20TH
CENTURY BUILDINGS
ABOUT PURCELL
Architects, Masterplanners and Heritage Consultants
Purcell was founded on a belief that buildings and places matter to people.
This core principle continues to shape every Purcell project, from the largest urban regeneration programmes to small, beautifully crafted new buildings. Distinguished by the quality of our design, craftsmanship and attention to detail, our projects set a standard of excellence acknowledged throughout the industry and rewarded internationally with awards.
Our work is diverse in scale and type, ranging from district-scale conservation and renewal programmes such as Battersea Power Station and Manchester Town Hall to jewel-like new designs such as our RIBA Award wining extension to the chapel at Radley College.
ABOUT PURCELL
Our ethos and culture
Being an Employee Owned Trust allows us to invest in our people, understanding that our people are the key to our success.
We are committed to reviving and retaining the skills required to make long-lasting buildings with meaning, relevance and purpose for all of us. In 2016, we set up our annual Purcell Conservation School to ensure that Purcell’s legacy of conservation expertise continues into the next generation of architects and heritage consultants.
Each year we run a Design Programme, now in it’s seventh year, which includes colleagues from across our UK and Asia Pacific studios, to share ideas, collaborate and innovate without the constraints of a live project.
Our Classical Drawing School runs annually, initiated to hone and develop traditional hand drawing skills, further adding to our blended approach to the continued learning and development of our unique team of conservation and heritage experts.
Purcell
ABOUT PURCELL
Places for people
Coupled with our commitment to the planet is our collective ambition to create places that make a difference to people’s lives. As an employee-owned trust of over 260 colleagues globally, we listen to each other to understand what drives and motivates us. Unanimously, we are committed to being a force for good for people and planet, in our own business operations and in the work we do for our clients.
We run apprenticeship programmes on live projects, mentoring schemes, and engage with youth and community groups at grass roots level, enabling a wide range of voices and opinions to help shape and form the future of heritage.
Conservation architecture is about more than restoring the fabric of buildings and can be instrumental in helping to shape the identity and spirit of a community. Many of our projects enable us to engage with diverse groups and we are immensely proud of our collaborations with people who are redefining the role that heritage can play in an accessible, inclusive future.
A Purcell-led ‘Shape My City’ workshop run by Creative Youth Network, Bristol for youth groups to engage with architecture and design; Apprentices working at Our Town Hall, Manchester; A community-led creative group, Project Artwork, Hastings, who are working with Purcell to transform a local building into an inclusive community arts hub, our creative reuse project transforming Sacrewell Watermill into a learning centre and local visitor attraction.
ABOUT PURCELL
Sustainability
Purcell grew out of the post-war conservation movement in response to the speed at which buildings were being demolished and replaced.
Over seventy-five years later, the world is on a path to climate catastrophe. In that time, Purcell has evolved into the largest team of heritage experts working in architecture, with offices throughout the UK, Australia and Hong Kong. We understand more than ever that conserving, reusing and extending what already exists and making new buildings that will last for generations are essential for the future of the planet.
We have committed to the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, are signatories to Architects’ Declare in the UK and Australia, and Heritage Declares. We are holding ourselves accountable to these targets by measuring our net-zero carbon progress.
Today, our reputation is as much for the quality and craftsmanship of new buildings as it is for our expertise in adapting and renewing the old. We do both by blending traditional skills and knowledge with the latest thinking around sustainable retrofit and construction methods.
Our attention to detail and materials underpins our belief that approaches to sustainability are intrinsically linked to understanding and respecting building materials and performance whilst continuing to evolve traditional skills.
Purcell’s circular economy diagram; New visitor centre at Christ Church College, Oxford; New double-glazed windows and stone replacement at Ledston Hall, the first Grade listed building to gain consent for doubleglazing; Purcell’s fabric upgrades at Newcastle Cathedral include the first ground source heat pump to be installed in a UK Cathedral.
ABOUT PURCELL
Heritage innovation
We believe that true innovation goes hand in hand with the continued evolution of traditional skills. These skills have stood the test of time, continually developing and refining them over the years, and form the bedrock of our practice. We combine this knowledge with innovative technology.
