Projects

North York Moors National Park New Headquarters – Hemsley, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley is collaborating with the North York Moors National Park Authority to design a new Headquarters Office and Ranger Depot in Helmsley. The intention is to consolidate the Authority’s sites into a single, efficient facility, ensuring continued community service and protecting the North York Moors’ beauty.

The building includes high-quality office space suitable for modern hybrid working, accommodating 50 workstations in an open-plan layout. It also features meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and a large committee room for public meetings. The project features functional garaging, workshops, and storage for rangers. On-site parking will include overflow, EV charging, and space for fleet vehicles and bicycles.

Our design blends traditional and contemporary architectural styles with high-quality natural materials like local stone and timber cladding. The project emphasises a low-energy design using passive principles: maximising photovoltaic roof panels for on-site energy, using natural ventilation through openable windows, and ensuring high thermal insulation and airtightness to reduce operational costs.

The interior design fosters collaboration through open-plan workspaces and flexible meeting areas, adhering to WELL standards to promote health and wellbeing. Essential design strategies include optimal lighting, hydration, colour, airflow, movement, acoustic control, and ergonomics.

Developed through extensive consultation with staff, Park Authority members, North Yorkshire Council planning officers, and local residents, the project supports the Authority’s goal of creating a sustainable and vibrant future for the National Park.

Please see our other office projects.

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Maltkiln New Settlement – North Yorkshire

Maltkiln New Settlement – North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley has undertaken a residential-led masterplan for Caddick Developments to create a sustainable community hub with up to 3000 homes around Maltkiln, between York and Harrogate.

The masterplan strives to provide residents with the comforts of rural living while ensuring easy access to essential urban amenities.  Our design code, which seeks to promote appropriate innovative development within the identified parameters, is a key part of delivering this project’s vision.

We are designing a community heart for the settlement around the Cattal railway station, including a medical centre and pharmacy, community centre, extra care apartments, affordable housing units, bars, restaurants and cafes, a convenience store and offices, a transport hub and a mobility centre. We are focused on creating a sense of community with active frontages to the buildings that interact with the streetscapes, providing well-lit streets and natural surveillance through good design, encouraging people to take pride and ownership in the spaces.

An external market square and outdoor spaces create a high-quality public realm and integrate the buildings into the broader masterplan, as well as the neighbouring settlements and infrastructure beyond the settlement.

Our strategy addresses the risk of flooding by situating sensitive areas away from high-risk zones. Development in flood-prone areas is minimised. Parking, sustainable urban drainage, and commercial spaces are strategically placed, ensuring the best use of land.

It is recognised that access to public transport should be the primary method of travel to promote sustainability. However, meeting all travel demand by these means is not always practicable and the adequacy of road links serving potential development sites therefore remains a key consideration. Planning for future growth around Maltkiln will both allow communities access to a wider range of jobs and facilities and also help to promote and attract new businesses to the area.

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Craven Arts House Building Renovation – Skipton, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley supported the refurbishment of an existing Victorian school into Craven Arts House, a new centre for contemporary arts in Skipton.

Since 2017, Craven Arts has been an artist-led organisation formed by a group of artists living and working in the Skipton area. To support local creativity, the organisation decided to create a new centre for contemporary arts called the Craven Arts House.

Craven Arts secured significant funding from Craven District Council, English Heritage, Heritage Action Zone from Historic England and Architectural Heritage Fund. The organisation worked closely with Craven District Council who managed the refurbishment on site.

As lead consultants, our team designed a project plan for the centre to be built in phases. We have now completed the refurbishment of the west wing. The central and east wings will be finished once further funding is secured for the project. The conversion accommodates artist studios, a recording studio, a community meeting room, an exhibition hall, kitchens, and toilet facilities.

Our team improved accessibility by providing new stepped access to the front of the building. We also added ramped access to the rear of the building, which is adjacent to the car park. We improved the external appearance of the building by repairing the roof. In addition to that, we repointed the stonework, made good tarmac, and redecorated gutters and rainwater pipes.

