Brits are set to enjoy a late spring heatwave according to the Met office, which is good news for those lucky enough to have bagged one of the eight new beach huts at Southend, designed by London practice Pedder & Scampton.
The British love affair with the beach hut has never been healthier.
Bidding for the seven-year leases of the huts at East Beach was fierce given their location just an hour and a half’s drive away from London and perfect for last minute weekend getaways.
Pedder & Scampton’s competition-winning design responded to an ambitious brief from Southend Council calling for ‘a new generation’ of beach huts.
It updates the traditional format with an eco-friendly design featuring green planted roofs, recycled materials and a distinctive slanted shape that gives each individual hut its own private terrace. Coloured doors and shutters create variety and a feel-good vibe within the bold repetitive structure.
The walls of the huts – which are built on the existing raised concrete promenade with great views of the sea – are formed from recycled timber pallets bolted into timber frames and faced with tough translucent polycarbonate sheeting to the outside and plywood to the inner faces.
The wall cavities are then filled with layers of pebbles, gravel, glass chippings and shells, laid in drift layers visible through the plastic, giving the huts a beautifully tactile seaside aesthetic.
The simple, robust interiors allow for customisation, and can be painted or fitted out by tenants, looking to create a home-from-home to make a brew or read the papers in, whist still enjoying the tang of the salty air.
The freeholds remain with Southend Borough Council who, through local agents Haart, are now actively seeking interest from prospective tenants for a potential Phase 2 of the development, which already has planning permission.
Pedder and Scampton beat more than 40 other entrants in the competition, which was launched in August 2012. The designs were developed with structural engineers StructureMode.
Pedder & Scampton Architects is a small practice based in North London. It has a varied portfolio encompassing community, education, residential and commercial spaces and buildings, across London and the UK.
Pedder & Scampton’s designs develop from detailed studies of the aspirations and requirements of clients and user groups, and of the site for each project. This understanding has led to a built portfolio of successful and innovative schemes. The practice excels in the use of interesting materials, colour and texture to design individual, good quality and user friendly projects, often on very tight budgets.
As well as the Beach Huts, this can be seen in projects such as the Press House Day Centre for Homeless Families, a transformed former printing works that has become a bridge-building set of spaces for local people, and homeless and immigrant families; a new building in Battersea Park for Thrive, a charity teaching horticultural skills to disabled people, and skills learning workshops for the charity Crisis, which included works partially completed by the user group.
