The Powerhouse Hayes

Delivering a co-working space within a refurbished power house, the new Powerhouse will create modern, flexible workspaces, specifically designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurial designers and engineers including an emphasis on support to new businesses along with grow-on space for expanding business within the CRL community. CRL provides workspace, mentoring and investment opportunities to help bridge the gap between prototypes and production and comprises 10,000 sq. ft of flexible business accommodation which have supported over 100 start-up businesses. A new café together with exhibition/meeting space activate the building and help promote a livelier ‘Powerhouse Square’. After winning Co-working space of the year in 2018 at the West London business awards, CRL has reached its capacity and new accommodation is needed to support the future growth of this significant tech and hardware community. Dedicated to co-working and business growth, the Powerhouse in Hayes provides spaces that promote and facilitate connections between employees, students, organisations and businesses. The Powerhouse building is to be refurbished to provide approximately 2,000m2 nett of let-table office accommodation spread across three levels. The scheme sought to deliver a sustainable approach through considered use of cross laminated timber and glulam beams. The floors are arranged in a manner which promotes open, naturally lit spaces with the intent to foster a modern and healthy working environment. The use of timber extends to the façade of the new build extension, drawing precedent from the site’s history where a cross braced timber water tower formally stood. Two new floors shall be constructed within the existing triple height Powerhouse building and a two-storey building is proposed to be built on the northern side creating a co-working environment which will pivot around a lush courtyard. This garden acts as a breathing space visually connecting the different levels and allowing all employees to enjoy views to the lushly landscaped green space. The overall refurbishment approach is to preserve, restore and highlight the main Powerhouse interior features. The proposed internal layout will introduce triple height spaces to the east, west and north of the Powerhouse to allow the public to enjoy the main hall volume integrity from each part of the building. This design will provide more visibility and transparency not only across the floorplate but also between floors creating a sense of connection between all staff and visitors. A spiral accommodation stair is proposed to wrap around the existing chimney and will yet be completely independent from the chimney structure itself.