March Project Overview

Posted: 28 March 2025

As we celebrate our 50th year in business, we’re reflecting on 50 of our most memorable projects. We have been featuring them over on our social media channels.

In March we looked back at the following four projects…

Sparkbrook Community Hub: The £12 million Sparkbrook Community Hub is the result of a shared vision between five public sector organisations, transforming local health and community services while revitalising the neighbourhood for its 31,000 residents. This landmark project holds a deeper significance. After a tornado severely damaged the local church, it became integral to the redevelopment. Reverend Steve Simcox described our involvement as one of many miracles in the area’s regeneration. Designed around the concept of the ‘healing landscape,’ the masterplan carefully integrates spaces that promote wellbeing. Both buildings are set back from the road, with entrances opening onto welcoming public plazas, naturally drawing people in. Meanwhile, the ‘hub’ design ensures a clear distinction between public spaces at the front and private areas at the rear.

SouthCo: SouthCo, a global leader in component fastenings, wanted more than a standard industrial building for their European HQ. Small component manufacture and distribution picker equipment within the main area challenged the design to be free of building structure that would compromise the flexible space requirements, hence a curve trussed box section forming the roof and a clear span below. A cedar-clad entrance pod with a bridge creates a tranquil approach to the two-story offices, with manufacturing behind. The design received the royal seal of approval when the facility was officially opened by Princess Anne, who congratulated the team on their design.

Almedina Youth House Complex and Plaza: ONE was proud to be the only UK company shortlisted from 100 entries across 36 countries and to receive second place overall in the Dewan Award for Architecture 2020. The Dewan Award for Architecture seeks to recognise design proposals from around the world that respond to local challenges in Iraq. In 2020, the third year of the competition, the brief required proposals for the Almedina Youth House Complex and Plaza in Baghdad’s Sadr City. ONE’s design builds upon how local people live in and use space for all aspects of life; such as births, marriages, fasting, education, business, religious ceremonies and funerals – Almedina functions as adaptable spaces to support diverse functionality. The proposal seeks to enable the local people to build the space they require using vernacular materials, gives local communities the freedom to grow their spaces according to daily needs and provides the tools to do so.

Gypsy Cove: Building on our recent work in the Falkland Islands, ONE was commissioned to design a shelter, WC/baby changing, and washing facilities in the remote, off-grid location of Gypsy Cove. Attracting over 6,000 visitors annually, Gypsy Cove is the most popular tourist destination near Stanley, renowned for its nesting Magellanic penguins. The area is also home to a rich variety of wildlife, including upland geese, Falkland steamer ducks, rock cormorants, and even Peale’s and Commerson’s dolphins offshore. Given its picturesque yet isolated setting, the design had to be entirely self-sufficient, utilising natural resources without relying on grid-supplied water, gas, or electricity—all while blending seamlessly into the surrounding landscape. Notably, the structure features the Falkland Islands’ first-ever green roof. Gypsy Cove is a designated conservation area, protected for its wildlife, striking landscapes, and views across Yorke Bay. Rather than seeing these constraints as challenges, the team at ONE embraced them as opportunities, drawing inspiration from a natural rock outcrop adjacent to the site to shape the building, quite literally nestling it into the landscape.

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