Our in-house Building Information Management (BIM) specialists have earned international recognition as pioneers in harnessing this technology for the unique domain of heritage architecture (HBIM).
Our approach fuses digital technology and traditional skills. We integrate BIM tools in our workflow, allowing us to model, document and manage heritage sites and structures with precision and efficiency.
We are embracing Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to augment our decision-making processes. We recognise that the power of human knowledge, cultivated through generations of experience, is invaluable. Combined with the intelligence and datadriven capabilities of technology, we can make even more informed choices.
ABOUT PURCELL
Our global project reach
Elizabeth Tower London, United Kingdom
Kersen Krenow
Bab Al-Azab Cairo, Egypt
Grytviken Whaling Station
British Overseas terrioty of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (South Atlantic)
Scott & Shackleton’s Huts
Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts Hong Kong
Private Residential Zhong Shan, China
Parliament of NSW Sydney Australia
The Bice Building Adelaide, Australia
Tasmanian Museum Hobart, Australia
“Our portfolio of 20th-century projects showcases Purcell’s adeptness in both conservation and sustainable design. We craft innovative spaces, encompassing iconic architectural marvels, urban developments, and transformative restorations, spanning various locations across the globe.”
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE, OXFORD
St Catherine’s College has had two significant phases of expansion, including two phases by Stephen Hodder in the early 1990s and 2000s where he added student accommodation pavilions to the site.
Through a thorough analysis of available space, we achieved a 30% increase in projected bedroom capacity in the form of a new cylindrical three-story Graduate Centre which harmonises with both Jacobsen’s original masterplan and Hodder’s distinctive pavilions. Housing a seminar room, common area, and multi-use event space, the building showcases a facade of bronze and stainless steel cladding, while its interior boasts a blend of wood and brass elements. The facility prioritises accessibility, featuring a lift and washrooms on each floor.
Furthermore, Purcell successfully extended the student accommodation pavilion, adding 78 en-suite bedrooms to the building while retaining Hodder’s design. The extension features central corridors and lifts for universal access.
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE, OXFORD
Location: University of Oxford, Oxford
Client: St Catherine’s College
Expertise: Architecture and Design, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Consents
Listed status: Grade I listed, Grade II listed
St Catherine’s College is a unique College campus within the historic city. Relatively young by College standards, their central Oxford campus buildings right down to the finishes and cutlery were designed in the 1960s by famous architect Arne Jacobsen.
The College, having expanded since their formal inception nearly 60 years ago, needed further accommodation for students as well as a graduate centre, where this unique community of students could gather, work collaboratively and socialise. Purcell were commissioned to add an extension to existing student accommodation pavilions and to design a new Graduate Centre.
“It has been a real pleasure to work collaboratively on the design with Purcell and to watch them negotiate all the challenges that the process threw up, with imagination, tact, finesse and a healthy dose of common sense. Thank you for what has turned out to be a wonderfully elegant and finely executed project.”
- Fram Dinshaw, former Bursar at St Catherine’s College
PETER JONES DEPARTMENT STORE, LONDON
PETER JONES DEPARTMENT STORE, LONDON
Location: Chelsea, London
Client: John Lewis Partnership
Expertise: Building Surveying, Conservation Architect Heritage Consultant, Planning & Consents, Regeneration
Listed status: Grade II listed, Grade II*-listed
Peter Jones is an iconic John Lewis Partnership-owned department store which sits in the heart of the Cadogan Estate and Sloane Square Conservation Area in Kensington and Chelsea.
Composed of 20th Century Grade II and Grade II*-listed buildings, the site was refurbished between 1999 and 2004, but since then limited work has been undertaken and the buildings’ façades are in need of extensive restoration.
Working with Sergison Bates, Purcell’s expertise and understanding of 20th Century buildings has helped inform the scheme. We produced a detailed Heritage Statement and Condition Appraisal of the listed facades, which determined the appropriate interventions to support the restoration and redesign of the site.
