Community Hub, Peel.

This project proposes a new community hub for Peel including a café, public toilets and external landscaping. The design takes inspiration from the locally found “Peel red sandstone“, with the existing sandstone wall extending this defining feature across the site to form the principal frontage of the new single-storey building. A carefully positioned opening in the wall creates the main entrance, while a contemporary glazed element is angled towards views of Peel Castle (and Peel’s famous sunsets), forming a sheltered space from which visitors can enjoy the coastline and sunsets while remaining protected from the Manx weather.

Behind the sandstone wall, the building adopts a simple and efficient form containing the main accommodation, including community rooms, kitchen facilities and public WCs. The café is expressed with a raised seam metal roof, referencing the tones of traditional slate while introducing a contemporary architectural language. The building has been designed to achieve high energy performance, incorporating strong levels of insulation, air-tightness, mechanical heat recovery and air-source heat pumps. The roof also provides an opportunity for solar panels, helping to reduce long-term running costs for the local authority.