Design Commission for Wales

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Introduction

This scheme has involved a conversion and new build extension to a former school creating 14 affordable apartments for Wales and West Housing Association. The site is just outside the town centre of Holywell in Flintshire, and forms part of the Holywell Conservation Area. The conversion saw a successful rebuilding and renovation of a previously semi-derelict building and the addition of a more contemporary but still sympathetic extension to the original group of buildings. The scheme also included the restoration of a Grade 2 listed monument of Jesus which is located in its original position above a remodelled courtyard.

Since the seventh century, the town of Holywell has been a destination for pilgrims who travel to pay homage at the Shrine of St. Winefride and bathe in the healing waters of the well that gives the town its name. The school was the convent school for the neighbouring convent. The site of St. Winefride's Convent School is within walking distance from the town centre, and Holywell has an historic town centre with an attractive townscape, but it has been severed from its hinterland by an inner ring road and car parks. The town has also lost some of its previous vitality, with a number of buildings looking for new uses.

The apartments are located on a steep site just to the north of the town centre. Within the immediate vicinity of the site are a range of buildings, including newer apartments higher up the hill to the south, the Talacre public house to the north, and the old vacant buildings of the former convent and the St. Winefride's Hospice to the east. Immediately opposite the apartments is a vacant site. The general feel of the immediate area is that it is a little run down despite its obvious history. Out of view from the site, but to the west, is the new St. Winefride's Roman Catholic Primary School which replaced the original use for the Convent School building.

The original school was opened in 1895, and built from stone, rendered brick walls with a Welsh slate roof. The school was closed in 1975 and the building remained subsequently disused until the Wales and West Housing Association purchased it in 2001 from the Wrexham Catholic Diocese.

Design Process

A number of developers had considered the site but had backed down due to the costs associated with the conservation requirements. The school had become unsafe and needed to be demolished with the exception of the main facade to the street. The building exterior was then rebuilt to an identical form, but the interior was adapted to accommodate eight 1-bedroom apartments designed to lifetime home standards. The relevant parties then agreed that an extension to the building should be in a contemporary but sympathetic form, rather than attempt to mimic the reconstructed building.

The original buildings were rebuilt as far as possible using recycled materials from the site. The school building was rebuilt in stone with bands of smooth render defining single glazed timber windows which were designed to identically mimic the original windows. The school house was then completed in lime rendered blockwork. The new build extension is built from blockwork covered with a polymer render and cedar boarding under the eaves. It also has timber window frames. All buildings are unified by a welsh slate roof, and the original school building contains 3 colours of slate spelling out original text written into the roof and visible from above the site.

The scheme also includes a small landscaped terrace and courtyard garden visible, but not accessible, from the street. The terrace can be accessed by the single storey bungalow, whilst other apartments have access to the garden. The main feature of both the terrace and garden is a rather spectacular statue of Jesus which, raised on a plinth, is over 3 metres (9 ft) tall and overlooks the garden. The statue is a Grade 2 listed monument and was cast in iron with a finish in bronze, and the project saw its restoration to its original form following years of neglect.

The scheme couldn't use 'pattern book' plans preferred by the Welsh Assembly who fund social housing in Wales, due to the specific qualities of the site, and the result is a scheme that is both original and yet sympathetic to its setting. Despite the fact that pattern book plans were not used, the principles were adopted by the architects who enjoyed the design challenge of this scheme.

Conservation requirements increased the cost of this scheme considerably, but also meant that some environmental standards could not be met. One particular example was the need to replicate identically the original window forms in the old school which not only needed to look identical, but which also could not be double glazed. Although such requirements protect the integrity of a building, surely concern for the long term energy use and heating costs of people's homes could be taken more into account, especially given that double glazing could have been introduced without affecting the forms of the windows.

If there is a weakness to this scheme it is the apparently high parking standard required by the Planning Authority, adopted on a site within walking distance of a town centre and applied to social housing where the majority of residents are likely to be single or couples. The wide entrance to the car park also tends to dominate the character of the street frontage from the south; the expanse of tarmac isnt very "domestic" although the growth of planting in due course may improve the buildings setting.

The site is not ideal in terms of levels and required a great deal of work to remodel the ground to accommodate the parking. Bearing in mind that the retaining element is significant, the retaining method is thought to be as sensitive as possible, using timber components which will soften even more when the infill trailing plants become established. Land to the west of the retaining structure, equating to some 700sqm, is also in the Housing Associations ownership and has been landscaped with trees and meadow planting.

Evaluation

The scheme has been selected because:

• it sees the creative reuse of a historic building and the renovation of a locally important historic landmark and statue.
• the scheme provides quality, affordable and interesting homes in a sustainable location within walking distance of a town centre.
• the scheme includes a contemporary building forming a sympathetic extension to a former Victorian school building.
• the design adopts lifetime home standards without using pattern book layouts preferred by social housing funding agencies.

Project Summary

• Location: Holywell, Flintshire, north east Wales
• Date Completed: The project started in 2001 and was completed in March 2004
• Client: Wales and West Housing Association
• Architect/designer: Ainsley Gommon Architects
• Planning Authority: Flintshire County Council
• Funding Body: Welsh Assembly Government Social Housing Grant: £500,000 Heritage Lottery Fund: £127,000 Flintshire County Council: £48,000 Welsh Development Agency Town Improvement Grant: £60,000 Private Funding
• Contract Value: £982,000
• Project type: Apartments in a renovated school and school house with a contemporary new build extension
• Full address: St Winefride's Convent School, New Road, Holywell, Flintshire
• Location type: market town
• Number of dwellings: the renovated school and school house contain eight 1-bedroom apartments. The new-build extension contains five 2-bedroom apartments and one 1 bedroom apartment/bungalow
• Dwelling type: apartments
• Site area / Density: 0.16 hectares (0.4 acres) at 90 dwellings per hectare (36.5 dwellings per acre)
• Parking Ratio: 1.5 per dwellings
• Cost per unit: £70,000

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