Thrive Battersea

“We wanted a building with a ‘wow’ factor and which said something about Thrive and its ethos but the budget was tight and the site sensitive and difficult…” Susan Stuart, former acting Chief Executive, Thrive.

Pedder & Scampton, completed a landmark building for national charity Thrive in Battersea Park, London. The new purpose-built training enhances the activities of Thrive, a charity that has been working within Battersea Park for over 25 years, teaching gardening and life skills (horticultural therapy) to those with learning, physical, sensory impairment and mental health disabilities.

The design responds to the client brief for a stronger visual identity for Thrive in the park, enhanced facilities that are economic and efficient to run, and excellent sustainability credentials.

The distinctive design establishes a two-element building that curves to a radius centred on the large plane tree that dominates the site, and replaces the existing collection of ramshackle huts and portacabins.

The first element is a glazed ‘orangery’ that forms an entrance space and circulation zone as well as a working area for ‘dirty’ activities. This space is designed to be left open to the garden all day throughout the year, accessed through ‘up and over’ doors. Unheated, this robust space is lined with plywood and benches, and can accommodate large numbers of muddy boots.

The second element consists of an office, training rooms, kitchen, shower and WC. These spaces are arranged under a taller mono-pitched barn-like roof. All rooms look out over the garden and have clerestory windows that give views up over the orangery into the tree canopy.

Materials used include natural slate and larch for the exterior and exposed screed and plywood for the hard-working interior. 

The building has been positioned to maximise the benefit from solar gain, and incorporates a natural ventilation strategy, solar shading and rainwater harvesting.

Thrive Battersea is the perfect project to explain why consultation and community engagement is a key part of any architectural project. Like in all of their projects, Pedder & Scampton kept an open line of communication, from conception to completion, between them and all parties involved; the user group, therapists, management, Trustees of Thrive, the Local Authority, and the general public, making sure that all of them were listened to, understood and had an involved in the development of the project design.

All the comments, questions, queries and ideas resulted in a highly functional building which responds to its users’ necessities, welcomes the general public and sits perfectly on its site, looking as an integral part that enhances Battersea Park.

"It is fantastic for our gardeners and the extra space will allow us to help more people and offer them more opportunities (…) It is a flagship building for us on East Carriage Drive which is already attracting the interest of many passers-by.” Kathryn Rossiter, Thrive’s Chief Executive.