T Project Pegasus A Personal Perspective

PROJECT PEGASUS:

A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

By Master Oliver Sells

View from the third floor to the Master’s House and Garden

It is perhaps a truism that all major public construction projects contain elements of risk, some known and some not. They may include timing, heritage listing, planning control and cost inflation, but this project was engulfed by something wholly unexpected and potentially overwhelming. Nobody could have been expected to foresee a pandemic before it erupted upon us all in the spring of 2020 and as I write this in August 2022 its consequences, both for the Inn and our wider society are still far from clear. This is a project with a long period of gestation: discussions began as long ago as 2015 and continued for several years before approval of the final plans by the City of London in 2018.

It has had one excellent and consistent aim throughout; to make the Inn once again a centre of legal education and professional development for both student and barrister members. Of course, a significant side benefit is the reducing of cost for those taking part. For too long entry to the profession has effectively been restricted by the high cost barriers imposed by the current providers

New roof and mansard windows

Several sites were considered for such a teaching facility (and rejected) but the final choice has the benefit of both simplicity and boldness, namely, to reconfigure the Treasury Building, built after the War, and make it fit for the next century. It is worth noting that the original post-War plans for the building had a mansard roof incorporated but this was never completed: it can be truly said that this project, designed by Hugh Broughton Associates, is finally completing the original Worthington brief from 1953.

A whole new student area with eight training rooms and a 120-seater lecture theatre above the Library and the Hall is now in place, transforming the building from the inside but leaving the façade largely unaltered. A spacious new entrance hall, a new central staircase and a new Library entrance have combined to make the interior space open and welcoming, with learning and training at its heart without losing the sense of elegance of the earlier design. I recognise it is early days, but I sense that the overwhelming view is that the newly configured building is an excellent mix of the new and the old.

I sense that the overwhelming view is that the newly configured building is an excellent mix of the new and the old.

After the initial and inevitable controversies were out the way, construction began in earnest in 2019 and continued unabated and largely unnoticed through the years of the pandemic. In some ways the lockdowns made life easier for the works to go on in an Inn largely empty of members, but it is much to the credit of those involved that the pace did not slow, thanks to the direction of the Sub-Treasurer.

The result is a most happy blend of the new and the familiar: the entrance hall is wide and spacious leading to a central staircase up the first floor public rooms which remain largely unchanged. They have retained much of their original elegance whilst being updated and renewed. The Grinling Gibbons carving is now a wonderful feature of the Parliament Chamber (to my mind the finest room in the building). The work to the Library was, from the outset, a matter of controversy. The original double height rooms were much loved and gave a sense of space and light that was always going to be missed. However, I am happy to report that the new configuration not only reflects the central place of a library in such a building, but also retains the combination of space and an intimate and personal desk space with natural light abounding. It is a remarkable achievement in a constrained space and great credit must go to the Master of the Library, Master Sally Smith whose input has been crucial. The new Librarian and Keeper of Manuscripts, Rob Hodgson, and his team have brought fresh ideas, new layouts and a sense of welcome which should encourage much more use than was evident in the recent past.

The study space and the lecture theatre are as yet untested by a serious influx of members, but the initial impression is one of some style and a mixture of modern material and traditional furnishings. Some of the books from the Library have found their way to the top floor and give a feel of quiet learning to the space. The new term will bring upwards of 300 students to the Inn, a percentage of whom will be the first to attend the new Inns of Court College of Advocacy course on this site. It will be interesting to see how it works in practice. There is an abundance of natural light and fine views across London to the south. On the north elevation there is double height window reminiscent of the studio houses in Chiswick. The catering facilities have been upgraded and modernised and the dining hall now boasts improved acoustics. Time will tell!

It is common now for new public buildings to provide gallery space for public art; a very recent example is the new library at Magdalene College in Cambridge with its own gallery devoted to East Anglian paintings. We have not yet gone that far but much work has been done on the collection of pictures, and many have been cleaned, moved and rehung. There is now a sense of cohesion and continuity to the collection which creates an entirely new feel to the public rooms and their linking passageways.

Much credit is owed to Master Alison Foster, the Master of the Pictures, and Henrietta Amodio, the Director of the Treasury Office. They have achieved much with the material to hand. I sense that this is still a work in progress, why not expand the art collection into a gallery with a worldwide legal theme as befits a legal and academic institution with so many members in so many countries?

There is one striking new commission of the Five Supreme Court Justices, executed by Howard Morgan (see A Hanging Matter). This has, perhaps unsurprisingly, produced quite a wide range of views. Morgan was, of course, well known for his portraits and groups over many years but by his own admission some of his work was both “profoundly disturbing” and “tantalisingly indecipherable”. Into which category this work falls I leave the reader to determine!

As we all emerge from the long tail of the pandemic, it may be too early to form a clear view of the future use of this building let alone of our Inn as a whole. Will the new space be economically viable? Will chambers work resume as before? Will students continue to learn online? Will a car park be needed at all? There are many unanswered questions to be faced but institutions like The Inner Temple, which have survived for hundreds of years, do not do so by taking a short-term view. They need to have confidence enough to plan and build for the next century and beyond. I believe that this project, directed with such skill and clarity by a number of Treasurers over recent years, will come to be seen as a mark of just such vision and foresight. It bears comparison with the great post- War rebuilding of the Inn in the fifties and hopefully presages another such development, that of the Temple Church.

Project Pegasus is now complete. As I walk through the rooms in the middle of the vacation, the building is quieter even than a Norfolk beach; all signs of the contractors have gone and the new roof blends seamlessly into the skyline.

From the outside it looks as though nothing has really changed. The architectural relationship with the gardens and buildings which surround it is entirely harmonious and respectful. Inside all is ready for the new legal year. All it needs now is people.

Oliver Sells KC

Master Oliver Sells is a member of the Estates Committee and a trustee of the Temple Church

From the outside it looks as though nothing has really changed. The architectural relationship with the gardens and buildings which surround it is entirely harmonious and respectful.