Walberton Play Centre

WALBERTON Community Play Centre: Newbuild for children

The Community Playcentre, Walberton, is a charity set up to enable a better choice of childcare services, primarily through a purpose-designed, sustainable community building for local children.

The Martin Sewell Building Company worked over a number of years with the trustees to design and build this facility and after planning permission was granted, tough decisions had to be made from the team to bring together the vision with cost value engineering as the project had to be achieved with a very tight budget.

A building plot was provided, between the village hall and the primary school, and the entire cost of the design and build was in the region of £400,000, raised through a combination of local events, grants and charity loans.

While every consideration of the building’s intended use was integral to the design, it also takes into account its setting. The curved frontage guides and welcomes those walking along the path with an integrated covered space adjacent to the front door. The materials and monopitch roof echo the style of the adjacent primary school building too.

The Playcentre provides a DDA and Ofsted compliant community space that is child-centred in design and the project won the Sussex Heritage Trust Award alongside the O2 tower in Brighton. The judges’ comment about the project was as follows:

“A considered building using a simple palette of materials providing an airy and flexible space for the use of the wider community. The judges applaud the dedication of the Trustees who made the project happen.”