Menzieshill Community Hub

Menzieshill Community Hub

Client: Dundee City Council

Dates: 2017 - 2019

Value: £11m

Project: New build community centre

Location: Dundee

Menzieshill, a district in Dundee, was once recognised by five 15 storey towers, housing over 440 families, that formed the centre of this residential neighbourhood. The complex, designed in 1963, provided a range of community and social amenities at the base of the towers, linked to a purpose-built community hall. When the last of the towers were demolished, and residents rehoused, the visual landscape of the neighbourhood was changed dramatically, with only the existing community centre remaining, surrounded by a derelict waste ground.

Working in partnership with Dundee City Council, we developed a masterplan to re-energise the ‘heart’ of Menzieshill and bring a community focus back to the area. The masterplan creates a new vibrant and civic quarter supported by the redesigned community hub and proposed education and healthcare facilities. At the centre a new linear park, links all buildings, encouraging parents and children to walk to school, and residents to use the spaces for relaxation and socialising. 

The completion of the Community Hub, marks the first phase of implementation of the masterplan, bringing the start of the linear park, incorporating a new community garden, where residents and school pupils can become involved in horticulture, ecological studies and food production. The building is a direct result of the consultation held with key user groups, to understand their aspirations, and ensure the design offered flexibility for the variety of organisations that would use the spaces within. 

A new library now allows the elderly to take part in courses on ‘Internet and Social Media’, whilst also acting as an extension of the children’s library in the neighbouring primary school. The upper floor café offers views across Tayside and is being actively run as a social enterprise kitchen, employing and training teenagers and adults with learning difficulties. The community rooms host bridge classes, ante-natal groups and a creche, whilst the larger halls can host badminton competitions, and the important Menzieshill Burn’s Supper.

The architecture is civic and welcoming; however, it is the vibrancy and creativity of the spaces within, that offers the reassurance, that the community heart has been returned to this neighbourhood.