We improved the carbon reduction with thermal improvements to the building. This involved replacement windows, and insulating walls and roof. Additionally, we installed a new mechanical and electrical system throughout. This included photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation.

Now open the Craven Arts House is an important community space for local creativity and contemporary arts.

See more of our community projects here.

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Community Library – Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire

Burley Parish Council

Burley in Wharfedale, Ilkley, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley was commissioned by Burley Parish Council to design and manage the refurbishment of the community library in the village of Burley-in-Wharfedale near Ilkley.  This project was delivered simultaneously with the refurbishment of the Queen’s Hall in the village.

The ownership and management of both the Queen’s Hall and library were transferred to Parish Council from Bradford Metropolitan District Council following local government cutbacks.

The 1970s building was in need of repair and refurbishment to bring it up to modern standards to make it a viable community asset and to future proof its survival. Adjacent to Grange Park and on the edge of a conservation area, a sensitive approach was needed to the refurbishment to ensure the exterior of the building remained in keeping with the surrounding area.

In addition to the library service, the building is well used by the local community and is home to various clubs including a Chess Club, Storytime for under 5s, Local History Group, Knitting Group and Reading Group.

Bowman Riley provided a refurbishment plan consulting with a specialist roofing contractor to repair the leaking roof and with a specialist window contractor to improve the thermal efficiency of the building.

We specified a contemporary interior with a unique carpet design and a modern kitchen.   An automatic door and upgraded WCs improving the accessibility of the library for all users.

Our in-house project manager worked on behalf of the Parish Council to ensure the project was delivered within a tight six-week programme on site and within budget working with the main contractor JP Wild.

Officially opened in August 2019, this project was a real collaboration between our interior designers and building consultancy team and resulted in a successful outcome for the community retaining a much-loved local asset.

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Cellar Trust Multi-Functional Space – Shipley, West Yorkshire

Cellar Trust
Shipley, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley was approached by the Cellar Trust, a mental health charity, to design the interiors for a multi-functional space within their existing premises located in the West Yorkshire town of Shipley on a pro-bono basis.

The Cellar Trust provides mental health support to adults in Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven.  Our brief was to create a versatile multi-functional area for staff and clients.  It was critical that this space was designed to be people-centred to encourage clients to visit and engage in activities.  With full wifi and AV functionality, the space will be used as a training facility and may also be used for external hire to community groups.

To keep costs to a minimum for the charity, we created our designs around the existing wooden floor. We retained the radiator position and used OSB, inexpensive plywood, for bleacher seating to deliver a considered design that meets the charity’s needs.

Designed to enhance people’s wellbeing, the entire space was carefully thought-out with the use of the colour orange, the charity’s brand colour, which is also associated with positivity.  A living plant wall and additional planting features will be fitted into the space to incorporate biophilic design, which will be used to increase connectivity to the natural environment bringing added health benefits.  We also introduced soft fabrics and soft seating to improve the acoustics in the space, responding to the Cellar Trust’s need for sympathetic acoustics and environment.

The result will be a contemporary, welcoming multi-functional space with quirky storage solutions and a small modernised kitchenette.

See our other community projects.

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Skipton Baptist Church Extension

Skipton Baptist Church appointed Bowman Riley to deliver the post-planning stages of the renovation and refurbishment of a historic building within the central Skipton conservation area adjacent to the church building.

Built in 1888 as four cottages, the buildings were briefly converted into a doctor’s surgery in 1920 before the heritage asset fell into disuse. In 2015 Skipton Baptist Church purchased the building due to its proximity to the church’s existing site for conversion into a community space for anyone to enjoy and experience a welcoming environment.

Our brief was to create a mix of community-focused facilities on the ground floor and self-contained offices on the first and second floors. This allows the relocation of some functions from the adjoining church.

