John certainly helped us achieve it. Since the building has been completed, it has become one of the favourite locations for students
Patrick Hanlon
We recognised that converting the buildings back to residential use brought with it a responsibility to respect the original fabric but also, and just as importantly, the need to consider how to weave into the traditional floor plans prerequisite components of a modern apartment such that the finished scheme would be attractive to the future occupants our client wanted to attract. Alongside new doors, windows and interior mouldings, designed to replicate originals, are fully functional kitchens and shower rooms.
Given the height of the buildings and the fact that each apartment was accessed by a single stair, we worked closely with specialist fire safety consultants to install fire alarm and sprinkler systems, the latter being woven through carefully considered risers and horizontal routes. In addition, the provision of twenty four, one and two bedroomed apartments and maisonettes reintroduced a residential feel to the green square, helping to bring life back to this part of the town.
A key part of working with any period building, particularly those that are listed, is something known as ‘discovery’, being the problem parts of a building that are only revealed when internal linings are removed and the substrate revealed. Managing discovery requires skill, building knowledge and the ability to quickly curate and test solutions. One such example in this scheme was the revealing of a full-height vertical sliding door which could not be retained in its vertical sliding state, as it would impact on the layout of the apartment on the floor above. We proposed that the door be cut in half, one half remaining fixed and forming the wall of a carefully designed shower room; the other half being made into a side-hung opening leaf which could open fully and nestle alongside the fixed half. We took measurements of the original moulding and the panel proportions and repeated these in the new wall and door to the shower room. It was never our intent to suggest that the room had always been there but more to allow it to sit alongside the original fabric in a respectful manner whilst performing a modern role.
Often good design goes unnoticed and isn’t immediately apparent such as in the case of the new kitchens to the one bedroomed apartments. We didn’t want these apartments to have combined living, dining and kitchen rooms that appeared to be a large kitchen with living room furniture in. We wanted them to feel like large living rooms that happened to have a piece of furniture that, when opened up, revealed a fully functioning kitchen and which could be closed down after use. We prepared concept drawings of this furniture item and approached several specialists to ascertain what could be done within a reasonable budget. We worked closely with the selected specialist to ensure the concept was delivered in sixteen of the finished apartments.
‘The purchase of the properties on Wellington Square represented our largest property investment to date and the task that faced us seemed insurmountable. John guided us from the first sketch to the installation of the last tile on the wall and his professionalism and building knowledge was exemplary.’ Nick Sohail, Principal, Wellington Square LLP