The project will not only restore Peter Jones’s listed façades, but also take the opportunity to upgrade certain aspects of the building — such as its canopy structure — which has been redundant since the 1970s. In addition, the ground floor of Peter Jones has one of the longest shop windows in Europe. As part of the project, our team is adding a new doorway into the site to increase access.
In light of the client’s aspirations, a new colour and lighting scheme will be redesigned while the development of a new community garden and bar on the site’s rooftop will increase and diversify the department store’s audience.
BATTERSEA
POWER STATION, LONDON
Purcell produced a specification for roped-access surveys which identified defects repair types. These brought certainty whilst removing the need for costly access provisions prior to contractor appointment.
Purcell re-wrote the accepted history of the building, tracking down theoriginal sources of the bricks. Using bespoke products, there ollowed anexhaustive sampling process with Historic England to gain approval forthese important elements. Cleaning employed a variety of techniques to achieve the required results, reversing the ‘patina of neglect’ present from thirty years of dereliction, whilst maintaining the desired ‘patina of age and industry’ without causing further damage.
Purcell were also instrumental in the rebuilding of the chimneys, gaining approval for the process with the detail informed by us through extensive analysis. Our attention to detail enabled the sourcing of replacement materials internally, such as the faience cladding to the Turbine Halls.
BATTERSEA POWER STATION, LONDON
Location: Battersea, London
Client: Battersea Power Station Development Company / Buro Happold
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II* listed
As Conservation Architects and Heritage Consultants at Battersea Power Station, Purcell led key aspects of the £30 billion redevelopment of this iconic Grade II* listed building and its sensitive Thameside environs.
Our roles included Conservation Architects for the brickwork repairs, Heritage Advisors for the internal fi t-out, and site-wide Conservation Architects and Heritage Consultants. The scope included all public realm spaces, a new walk adjacent to the Thames, residential gardens and new public realm, as well as repair and restoration of the building itself.
LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL, LIVERPOOL
LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL, LIVERPOOL
Location: Liverpool City Centre
Client: The Archdiocese of Liverpool
Expertise: Conservation Architect and Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II* listed
The pinnacle-crowned stained glass lantern tower makes Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral one of the UK’s most iconic 20th century buildings.
Purcell was commissioned to prepare a comprehensive programme of research into the significance, history and construction of the lantern to inform a repair methodology. We also produced a Conservation Management Plan to define conservation principles and policies for both the lantern and the Cathedral.
The lantern, which contains oneof the largest stained-glass windows in the world, was suffering water ingress due to a combination of the innovative yet untested construction techniques and a series of ill-informed conservation attempts.
Purcell specified detailed repair methodology for the lantern which was developed, modelled, and trialled to inform conservation works. During the lantern’s repair, our team developed an innovative and discrete new rainwater guttering system to efficiently channel any water penetration outside of the building. In addition to developing an effective system, we developed conservation policies and a framework for the future care of the lantern and Cathedral. Our strategic approach ensures the sustainable future of Gibberd’s building to beenjoyed by the local Liverpool community and visitors far and wide.
The project was extended with additional funding support which Purcell assisted in obtaining for the Cathedral.
NORFOLK COUNTY HALL, UK
Purcell’s design proposals reviewed previous scheme proposals developed at RIBA Stage 1 and made improvements including omit two proposed staircases, to instead provide a single new staircase in a more central location resulting in major cost saving as well as an improved architectural feature. Externally, modification to cladding and fenestration improved both thermal performance of the 1960’s fabric, and addressed weaknesses in fire separation especially along escape routes.
This phased project successfully addressed and rectified historic issues with the buildings fire safety, provided state of the art new office accommodation for council staff and commercial tenants, and to improve accessibility and inclusivity across the office and public civic areas of the building creating an exemplar scheme with a focus on both public and staff benefits.
NORFOLK COUNTY HALL, NORWICH
Location: Norfolk, Norwich
Client: Norfolk County Council
Expertise: Heritage Consultant
Listed status: N/A
Purcell were appointed as Architects working to the main contractors on anextensive design and build refurbishment to the locally listed Norfolk County Hall, designed by Reginald Uren in the Modern style in 1968 and in continued use as Norfolk County Council office headquarters and public civic facility.
