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Welsh Slate is trusted to help deliver a medieval facelift

Roofing, walling and flooring from Welsh Slate feature on the redeveloped cardigan castle.

A three-pronged helping hand from Welsh Slate has contributed towards giving a medieval castle a new lease of life.

The manufacturer’s roof slates, walling and floor tiles feature on multiple aspects of the £12.5 million redevelopment of Cardigan Castle which had been in danger of being lost to the nation forever.

Penrhyn Heather Blue slates from Welsh Slate’s quarry at Bethesda have been used to re-roof Castle Green House, Ty Castell and The Stables while 200m2 of dark blue grey cleaved walling from the company’s Cwt-y-Bugail quarry clads the interior and exterior walls of “1176” – a new 70-cover contemporary restaurant which cantilevers over the castle walls.

Here the coursed walling is complemented by Welsh Slate’s Cwt-y-Bugail Dark Blue Grey floor tiles which are echoed in a total of nine new bathrooms in the East Wing guest accommodation and Green Street Cottages visitor centre. The new Welsh Slate flooring was laid by main contractor Andrew Scott of Port Talbot.

The Welsh Slate materials were specified by Purcell architects who worked for 10 years to repair and regenerate the 13th Century site, albeit with a few modern money-making twists.
Project architect Izaak Hudson said: “Cardigan Castle is one of the most significant historic building projects recently completed in Wales and all of the project team were very keen to be able to use local materials where we could.

“We specified Welsh Slate to match the existing slate on site, with WEFO*1 funding targeted at Welsh materials and contractors, but also because it was historically appropriate and good quality.”

“Castle Green House, the main dwelling within the castle walls, has a large-format, wet-laid diminishing course roof. This was expertly re-laid by skilled roofers from Tree and Sons of Milford Haven. The wet laying took some time as due to the weight of the huge Penrhyn slates we had to wait for the lime mortar of lower courses to carbonate before laying more, but it was a key existing feature and Cadw were very keen to reinstate it.”

Home to the first recorded Eisteddfod in 1176 (hence the restaurant’s name), the castle was partly dismantled by Cromwell’s forces after the Civil War, then enjoyed a brief renaissance in the early 19th Century as a Romantic site for a new mansion.

By the end of the 20th Century the site was derelict and ruinous, its buildings collapsing and roofs open to the weather. Most noticeably, the castle curtain walls were propped up with great raking shores to prevent their collapse onto the town’s main road.

This was despite the castle’s designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the six buildings within its walls being listed Grade II or Grade II*. So under public pressure, Ceredigion County Council acquired the site from the elderly owner while a group of local people set up the Cadwgan Trust to help.

Purcell architects were commissioned in 2005 to carry out an options appraisal to identify future potential uses which were agreed as heritage interpretation, a restaurant, holiday accommodation, restored gardens and space for open air events.

Phase I of its redevelopment was the £1 million repair of the castle’s curtain walls; Phase II was the conservation and upgrading of the six buildings within the castle walls and restoration of the Regency gardens.

The conservation works covered all aspects of traditional building skills, ranging from structural carpentry repairs, to slate roofing, leadwork, masonry repairs, external joinery repairs and lime rendering.

Purcell carried out careful research, along with trials and testing of materials and finishes, to inform its conservation decisions and ensure the building would be an exemplar for innovative conservation practice.

The project brief required new accommodation to house the restaurant and catering facilities and the decision was taken to locate the new building above a section of the castle walls which had collapsed in the 1970s.

The position provides views across the Teifi quayside and the river below and inwards across the castle Regency gardens. Purcell’s design cantilevers out above the castle walls, its strong visual presence indicating to visitors there is something special inside.

The new restaurant is uncompromisingly contemporary with large glazed elevations taking advantage of the views and giving it a transparency which helps minimise its impact on the site. Where solid, the external and internal walls were constructed of coursed Welsh Slate laid by Coe Stone of Carmarthen, specialist stonemasons concentrating on the conservation and repair of historic buildings and monuments, echoing the Cilgerran slate garden walls that form the backdrop to the site.

“It was a very challenging and interesting project and we learned a lot about slate,” said Izaak.

*1The Welsh Government organisation distributing funds from the European Union for economic and social development.

For more information please visit www.welshslate.com.
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Green light for former prison redevelopment

(image courtesy of City & Country)

Plans to build new homes on the site of a former grade II-listed prison in Portsmouth have been given the go-ahead.

Portsmouth City Council has approved City & Country’s planning application to construct 230 new homes at the site of the former Kingston Prison.

The Ministry of Justice sold the prison in 2014 after it had closed in 2013.

The scheme will involve restoring the grade II-listed cell block and converting it into apartments. The proposals also include the retention of the listed walls and gatehouse, which will feature a small café.

