Navigating sustainability: Q&A with Hull and Purcell 

The recently completed visitor centre at the North End Shipyard in Hull is the first museum centre in the UK to achieve Passivhaus certification, and will also become home to the Arctic Corsair, Hull’s last surviving deep-sea trawler. Place Yorkshire spoke to Owen Plummer from Purcell and cllr Mike Ross, leader of Hull City Council, to find out more about what happens when you mix history, sustainability, and regeneration.

When did the council decide to regenerate the North End Shipyard site, and what was your vision for it?

Cllr Mike Ross: The decision to invest in the regeneration of North End Shipyard was made in 2018, as part of our successful bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver the Hull Maritime project. This consists of the refurbishment of Hull Maritime Museum and Dock Office Chambers, the restoration of our two historic ships – the Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship – and the development of the North End Shipyard site into a new visitor attraction.

Our vision was to breathe new life into the North End Shipyard by creating an introductory and orientation space that would set the scene for visitors before they boarded the Arctic Corsair.

We also wanted the development to be energy efficient and sensitive to its historic context – so the new building was designed to replicate the industrial architecture that once stood on the site, blending seamlessly into its surroundings.

Ultimately, we saw this as an opportunity to breathe new life into the River Hull, an underused but valuable area in the city.

Owen, what works did Purcell carry out during the project?

Owen Plummer: The project explores and celebrates Hull’s remarkable maritime history and heritage and puts that heritage at the heart of a place shaping project that will preserve several significant assets and move Hull forward as a world-class visitor destination.

Purcell has been the architect, heritage consultant, and lead consultant for the design team across the three buildings and the garden schemes since the beginning of the project. The North End Shipyard is a key component of the Hull Maritime project, which seeks to physically and intellectually reconnect Hull to its maritime heritage.

The new visitor centre at Hull’s North End Shipyard is located within a vacant site on the banks of the River Hull, at the entrance to the former Queen’s Dock, now Queen’s Gardens following the infilling of the dock in the 1930s. The location of the visitor centre at this location bookends the former Queen’s Dock, with Maritime Museum at its western end and the visitor centre at its eastern end. The aspiration of the North End Shipyard site is to create a standout sustainable exemplar visitor destination and, through dry docking of the Arctic Corsair, tell the story of Hull’s fishing heritage.

Credit: HCC

How did Hull’s maritime history inform your work on the North End Shipyard?

OP: The North End Shipyard is a derelict area of land on the banks of the River Hull. At first, it was difficult to see that there are two docks on the site, with more close by, and there was little evidence of their significant history. As a result, few relate to this area and its history, diminishing the public value of the Shipyard.

The development of the visitors centre and the addition of Arctic Corsair are aimed at helping visitors to engage with the history of the dry docks, illustrating the way that ships were constructed and moored for repairs. Collecting these different heritage assets into a single attraction creates an opportunity to engage with the story on different levels and provide Hull with a new and exciting visitor attraction.

The rectilinear form of the building, while influenced by historic precedent, was also guided by the desire to provide elevated and panoramic views of the Arctic Corsair from within the exhibition space and adjoining gantry at first floor level. To facilitate this, and working in harmony with the adopted Passivhaus approach, the building takes a linear form and is orientated to run parallel with the ship itself.

The building features a pitched roof with hidden box gutters to create a simple and decluttered aesthetic. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, a series of brick and metal clad portal framed buildings have occupied the site, and one brick building of very similar proportions occupied the almost very spot where the visitor centre now sits. Taking such historical precedent into account, the centre is clad in a dark corrugated steel.

At what point was it decided that the visitor centre would be built to Passivhaus standard, and how did this affect how you approached the project?

MR: The decision to build the visitor centre to Passivhaus standard was made during the RIBA development process. We wanted to introduce a unique and forward-thinking element to Hull Maritime, and making the centre Passivhaus-certified was a way to do just that – it would be the first of its kind in Hull and the UK, helping to put the city on the map for sustainable design.

