IMPACT Scotland (International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust) asked us to run two competitions for its new concert venue in the heart of Edinburgh's World Heritage Site:
The first, to find an internationally acclaimed acoustic consultant to help define the brief for the concert halls.
The second, to find a design-led team to conceive and deliver a stunning design for this new, world-class concert venue.
The project
Included in the project is a new concert hall that will be home to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The brief stipulated that this hall should have 'an acoustic to rival any other in the world', which was why the client took the unusual step of appointing the acoustician before looking for an architect.
However, it is important that the venue is seen to be accessible to as wide a population as possible and therefore the design of the main hall will also be able to adapt to and serve the many and assorted performers at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Alongside the main hall, a smaller studio will offer multiplicity for public performances, education programmes and rehearsals. At the heart of the building there will be an open, public lobby, which will be a destination in its own right, with places to meet, to think, to eat and drink; as well as a place of welcome for visitors to concerts and events.
The complexity of the site and its central Edinburgh location make this a challenging and important project.
Updates
The project received planning approval in April 2019.
The new building has been named the Dunard Centre, in recognition of Carol Dunard's tireless support for the project.
Winners
CONSULTANT ACOUSTICIAN
The winning consultant acoustician was Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics (Japan)
Three other acousticians were shortlisted and interviewed:
- Arup Acoustics (UK)
- Marshall Day Acoustics (Australia)
- Sound Space Vision (UK)
DESIGN TEAM
The winning team was led by David Chipperfield Architects and included Arup, Whitby Mohair Engineers, GROSS MAX and Theatre Projects
Five other teams were shortlisted and interviewed:
- Adjaye Associates (London) with Sandy Brown, Buro Happold and DHA Designs
- Allies & Morrison (London) with Charcoalblue, Speirs & Major, Harrison Stevens and Buro Happold
- Barozzi Veiga (Switzerland) with Alan Baxter, Max Fordham, KahleAcoustics, 3DReid and Ian White Associates
- KPMB Architects (Toronto) with Simpson & Brown Architects, David Narro Associates, Arup, Sound Space Vision, rankinfraser landscape architecture and Transsolar Energietechnik
- Richard Murphy Architects (Edinburgh) with Arup, Graven Images, GROSS MAX and Montagu Evans
Process
The competition to find the consultant acoustician was by invitation only.
The competition to find the design-led team was run as a 2-stage competition, generally following the OJEU Restricted Notice procedures.
- Stage 1 : Expressions of Interest
- Stage 2 : Invitation to Tender and Interviews
69 teams from across the globe submitted Expressions of Interest. Each team was scored against the published criteria and six teams were invited to take part in Stage 2.
The shortlisted teams were offered an honorarium to develop their approaches further and asked to attend an interview.
Following interviews, references were taken and the winner was appointed.
Our involvement
- Designing the right competitive process
- Planning the competition timetable and budget to meet client requirements
- Acting as the point of contact for the competition
- Promoting the competition
- Ensuring a clear and ethical process
- Briefing the jury panel
- Briefing the competitors
- Managing the competition process
- Liaising with solicitors and PR agency
- Advising on and helping to implement the scoring / evaluation procedures
- Arranging and facilitating the interviews and presentations
- Helping create an audit trail
- Debriefing and follow-up
"On behalf of all my colleagues at IMPACT Scotland, I want to thank Colander for the caring, diligent and totally professional way in which you helped us secure the services of our acoustician and architect-led design team. You managed to make the whole process run very smoothly and the proof of the pudding is that we have ended up with appointments that, I am sure, will serve us well."
— Sir Ewan Brown, Chairman, IMPACT Scotland