The first phase is now completed and comprised the ground-floor modifications involving a new side entrance, rear patio area, additional patio doors and roof lights to the rear extension. Internally, we created a new entrance and reception area, a kitchen and serving area, a seating area and lounge; meeting rooms, a prayer room, a crèche, a new lift and stairs; new and extended toilet facilities; and a food bank store.

The first phase of the project has been well received by the church and the wider community, provided much-needed community space in the heart of Skipton and brought a heritage building back into use. A further phase will consist of first and second-floor modifications.

“Just to say a huge thank you… for all your work on this project. I am extremely grateful that both of you have guided us through the design and then the build in such a professional manner and with good humour, making this one of the most stress-free building projects that I’ve worked on in 20 years in the job. As the Clients representative, I have enjoyed this project and it has been a rare pleasure to have had such a cohesive team throughout.”

Martyn Leigh, Building Project Manager, Skipton Baptist Church

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Evelyn Hall New Church and Residential Development – London

Opes Real Estates

Depford, London Borough of Lewisham

Bowman Riley designed Evelyn Hall, a new residential development with a church, on a tight urban brownfield site in the London Borough of Lewisham.

The new four-storey development replaces a run-down existing single-storey church surrounded by scrubland with a new two-storey church and eight contemporary apartments. The apartments comprise two one-bedroom, five two-bedroom and one three-bedroom apartments together with landscaping and secure cycle parking.

Designed using contemporary clean-cut materials, the development substantially improves the streetscape and positively contributes to the local neighbourhood. The residential building is clad in brick and the church has a stone finish as a clear definition between the two buildings. The fourth storey of the residential building is set-back and clad in grey aluminium panels to reduce the impact of the massing.

Positioning the church (the smaller of the two buildings) on the dominant street corner of the site allows the overall building mass to terrace, increasing in height the further the distance from the road junction.

The front door entrances of three apartments can be accessed directly from the main road to further enhance the residential streetscape.

Using our considerable experience of designing buildings in tight urban settings, we proactively resolved other key challenges on the site concerning a lack of light, privacy and overlooking.

The project has received planning consent.

Explore our other residential projects.

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Culture Fusion Youth Centre – Bradford City Centre

BAM Construction

Bradford, Yorkshire

Bowman Riley designed the award-winning Culture Fusion, a state-of-the-art youth centre for Bradford YMCA.  The centre has been designed to provide inspiring learning, creative, training and recreational spaces for the young people of Bradford.

The centre provides 3200m² accommodation for tenants offering services to young people on issues ranging from employment, healthcare, housing to counselling.

The centre includes unique features such as a rooftop performance venue and café with views across the city, an urban meadow and a secret rooftop garden.

Won through competition, Bowman Riley’s design was selected by a panel of young people as their preferred choice. Engagement from the outset with the young advisors set the tone for the collaborative approach taken throughout the design.

The project comprised the transformation of a historic mill building into a vibrant new youth centre by linking it with a new five-storey extension.  The design responds to the historical significance of its former industrial site and provides a striking new building, which significantly contributes to the city centre’s regeneration.

Culture Fusion was awarded the 2012 LABC Building Excellence award in the category of community and achieved BREEAM Excellent at the design stage.

For more information see http://www.culturefusion.org.uk/

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Christians Against Poverty Office Hub – Bradford

Christians Against Poverty

Bradford

Bowman Riley supported the charity, Christian’s Against Poverty to redesign and refurbish the lower ground floor into flexible staff accommodation within their Bradford head office.

Home to over 300 staff, Jubilee Mill is a large Victorian mill building. Accommodating over 120 people, the current break-out space had become tired, uninspiring and inefficient. Our role was to evaluate the current space and develop a brief with the client to give the break-out space a complete facelift.

We created a flexible multi-functional space that could be used for collaborative working, socialising, seminars and events. Using 3D modelling, we presented a live walk-through presentation showing the redesign concept to engage with staff representatives.