The scheme intended to deliver improvements to all civic spaces and office workspaces, and to deliver a major upgrade to MEP services to enhance sustainability and provide appropriate provision for modern use.
“I was nearly emotional with some of the changes as I never thought I would see them in my career. It will open up County Hall in a very different way to how we engage and include disabled people, something I’ve wanted for a very long time. The level of accessibility is equal and, in some areas, higher than anywhere I’ve seen.”
— Neil Howard, Equality and Accessibility Officer, Norfolk County Council
HILDA BESSE BUILDING, OXFORD
HILDA BESSE BUILDING, OXFORD
Location: University of Oxford
Client: St Antony’s College, Oxford
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II listed
Hilda Besse is a Grade II-listed concrete-clad building, designed in 1971 by John Partridge of the Post-War practice Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis, and marries the signature style of Modernist buildings with the centuries-old Oxford tradition of long common rooms and dining halls.
The building has been in constant use for over 50 years and as such, needed repairs and upgrades to ensure its safe and continued use, as well as improved environmental efficiency. This project has seen the complete conservation and enhancement of Hilda Besse’s distinctive architectural qualities, ensuring its sustainable future.
The building contains all of the core college social spaces, including the dining hall, bar and common rooms. It also contains the college kitchens, and maintenance stores. Purcell developed a sensitive proposal to repair and enhance the original design, informed by research into original construction drawings and photography, which highlighted areas where the building was altered from its intended design. Our proposed changes not only repaired damaged parts of the structure, but also improved its usability and accessibility across all levels.
The project, completed in Summer 2021 is the culmination of five years of careful planning, research and engagement with a large of number of stakeholders. The successful scheme has reinvigorated the core of the college and has shown the huge social value in investing in a building that has a strong connection to faculty members, students and alumni.
CAMDEN TOWN HALL, UK
Purcell’s Heritage Team were an integral part of the project team, preparing Historic Development and Significance Plans to inform the design proposals and to agree a baseline with planning officers. A full and thorough Heritage Impact Assessment was produced to support the proposals at listed building consent (LBC) and planning submission.
The ambitious programme of work saw the refurbishment and restoration of key civic parts of the building, including the Council Chamber, Committee Room, and Camden Centre Assembly Hall.
The project included several sensitive design interventions to enable new uses alongside the existing, such as new function and wedding suites, increased and modernised commercial and incubator office spaces, as well as a desirable new roof level extension with views of the local area. These additions aid in promoting the revenue for the building, ensuring its potential and viability as a community asset for many years to come.
CAMDEN TOWN HALL, LONDON
Location: Camden, London
Client: London Borough of Camden
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Building Surveying, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Consents
Listed status: Grade II listed
Camden Town Hall was completed in 1937 by AJ Thomas and lies within the St Pancras and Kings Cross Conservation Area. Designed as a well proportioned Neoclassical building using a Corinthian order, the columns are set on a podium comprising rusticated stonework.
Leading a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers and heritage consultants under Lendlease, Purcell delivered a programme of retrofit, repair and refurbishment to the Grade II listed Town Hall, which now brings significant conservation, economic and social benefits to the borough and surrounding areas.
CHURCHILL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
CHURCHILL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
Location: University of Cambridge
Client: Churchill College
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Consents
Listed status: Grade II listed
Churchill College is fine example of post war architecture in Cambridge. Purcell have worked with Churchill College over recent years on a series of projects that focus on adaption of listed postwar buildings, including consultation with Cambridge City Council and obtaining planning and listed building consents.
Purcell’s approach was to gain an understanding of Churchill College’s multiple layers of significance to ensure the positive future for its built heritage.
Purcell produced a Heritage Appraisal for the entirety of Churchill College, including its properties on Storey’s Way, as the site falls within two conservation areas and also contains listed buildings. We carried out detailed site assessments, examined materials in the College archives and liaised with Fellows and staff.
The Appraisal articulated a deep understanding of the history and significance of the site, setting in its wider heritage context, and expertly discussed how and where change can be accommodated across the many different College buildings, and the wider site. It was developed as a bespoke document which acts as a tool that can be updated as new information becomes available, whilst providing a consistency of approach.
UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, NORWICH
UEA, one of the New Universities of the 1960s, was designed as an urban centre and as such, requires a similar kind of holistic and interrelated assessment methodology to evaluate it, than would any historic centre. The modern principles behind its design were partly conceptual and partly socially-driven and it has been vital to express those aspects clearly in any arguments for future change. Our Statements of Significance for UEA have pioneered an approach whereby certain elements of the plan form and concept have been successfully valued over historic fabric and so, precisely because of the modern design, more radical change has been allowed.
Purcell’s specific knowledge of Post-War architecture has been invaluable to UEA in managing their stock of buildings from that period and crucially, engaging with relevant stakeholders such as the 20th Century Society and Historic England sped up the consultation and planning processes.
UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, NORWICH
Location: Norwich, Norfolk
Client: University of East Anglia
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II listed, Grade II* listed
Purcell’s extensive involvement with the campus at University of East Anglia (UEA) dates back over a decade and in that time, we have advised the Estates Department on many separate developments and conservation works. Working in collaboration with Faculty, UEA’s planning team and Historic England, Purcell produced a suite of documents to guide change and facilitate development at some of the key listed sites on the campus, including Statements of Significance, building surveys to define necessary conservation repairs and heritage masterplanning.
We are also providing specific heritage architectural advice for the comprehensive refurbishment and extension to the Grade II* listed Lasdun Teaching Wall.
“Purcell’s insights and expertise have enabled the project team to engage with and understand heritage issues in a manner which builds respect for principles of conservation while enabling reasonable and necessary improvements in functionality to be proposed to meet the client’s and end users’ needs.”
— Bryan Thomas, CPD Projects (UEA)
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX, COLCHESTER
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX, COLCHESTER
Location: Colchester, Essex
Client: University of Essex
Expertise: Architect, Principal Designer
Listing status: Grade I listed
The University of Essex’s campus at Wivenhoe Park is one of the original post-war, Plate Glass Universities, designed by Architects Co-Partnership in 1962-3 and opened in 1964.
Delivered as part of a four-year framework agreement, the refurbishment of Block E involved the full scope of services from briefing to delivery and construction providing a new Health and Human Sciences Skills Suite, Computer Sciences and Electronic Engineering research laboratories and refurbished offices for the Vice Chancellor, Registrar and administrative staff.
The project was delivered in accordance with both the framework KPIs and specific project requirements and strongly reflects the client’s values of quality, efficiency and future-proofing.
The works and their impact on users of the building were considered at length during the design stages. Whilst the most disruptive works were undertaken during summer and Easter, some work was carried out during term time. Our careful planning ensured that we were commended by both administrative and departmental staff after completion of the works for the site management and consideration.
We implemented several initiatives to reduce embodied carbon, carbon production and energy use. The reorganisation of internal spaces to provide flexible, adaptable and efficient facilities have vastly improved the control and utilisation of the accommodation reducing the instances of cellular rooms being heated and serviced when empty.
CLIFTON CATHEDRAL, BRISTOL
45 years of water ingress caused damage to the internal finishes as well as affecting the unseen structure and services. Purcell addressed repairs to the building’s roof and structure which is composed of offset, superimposed hexagons and part-hexagons rising in three layers to a hexagonal, pyramidal cupola above the sanctuary.
We also improved visitor comfort with internal improvements of the conditions, as well as renovating and unveiling previously inaccessible areas such as the gallery over the baptistery and reopening a staircase access. During the restoration, the Cathedral remained open and held eight masses a week, alongside baptisms, weddings and funerals. The works have been undertaken with the intention to both repair and protect the building, and to magnify and celebrate its original design and detail. The repair and renovation works ensured the building it is fit for purpose; a place that worshippers and visitors alike can enjoy.
CLIFTON CATHEDRAL, BRISTOL
Location: Clifton, Bristol
Client: Diocese of Clifton
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Funding Advice, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II* listed
The modern Grade II* listed Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of S.S. Peter and Paul was the last major cathedral to be built in Britain. It was built in 1969-73, and designed by Ronald Weeks, E S Jennett and Antoni Poremba of the Percy Thomas Partnership.
