NO.150
Blencowe Hall / Graham K Norman Architect
Blencowe, Cumbria, England
Architect: Graham K Norman Architect
Year: 2009
Client: Blencow Hall Partners
Service: Architecture: Historic Buildings
Awards
• RIBA Northern Network Award (Silver) (2011)
• Northern Design Awards, Best Property of the Year (2011)
• RICS International Award for Conservation (2010)
• Civic Trust Award (2010)
• RICS NW Building of the Year Award, Eden District Design Award (2010)
• North West Regional Construction Heritage Award (2009, Commendation)
Blencowe Hall was renovated in 2007 and 2008 with English Heritage approval to bring the North and South towers back in to use as holiday accommodation. Blencowe Hall is a Grade 1 listed building which means it is exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important (only 2.5% of listed buildings in England are classified Grade I).
It comprises a central range with 16th century fortified towers at each end. The towers had become roofless and derelict, resulting in the house being added to the ‘Buildings at Risk’ Register. The serious structural damage to the south tower was stabilised, as was the large gash in the east elevation, and wooden balconies were inserted. Featured in English Heritage’s Constructive Conservation, this project shows how a part-derelict building can be given a new life while retaining its historic character.
---------
The overall vision was to refurbish the buidling sympathetically whilst bringing it up to modern standards to fulfill its new role as a prestigious holiday home for groups of up to 24 persons.
The gash in the wall to the SouthTower ruin that made it such a spectacle would remain in the new proposal but now behind it would be a wall of glass and discrete steel structure with small balconies with glass balustrading at First and Second floor level for the inhabitants to enjoy the view.
In both towers, accommodation has been reinstated with floors relating to existing fireplace posi-tions. Existing stone staircases formerly open to the air, were now made water tight with new 'cap houses' at Third floor level which provide access to the new lead roofs. The missing North Tower embattled parapet have been rebuilt in salvaged matching stone recovered from the site.
All windows have been replaced with new metal thin profile units with a brown/black powder coated finish. New external doors, floors and floor beams have been made from oak. Internal walls are finished in lime plaster and painted with a proprietary limewash paint. New 'flat' roof structures and hidden gutters to the North and South towers are finished in lead.
The existing heating system has been overhauled with a new oil fired system feeding under floor heating at Ground floor level and radiators at First floor level. The existing drainage system has been abandoned and replace with a new state of the art reed bed system with treated water discharging into a new wildlife pond on land adjacent to the building. A considered landscaping strategy of judicial tree planting has been incorporated to create an appropriate setting for the building.
It would once have been standard conservation practise to leave both towers at Blencowe Hall as ruins, but English Heritage supported the clients desire to bring these structures back into use,- a building that is being maintained because people use it has far better long term prospects than one from where the inhabitants derive no practical benefit.
English Heritage has recognised it as among the top 20 exemplar conservation projects of recent years, and is identified in their publication 'Constructive Conservation in Practice' as a project that demonstrates a new forward thinging way of rescuing ruins or delapidated building as part of re-generation.
#UK , #house, #interior_design , #stair , #glass , #castle , #hall , #tower , #hotel , #ruin
@revitalization
Blencowe Hall / Graham K Norman Architect
Blencowe, Cumbria, England
Architect: Graham K Norman Architect
Year: 2009
Client: Blencow Hall Partners
Service: Architecture: Historic Buildings
Awards
• RIBA Northern Network Award (Silver) (2011)
• Northern Design Awards, Best Property of the Year (2011)
• RICS International Award for Conservation (2010)
• Civic Trust Award (2010)
• RICS NW Building of the Year Award, Eden District Design Award (2010)
• North West Regional Construction Heritage Award (2009, Commendation)
Blencowe Hall was renovated in 2007 and 2008 with English Heritage approval to bring the North and South towers back in to use as holiday accommodation. Blencowe Hall is a Grade 1 listed building which means it is exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important (only 2.5% of listed buildings in England are classified Grade I).
It comprises a central range with 16th century fortified towers at each end. The towers had become roofless and derelict, resulting in the house being added to the ‘Buildings at Risk’ Register. The serious structural damage to the south tower was stabilised, as was the large gash in the east elevation, and wooden balconies were inserted. Featured in English Heritage’s Constructive Conservation, this project shows how a part-derelict building can be given a new life while retaining its historic character.
---------
The overall vision was to refurbish the buidling sympathetically whilst bringing it up to modern standards to fulfill its new role as a prestigious holiday home for groups of up to 24 persons.
The gash in the wall to the SouthTower ruin that made it such a spectacle would remain in the new proposal but now behind it would be a wall of glass and discrete steel structure with small balconies with glass balustrading at First and Second floor level for the inhabitants to enjoy the view.
In both towers, accommodation has been reinstated with floors relating to existing fireplace posi-tions. Existing stone staircases formerly open to the air, were now made water tight with new 'cap houses' at Third floor level which provide access to the new lead roofs. The missing North Tower embattled parapet have been rebuilt in salvaged matching stone recovered from the site.
All windows have been replaced with new metal thin profile units with a brown/black powder coated finish. New external doors, floors and floor beams have been made from oak. Internal walls are finished in lime plaster and painted with a proprietary limewash paint. New 'flat' roof structures and hidden gutters to the North and South towers are finished in lead.
The existing heating system has been overhauled with a new oil fired system feeding under floor heating at Ground floor level and radiators at First floor level. The existing drainage system has been abandoned and replace with a new state of the art reed bed system with treated water discharging into a new wildlife pond on land adjacent to the building. A considered landscaping strategy of judicial tree planting has been incorporated to create an appropriate setting for the building.
It would once have been standard conservation practise to leave both towers at Blencowe Hall as ruins, but English Heritage supported the clients desire to bring these structures back into use,- a building that is being maintained because people use it has far better long term prospects than one from where the inhabitants derive no practical benefit.
English Heritage has recognised it as among the top 20 exemplar conservation projects of recent years, and is identified in their publication 'Constructive Conservation in Practice' as a project that demonstrates a new forward thinging way of rescuing ruins or delapidated building as part of re-generation.
#UK , #house, #interior_design , #stair , #glass , #castle , #hall , #tower , #hotel , #ruin
@revitalization