The scheme breaks up the open plan space into distinct zones through the use of colour and furniture. We introduced features such as a focal bar area, picnic area and large flexible auditorium. All of the furniture except the bar is removable to offer maximum flexibility.

Our design involved the removal of the suspended ceiling to lift the room height and offer a vastly improved appearance with modern LED lighting to illuminate the space. The building’s features and exposed brickwork continue through in the new design to create an industrial aesthetic referencing the building’s history.

“I just wanted to express my personal thanks and also that of all our staff, who are now using the new breakout space. It really is a great addition to our offices, the staff love it and it has already changed the culture here with breakfast clubs and meetings, as well as both buildings combining as one to meet, socialise and discuss work.  Thanks for the vision and for making it a reality.”

Simon Clarke, Christians Against Poverty

View more of our community experience here

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Abergavenny Library – South Wales

Abergavenny Library – South Wales

Monmouthshire County Council

Abergavenny, South Wales

Bowman Riley designed a new library in Abergavenny to bring together the library functions and other council services, tourist information and coffee shop to create a community hub.

The existing library housed in the 1906 Carnegie building no longer meets the needs of the community, as it is unable to accommodate the stock levels and activities required.

The building forms part of a mixed-use development in the centre of the town on the existing cattle market site alongside a new Wm Morrison Supermarket. Bowman Riley was commissioned to design both the library and supermarket with a focus on enhancing the urban grain of the town and improving connectivity to other parts of Abergavenny.

To support the development of the brief and design, we visited new comparable libraries to incorporate best practice and consulted with various user groups including library and council staff and representatives from community groups.

The new 1000m² building will provide multi-use, open plan and adaptable spaces alongside archive and research functions. Features include enhanced IT provision to enable new technology and electronic learning tools and improvements the library’s operations with self-service book lending and an interactive video wall.

The building is designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent and an energy performance A rating with at least 15% of the energy requirements provided by renewable or low/zero carbon solutions using Photovoltaics, air source heat pumps and natural ventilation.

See more of our leisure experience here: Leisure Case Studies

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Skipton Town Hall Refurbishment – North Yorkshire

Skipton Town Hall Refurbishment – North Yorkshire

Craven District Council

Skipton, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley provided strategic master planning on the Skipton Town Hall complex of buildings located on the High Street . The Grade II listed Town Hall was built in 1862 and today is home to Craven Museum & Gallery, Tourist Information and Skipton Concert Hall.

Working closely with Craven District Council, the masterplan was developed into a series of phased projects that could be delivered according to the client’s programme and allocation of funding.

On the first phase of the strategic masterplan, Bowman Riley provided full architectural design, project management, CDM coordination and cost advice from inception to completion. Phase One created a striking contemporary extension providing a new accessible entrance to the side and reinstated the original entrance to the front, replaced the public facilities, created a commercial unit on the ground floor to let and refurbished office spaces.

The demolition of an existing building close to a busy public highway required coordination with the local highways authority, the contractor and the client team and resulted in public safety at all times.

Careful planning between the contractor and the client team enabled the works to be undertaken while parliamentary elections were taking place within the building.

Now complete, the Skipton Town Hall project has restored the building as a key civic asset by providing an active frontage and vibrant street scene. The project sees the sustainable re-use of a public building improving the public realm and community facilities, whilst also providing a source of revenue from the refurbished lettable space.

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Nell Bank Activity Centre – Ilkley

Nell Bank Activity Centre – Ilkley

Nell Bank Centre and Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Ikley, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley designed the award award-winning Activity Centre for young people with disabilities and their families in Ilkley.  The facility is part of the £5 million pilot scheme, funded by Aiming High, a Government programme to support projects for young people with disabilities.

The new build unit, which can house up to 20 people or a group of 12 with disabilities and their carers, has been built on a greenfield site, so an important aspect of the design was to integrate the building with its sensitive location.

