Grange Pavilion wins at the Cardiff Property Awards

The Grange Pavilion capital build partnership of Community Gateway, Grange Pavilion CIO, IBI Group, Dan Benham Architects and Cardiff Planning has won an award for Civic Development at the Cardiff Property Awards.

Held on the 26 March 2021, the Cardiff Property Awards is a prestigious celebration of the local property sector. The Grange Pavilion was designed by the IBI Group and Benham Architects based on an idea of inclusion, ideas ownership by residents, social cohesion and community wellbeing. It is a green and vibrant community space built to provide residents with their own indoor and outdoor space to support community-led projects that have blossomed in Grangetown.

Grange Pavilion consists of three large rooms that enable good quality interactions including homework clubs, art therapy and indoor sports activities; a green space for play, performances and fitness activities; a wildflower garden with five rainwater ponds to enhance biodiversity and support pollinators; and allotment for seasonal food education, growing and harvesting; a community-focussed coffee shop employing Grangetown residents and delivering a free breakfast club for those in need; an office and accessible toilets.  An external classroom has also been designed, creating an outdoor learning and collaboration space linked to local schools and after-school community gardening activities.  The spaces can be booked free-of-charge by residents and non-profit community groups delivering activities that benefit other residents.

Judges commented that:

“This community-led civic space has been transformed providing social cohesion events for Grangetown’s residents and with the increased biodiversity it brings, it will be an environmental success.”

Dan Benham of Benham Architects said:

“It is an absolute honour for Benham Architects to receive this award alongside IBI Group. It is this essence of collaboration that has created such a wonderful building for Cardiff. So many incredible people have worked tirelessly to see this vision come to fruition. We want to celebrate the power of community. The amazing people of Grangetown are the reason for the building. Their energy, warmth and passion, developed the brief, gave meaning to the park and provided the design team with a wonderful opportunity to create a building that is merely a framework to celebrate this. Set amongst a listed Victorian park, the building is also a tribute to the ambitions of good design and demonstrates that with careful articulation, we can create amazing spaces in beautiful settings for all to enjoy.”

To find out more about the Grange Pavilion please visit the website.

To see the list of winners at the Cardiff Property Awards, please visit the website.

Huge thanks to IBI Group and Benham Architects for consulting with and listening to Grangetown residents and reflecting the community's input in an amazing design! Congratulations on your win!

Thank you The Urbanists, CDF Planning, Mott MacDonald, Mann Williams, Holloway Partnership and our brilliant construction partners BECT for such an excellent team effort to deliver #GrangePavilion for Grangetown!