Prior to the application being submitted to the city council, the local community was invited to a series of public consultation events, with over 5,000 residents and community representatives attending and providing feedback on the proposals.

Richard Winsborough, associate director (planning) at City & Country, said: “Restoring these buildings was of paramount importance to us when we purchased Kingston Prison and we are pleased that members at Portsmouth City Council recognised the need of delivering a new future for the redundant site.

As well as providing fantastic, characterful new homes, the development will open up the prison to the wider community and enable the enjoyment of these magnificent buildings for years to come.”

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Many schools are “dangerous, dilapidated, poorly built and wasteful”, says RIBA

RIBA have highlighted the urgent need for school refurbishment in a new report into the state of school buildings, entitled ‘Better Spaces for Learning.’ The report revealed:

  • 1 in 5 teachers have considered quitting because of the wretched condition of the school buildings they have to teach in
  • The Government’s Education Funding Agency’s new school building programme is too rigid and is leading to waste and poor value for tax payers
  • Over 90% of teachers believe well-built and designed schools improve educational outcomes and pupil behaviour
  • Over-engineered schools, with Government-specified equipment that only costly consultants know how to operate, is costing £150 million per year which could have been avoided if schools were designed better

A new report on the state of school buildings in the UK has been published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Using the largest ever analysis of primary and secondary school buildings in the UK, a nation-wide poll of teachers, and extensive engagement with school buildings experts, RIBA’s Better Spaces for Learning report makes the case for an urgent review of the Government’s Education Funding Agency’s current school building programme.

The report emphasises the importance of well-designed school buildings on young people’s wellbeing, behaviour engagement and crucially, attainment.

RIBA has identified that good school design can reduce running and maintenance costs, in some cases by more than several times a teacher’s average salary a year; it could have prevented the English school estate from spending upwards of £150m annually on unnecessary operation and maintenance costs.

The new report is further insight into the Government’s own assertion that just 5% of the nearly 60,000 school buildings across the UK are performing as intended and operating efficiently.* The prevalence of damp, leaky classrooms and asbestos-ridden buildings in British schools means too many pupils and teachers are struggling to learn and teach in conditions damaging to their health and education.

Better Spaces for Learning reveals that the Government’s current programme of building new schools is inefficient – with a lack of flexibility to make the best possible use of resources, and little opportunity for school staff to input into the design of their own new buildings. RIBA believes that the Government programme must be improved to guarantee better outcomes for our public money.

RIBA President Jane Duncan said “This country is in the grip of the worst shortage of school places in living memory. Our report highlights the vital importance of school design and how it affects the general health and wellbeing of their users, our children and their teachers. As limited funding is available to deal with the growing problem, every penny spent on schools must deliver maximum value for money. Award winning well-designed, successful schools with happy pupils and productive staff like Burntwood School in London shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the standard.

“How can we expect our children to compete with the world’s best when too many of our school buildings are substandard? Educational improvements resulting from the current programme of school building are not reaching the basic standards that British taxpayers and our economy expects. We need to do better for all of our children and their hardworking teachers. We urge the Government to review its programme of building new schools.”

To read more about buildings and construction within the education sector, subscribe to our sister publication School Building Magazine. School Building magazine is aimed at the key named buyers and specifiers with Local Authorities, LEA’s, Universities, Architects and contractors responsible for the design, build and refurbishment of educational facilities.
Read the latest edition here.
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Animal magic

The Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens near Burford, Oxfordshire, has over 260 different species of animals and is the largest privately owned zoological collection in the UK and recently voted the 4th best zoo in the UK.

The Park’s recently refurbished Oak Tree Restaurant features Kemmlit’s Bambino cubicles for the children’s toilet area and their Cronus cubicles for the adult toilet facilities – specified by consultants Piers Sturridge and installed by the on-site maintenance team.

Bambino is a range of cubicles designed to keep children safe, comfortable and put a smile on their face.

Available in a range of colours, designs and accessories, Bambino cubicles are virtually indestructible featuring either 30 mm high density melamine panels or 13 mm solid grade laminate panels.

Safety is paramount to Kemmlit, which is reflected in Bambino’s edgeless door handles, integrated doorstop buffers, and outward opening doors with rounded edges.

Even the hinges have a rounded aluminium safety profile to eliminate the gap between wall panel and door to avoid hands being trapped.

The Cronus cubicle system is versatile and flexible and can be used for either dry or wet areas. The panels are made from 13mm solid grade laminate with a special overlay to protect them against abrasion, wear and scratches.

Bambino and Cronus are available in a range of colours and finishes that can be configured as a single or multiple cubicle system and can be installed into virtually any room configuration.

For more information please visit www.kemmlituk.com.
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