Clifton Cathedral has been critically acclaimed for its serenity and simplicity, and the modest ‘theatre-like’ composition of its irregular, elongated hexagonal plan. However, the building was never fully watertight and, despite numerous attempts to resolve the problem, the leakages remained unresolved.
SMITHDON SCHOOL, HUNSTANTON
SMITHDON SCHOOL, HUNSTANTON
Location: Hunstanton, Norfolk
Client: Bowmer & Kirkland
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Consents, Sustainability
Listed status: Grade II* listed
Purcell are engaged as Conservation Architects and Heritage Consultants on the fabric upgrades to a Grade II* listed school originally designed by Alison and Peter Smithson in 1954.
The Smithsons coined the term New Brutalism to stand for truth to materials and using objects as found. Unadorned concrete ceilings and exposed services are striking, along with the iconic water tower. The welded steel frame was designed on the principles of the plastic theory and glazing was fixed directly into the facing frames. The building was highly experimental for the time with some of the first uses of technologies including double glazing.
As part of a feasibility study, Purcell explored how to solve inherent technical issues with the building envelope by using the modern technologies now available to us, while also improving the energy efficiency, environmental performance and user comfort, to ensure it is fit for use as a modern school.
The methodology for the study is founded upon first establishing a baseline understanding of the existing building. This baseline was reviewed alongside the historical development and significance to develop proposals that offer a ‘whole building approach’. Enhancements that were explored include adding thermal breaks to the primary structure, insulation to solid walls, floors and roofs, solar control and shading, and upgrading the façade with high performance glazing. All these measures were assessed to balance the environmental gains against the heritage impact on the significance of both the Smithson’s architectural concept and the remaining building fabric.
ROBINSON COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
The College commissioned Purcel to prepare a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the newly listed building. As well as clearly articulating the history and significance of the site, the aim of the document is to set out the capacity for change of the different components of the building. It identifies those areas that are highly significant and therefore need very careful consideration and justification for change, while also identifying more functional areas or parts of the building that have been later altered which could accommodated larger changes in the future to upgrade the College’s facilities.
Purcell achieved Listed Building Consent for a series of ongoing works within the College, including tackling existing rainwater ingress issues, which the College has suffered from since completion. Works include relaying of brick terraces to include waterproofing layers, rebuilding of waterdamaged parapet walls and replacement of existing built-in rainwater pipes within characterful triangular brick piers.
ROBINSON COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
Location: University of Cambridge
Client: Robinson College
Expertise: Conservation Architect, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II* listed
Robinson College is the newest of Cambridge University’s thirtyone Colleges, completed in 1980 by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia. The College successfully balances traditional typological and contextual architectural forms within a modernist megastructure; its chapel is of exceptional quality, featuring the work of Piper, Reyntiens, Steiger and Frobenius, while its library displays very fine joinery details with clear affiliations to the Glasgow School of Art.
The College received Grade II* listed status in November 2022 and Purcell were appointed in December 2022 to provide ongoing heritage advice
BLUE BOAR QUAD, OXFORD
BLUE BOAR QUAD, OXFORD
Location: University of Oxford
Client: The Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford
Expertise: Conservation Architect
Listed status: Grade II* listed
Blue Boar Quad is a seminal, modernist hall of residence designed for Christ Church in 1968 by acclaimed British architects Powell & Moya. Since completion, the building has been plagued by leaking roofs, cracking stone cladding to the façades and services failure.
We were appointed to undertake a detailed survey and conservation repair of the listed stone façades, refurbish and extend the Quad to provide a new lecture theatre, extra student accommodation, en suite bathrooms, new archive facilities and disabled access.
The Quad was being proposed for Grade II* listed status and a pre-existing scheme was found to be costly, invasive and unlikely to gain planning permission. We therefore needed to find a design to improve the building’s performance, maximise space, create development opportunities and gain statutory approval. Improving the thermal performance of the building fabric to minimise energy use and carbon production was central to the project brief.