OP: Embedded within the North End Shipyard is a collective response to the climate emergency and the council’s wider commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030. Adopting a Passivhaus approach achieves a route to reduced energy demand within a highly insulated building, and allows for that reduced energy demand to be generated by on-site renewable means.

Passivhaus buildings must be considered from first principles, early in the briefing and concept design stage. This decision was, though, collectively made by the council and design team. Form and orientation are key early considerations, avoiding complex shapes and optimising the ratio between external surface area and internal floor area, all to minimise heat loss, risk of thermal bridges and airtightness breaches. A careful balance of windows on southern elevations to capitalise on heat gains, and a considered limit of windows on shaded northern elevations to minimise heat loss is also a key consideration.

These early factors were crucial in establishing the basic form and orientation of the building whilst also ensuring that our designs were responding to the functional needs of the building and its context.

The key principle threads throughout the scheme as it developed were insulation, airtight construction, high performance windows and doors, thermal bridges, and ventilation and heat recovery.

Credit: HCC

What are the biggest challenges you encountered when designing something to Passivhaus standard?

OP: A common challenge of Passivhaus is one of misconception. It can be heard that Passivhaus buildings are more complicated, less user friendly, appropriate only for housing, and more costly. These myths are not accurate, but lead to the challenge of communicating and convincing clients, consultants, and contractors of the appropriateness of Passivhaus for a given project.

Challenges that can manifest, however, include experience, mindset, and a project ethos which may be unfamiliar to some. Passivhaus demands high principles and rigour be embedded from the outset and throughout the project, ensuring all are on the journey together is critical.

MR: One of the most technically challenging aspects was constructing the new roof structure for the visitor centre. Achieving the required level of Passivhaus performance also demanded precision and collaboration across disciplines.

However, these challenges brought great opportunities. We’re delivering a national-standard visitor attraction that increases dwell time in the area and enhances Hull’s tourism offer. This will be a truly unique experience – visitors will not only explore Hull’s last sidewinder trawler, the Arctic Corsair, but also descend into the dock bottom to appreciate the ship’s scale and learn about life aboard.

What are your biggest take-aways from the scheme, in terms of lessons learnt and what you would carry forward?

OP: Commitment to carbon neutrality and the impact that the construction industry has on climate change is not static; we constantly learn and evolve, taking lessons from ourselves and each other, implementing our developing understanding. We hope that this project does the same, learning from the buildings which we create, and gathering data on performance and energy usage to inform and enhance future schemes.

The project also holds the potential to dispel myths, demonstrating the simplicity of the designed scheme, and the importance that simple yet considered design decisions such as form and orientation can have on building performance.

And finally, what plans do you have next for regeneration in Hull?

MR: We’re not slowing down and there’s a lot to look forward to as we continue Hull’s regeneration journey.

Most recently, we announced the award of a major contract for regeneration on the East Bank Urban Village, which is a significant next step in revitalising the area around the River Hull. It’s an ambitious 15-year project which is expected to see a mix of uses including up to 850 new homes and will significantly contribute to meeting the council’s City Plan aspiration for 2,500 new dwellings within Hull city centre.

We’re also progressing with Albion Square, where we’re in the process of appointing a lead development partner. This is a strategically positioned city centre site with the potential to transform Hull’s urban core with a mix of new homes, retail, and public space in line with the city’s Local Plan. This site has a wider significance for the future economy of Hull, as a visitor destination and a place that people choose to live, work and play.

And of course, we’re nearing the completion of the wider Hull Maritime project which includes the transformation of Queens Gardens, the restoration of the Spurn Lightship, and the reopening of the Hull Maritime Museum. These elements celebrate over 800 years of Hull’s seafaring heritage and will create a major cultural draw for both residents and visitors and hopefully recognised as one of the best maritime experiences in the north of England.