YMCA West Bromwich

West Bromwich YMCA provides accommodation and training facilities for young homeless people. The YMCA is located adjacent to one of the major landmarks of the town – the Farley Clock Tower.

Our role was to undertake a Masterplan for the redevelopment for YMCA’s Carters Green premises in West Bromwich. Due to the complexities of the site and a need to retain core activities during the works, the redevelopment was split in to 3 phases. The phasing was also guided by the different funding bodies for varying activities on site.

The purpose of the overall redevelopment was to provide a renewed and exciting place for the YMCA with the focus being on improved accommodation for the residents, staff and visitors within a stimulating and accessible environment. The proposal sought to address a number of issues raised through the site analysis and create a series of more attractive external spaces.

The YMCA is located at the entrance of the Western end of the former “golden mile” of West Bromwich High Street known as the Western Gateway. The wider aim of the development was to consolidate the YMCA’s position within the community and build upon its success allowing this centre to act as a catalyst for regeneration of this area of West Bromwich.

In 2010 a planning application for phase 1 was submitted to provide a new nursery and children’s centre, as well as youth facilities also allowing some of the facilities to decant from the existing facility. The main aims of this first phase of development were to improve the standard of nursery accommodation on site, provide dedicated social, family and training spaces, provide secure external play areas for the nursery children and ensure the long term connectivity of the centre to the YMCA campus as a whole.

Now that the project is complete, all facilities have been enhanced including: supported accommodation, fitness facilities, community facilities such as room hire, IT training and a Cafe which serves a range of healthy food.

All the public facilities are now located at the front of the building through a shared entrance. The existing building currently houses all the public facilities to the rear of the site accessed from a “hidden” entrance and through a series of internal corridors. Bringing these facilities to street level creates more visual interest and the increased activity creates a more a positive presence at the front of the site.

Project Data Sheet

1. Basic description of the project and building
Proposed redevelopment of existing West Bromwich YMCA facility to provide a renewed and exciting place for the YMCA with the focus being on improved accommodation for the residents, staff and visitors within a stimulating and accessible environment. The scheme looks to provide the following:
– New and improved accommodation
– Enterprise units
– New cafe
– Training facilities
– Office space

2. BREEAM rating and score
Proposed target score of “good”

3. Key innovative and low impact design features of the building
None

4. Basic building cost
£1510/m2

5. Services costs
£457/m2

6. External works
£34/m2

7. Gross floor area of development
3,690sqm

8. Site area
0.346 hectares

9. Function areas and their size
– new build 1604m2
– refurbishment 1690 m2,
– enterprise youth areas 102 m2
– skills and learning centre 46 m2
– café 64 m2
– bedrooms 759 m2

10. Area of circulation
19%

11. Area of storage
20sqm (part of existing site not part of works)

12. % area of building to be used by community
15%

13. Predicted electricity consumption-kWh/m2
769890 KWh per annum = 208.6kWh/m2

14. Predicted fossil fuel consumption-kWh/m2
1,012,514KWh per annum = 274.4kWh/m2

15. Predicted renewable energy generation kWh/m2
Not applicable

16. Predicted water use – m3/year
4,081m3/year

17. % Predicted water use to be provided by rainwater or grey water
Not applicable

18. The steps taken during the construction process to reduce environmental impacts
– locally sourced materials and subcontractors
– environmentally responsible suppliers and subcontractors
– effective waste management

19. A list of any social or environmentally sustainable measures achieved / piloted
– communication with local residents to inform them of works
– site visits and attendance of meetings for client and other stakeholders

Photos courtesy of YMCA.