Sunspot, Jaywick Sands

2025 RIBA East Award
2025 RIBA East Client of the Year sponsored by Equitone

Mixed
HAT Projects for Tendring District Council
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 1,490m²

Funded and operated by Tendring District Council, Sunspot stands at a prominent beachfront location on Jaywick Sands, Essex, on a site that was previously occupied by an amusement arcade. 

The new building evokes memories of fun with bold graphics and strong colours and is a welcoming space for all, including a multifunctional market hall, a café and spacious public toilets. The architects describe it as a ‘joyful landmark’, and it really is just that.

Jaywick Sands is one of the more deprived areas of the UK, with high unemployment. It is a tough environment both socially and physically – a seaside promenade in an area with a high (Level 3) flood risk. The project is very much ‘of Essex’ and of this place, and it delivers with confidence something quirky, tough and bold. 

HAT Projects has taken the industrial aesthetic and then carefully played with some well-detailed components to create something to inspire the local community: projecting canopies, shelter for the bus stop, a zigzag roof and opaque panels for the market. It is all quite robust and sensible, economical and restrained, with simple fittings but with splashes of colour.

The flood risk informed design decisions on details, and on placing equipment above ground level. The design also envisages the possibility of disassembly and relocation should this be required. In view of the seaside location and flood risk, only a 20-year design life was proposed. Although this means that on paper the building may appear more carbon hungry than other schemes, the reality is likely to be more favourable, as its structure comes across as sturdy enough to last longer.

The project efficiently delivers good-quality, low-cost start-up offices and workspace, ready to walk into. A variety of unit sizes are on offer, all with good daylight, security and accessibility as well as individual meter servicing to encourage reduced energy usage. 

On the day the jury visited, all but one of the units were fully let – a fact of which the building management were rightly proud. The range of unit sizes and low rental costs have allowed them to incubate various new businesses. Some of these have already grown and moved into larger units as they have become available.

With more funding, there might perhaps have been more landscaping opportunities, but this is already a major upgrade from a standard industrial unit. The project is a thoughtful solution, well executed, good value, inspiring and attracting local people to use it as their place with care. 

The client team are to be commended for their commitment to the task, meeting all their business key performance indicators and supporting growth in this community. Together with the architects, they have produced a model regeneration product that should be an exemplar for local authorities trying to bring communities together while fostering new businesses – especially those by the seaside.

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RIBA UK Awards 2025 sponsored by Autodesk, EH Smith, Equitone and VELUX