award winning Savill Building at Windsor Great Park is a case in point.
“We won the contract following a design competition and at the interview we talked at length about our experience with timber,” said Spencer. “This development has a hand-crafted element to it and Glenn [Howells] has a real desire to make buildings using traditional crafts in contemporary ways. Several of our projects have demonstrated this approach.”
The two facilities buildings will be mirror images design-wise, but will be oriented differently according to the topography of the land either side of the motorway. Each will have a footprint of 3,269m2 and will be 9m-high, single-storey buildings.
The three main external elements will be an undulating grass roof, Cotswold stone walls and glass, although the latter will be kept to a minimum to reduce its visual impact.
Timber roof
Meanwhile the roof construction is a homage to timber – a diamond grid glulam build-up, followed by cross-laminated panels, topped with a grass roof. The timber ceiling structure will be left exposed in all its glory, very much like at the Savill Building where “the structure is the finished product”.
“At a recent meeting we looked at reducing some of the height but we felt that would restrict the timber experience,” said Spencer. “We really want to sell this roof and express as much timber as possible through the design stage to make it as memorable as possible. The feeling it gives to the space can’t be underestimated.”
And, he added pragmatically, “creating a beautiful structure and not hiding it behind a drop ceiling adds integrity to the project and is more cost-effective because you’re not having to pay for two ceilings”.
The grass roof is dictating timber usage to some degree. “The roof form is designed to look as natural as possible and blend seamlessly into the scenery,” said Spencer. “However, the load-bearing issues arising from using a grass roof mean that solid timber would have to work very hard for us, so we’re looking more towards a manufactured timber product.”
He added that some “very interesting conversations” were ongoing with Buro Happold, structural engineer for the project, on how to create the geometry and the formwork for the torus-shaped roof.
Species choice
GHA is also working with Buro Happold to establish the best sources of timber, engineered or otherwise. “We’re not wedded to any particular product at the moment,” said Spencer. “We talked about Douglas fir previously because we know we can get good spans from the Forest of Dean, but we may well find that when we go out to tender early this year that the contractor has other suggestions.”
Both GHA and the client will look close to home first, aiming to source sustainable timber locally. Sustainability is a key driver, both in terms of material selection and the “future proofing” technologies embedded in the design, and a BREEAM Excellent rating is the target.
In achieving this, GHA is avoiding relatively easy fixes such as “bolt on” solar panels and wind turbines, which could have a negative visual impact and, instead, is focusing on, for example, refrigeration heat recovery, rainwater harvesting and sustainable urban drainage systems (to cope with water run-off from the car parks). Space will also be allowed for charging points for electric cars.
Work on the road infrastructure is expected to start this summer, with estimated completion some time in 2013.
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The internal timber elements, including the diamond grid glulam ceiling, will be left exposed |