The project incorporates a palette of sustainable materials including timber frame construction and agricultural roofing materials, and incorporates a solar water heating system and a ground source heat-pump to provide underfloor heating.  The detailed design of the building evolved through working closely with the contractor to create an innovative roof structure. This consists of a warm roof over a structural timber deck which eliminates the need for a secondary timber structure.

The project was awarded the Ilkley Civic Society Design Award 2011. Visit their website

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Tuned In @ Myplace – Redcar

BAM

Redcar, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley developed the designs on Tuned In @ Myplace, a new build state-of-the-art media and arts facility for the young people of Redcar and Cleveland.

The building forms part of the wider regeneration of Redcar town centre and the sea front area and occupies a prime location on the promenade overlooking the sea. The centre is aimed predominantly at 13-19 year olds and was designed in consultation with the young users.

The facilities include a performing arts theatre, dance studio, juice bar, shop, consulting rooms, arts and crafts studios, IT suite, library, hair and beauty studio, gallery space, chill out areas, recording and radio studios, catering facilities and ancillary staff areas. Externally there is an amphitheatre performance space.

Tuned In@ Myplace was delivered to the client as a turnkey building including information technology and audio visual installations, furnishings, fittings and equipment.

The project was part of the Myplace, Big Lottery Fund to deliver world class youth facilities driven by the active participation of young people and their views and needs.

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Queen’s Hall Renovation – Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire

Burley Parish Council

Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire

Won via a design competition, Bowman Riley designed, project managed and provided health and safety advice on the full renovation of the Queen’s Hall, a grand Victorian building situated in the village of Burley-in-Wharfedale near Ilkley.

Dating back to 1868, the building has had several uses over the years from a cinema to a lecture hall. Most recently the Queen’s Hall was owned and operated by Bradford Metropolitan District Council until it was transferred to Burley Parish Council.  At this stage, the building needed a programme of refurbishment from roof repairs to window replacement and internally the spaces were inefficient and decoration dated.

Burley Parish Council’s ambition was to develop the building into a vibrant community hub with different sized multi-purpose spaces for regular and occasional hire by local groups and clubs with catering facilities and bar.

Initially, we explored how each space could be used for various functions to maximise the efficiency of the building whilst meeting the needs of the various user groups with differing requirements.  We produced a 3D model and animation of the design concept for public viewing for the local community to review the designs to gauge feedback to enable the project to progress.

In addition to the refurbishment of the existing property, we designed a single storey linear extension to the rear of the building providing a large multi-functional space.

We specified the works and managed a competitive tender process to procure the works.  Our role involved providing project management, contract administration and principal designer duties throughout the project.

Holding regular meetings with stakeholders, we managed the flow of information and brought the project to successful completion on time and budget.

Now reopened, the Queen’s Hall is a modern flexible building that acts as a hub for village life and is a real asset for the local community.

Take a look at our community experience here.

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Bingley Hub – Bradford

Bowman Riley managed the refurbishment of the former public toilets in Bingley’s Jubilee Gardens to provide Bingley Town Council with their own active hub and offices in the town centre.

Bingley Town Council had been renting office space in a local community centre whilst it looked to move to a new, more central location. The Council identified the public toilet block in Bingley as an ideal location in the heart of the town centre and near bus and train links.

Part of the building would be retained as a public toilet facility considered vital to attract more people to shop and spend time in the town. The toilets had been closed for over a year, due to cost-cutting measures by Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

The existing building of a block cavity wall with bare block finish was updated by cladding it with 70mm insulation for better building performance, breather membrane and attractive larch timber cladding. New doors and windows were added to the building.

Now complete, the project re-used an existing out-dated local authority building and re-purposed it as a modern office hub with a meeting space and two unisex accessible public WCs.

The construction work started in 2020. The national lock-down initially slowed down the project, however, we were able to work with the contractor to continue working as the building was empty resulting in delivery of the Bingley Hub on time and on budget.

Please see more of our community projects.

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