SPECIAL AWARD - CONSERVATION

Collective Architecture

Bell Street Stables

This unique Grade B Listed building constructed in 1896-98 was designed by A. W. Wheatley to house the City Cleansing Department's horses, carts and equipment. The building was substantially altered in 1955 to provide a separate entrance to serve the police who then shared the building with cleansing until the 1980s.

From the early design stages Collective sought to retain the remarkable circulation system and courtyard as the key elements in the history and character of the building. The variance in original function and construction coupled with the poor state of repair and the need to reverse some of the works carried out in the 1955 posed many challenges and opportunities in the conversion. The building condition was mixed with the massive masonry structure – engineered for horses – ample for the reduced loads of a domestic property. The roof and rain water drainage though was in extremely bad condition and the majority of the parapets needed to be rebuilt; most truss ends had to be removed and repaired and the whole lead parapet gutter system had to be re-built.

The completed building utilises many of the fitments that were remarkably still in the building with original stable stalls repurposed to form screens in the courtyard and timbers re-used to build the external lean to bike store. The resulting building remains focused on the courtyard and gangway circulation but the space has transformed from a noisy industrial space to a quiet sheltered residential space with clear links to it industrial past.