The team’s conservation management plan and feasibility study concluded that repairs should be reduced to safeguard the listed fabric and release funds for new facilities, including a high-performance 130-seat lecture theatre and archive. A discrete additional floor of student rooms was created at roof level. Working closely with facade engineers and specialists Purcell’s refurbishment introduced high performing glazing and repairs and enhancements to the iconic concrete facade, to retain the existing appearance yet improve the insulation within the walls.
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, LONDON
The refurbishment of the ground floor has focused on increasing student flow into and through the building, improving wayfinding and accommodating innovative student-staff interface arrangements. The refurbishment of the upper floors have sympathetically enhanced the reading rooms with a focus on improving the interior finishes and enhancing user comfort.
The rooftop extension is designed with high levels of thermal insulation, photovoltaic panels and biodiversity enhancements. The core benefit of the extension is to develop vertically, enabling the retention of valuable open, green space on the campus whilst increasing its capacity to accommodate increased student requirements.
Purcell engaged collaboratively with a complex network of education stakeholders ranging from end-users, library and maintence staff through to academic committees and the Estates team.
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, LONDON
Location: Mile End, London
Client: Queen Mary University of London (QMUL
Expertise: Architect, Principal Designer, Heritage Consultant
Listed status: Grade II* listed
The Central Library at QMUL’s Mile End campus provides accommodation for student study, seminars and staff offices.
In 2019, Purcell were commissioned to review the existing library facilities and produce a building-wide masterplan to address the evolution of self-led learning styles, and the projected increase in student admissions over the forthcoming decade. The ground floor was overcrowded and did not provide the quality of space required by students. The brief also included a two-storey rooftop extension creating flexible student study spaces.
20TH CENTURY BUILDINGS SECTOR LEAD
JON
BA
WRIGHT,
SECTOR LEAD
(Hons) Design History, IHBC
Jon, based at our London Studio, is a Senior Heritage Consultant adept at orchestrating and overseeing heritage projects.
With a profound architectural history background, Jon entered Purcell’s fold in 2015, following a tenure in senior conservation capacities at the Twentieth Century Society, The Council for British Archaeology, and the War Memorials Trust
Jon brings a wealth of expertise centered around the architectural legacy of twentieth-century structures, coupled with a specialised focus on post-war architecture. As a recognised authority in this realm, he imparts his insights as a lecturer on Modern Movement architectural history within the prestigious Cambridge Mst Buildings History course. Jon’s multifaceted expertise extends to writing Historic Buildings Assessments and Heritage Impact Assessments, bolstered by a reputation as a widely published author in the domain of C20 architectural history.
Professional Associations
The Twentieth Century Society, The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, The Public Monuments and Sculptures Association; DOCOMOMO (UK) Member of working party; War Memorials Trust
KEY PROJECTS
University of East Anglia, Norwich Jon provided advice on the Post-War listed buildings at UEA for over 3 years and now sits on the Estates Strategy Panel forthe redevelopment of the campus and the conservation of its listed buildings.
De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill-On-Sea
Purcell lead the development of a conservation repair strategy, Heritage Statement, National Heritage Lottery Fund Round I application, and design proposals for alteration and extension to this Grade I listed 1930s modernist masterpiece.
Camden Town Hall London Purcell lead multi-disciplinary team under Lendlease through the concept design and complex planning consultation stage of this project to a Grade II listed early 20th Century building.
Dudley Zoo, West Midlands Jon prepared a CMP for the site, which had a particular focus on 12 listed structures.
Lutyen’s Experience
Through his work with the C20 Society, War Memorials Trust and Purcell, Jon has been involved in the conservation of many Lutyens’ memorials.
EMD Walthamstow Cinema, London
Purcell were involved in the refurbishment and extension of the 1930s Grade II* building as heritage consultants and technical advisors to Historic England, with a specific focus on the historic Moorish revival interiors and the repairs to the main façade.
Jon Wright | 20th Century Heritage Consultant
jon.wright@purcelluk.com
15 Bermondsey Square, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 3UN
@purcelluk www.purcelluk.com