Case Studies – Conversion / Remodelling

New Progress Housing, working in partnership with Foundation Craven, purchased this historic commercial property in Skipton with the purpose of converting it into six self-contained flats and support facilities for vulnerable young people along with ground floor office facilities for Foundation Craven.

IGL were appointed as Designers and Contract Administrators to assess the structure of the building and develop a design that ensured the future stability of the aging structure and to utilise the limited upper floor space available to maximise the number of flats within the scheme and maintain a distinct secure separation between the flats and  the office and support facilities located at ground floor level.

Much of the main supporting internal structure had been removed in the past to create open spaces for previous uses. This had resulted in significant movement and instability of the external elevations and roof structure.

Our design included for the construction of two new internal spine walls that allowed the elevations to be stabilised and roof re-supported without the need for extensive rebuilding of the external fabric. We were therefore able to retain original external features that were linked to the building’s past uses.

More importantly, this had a significant impact on the overall cost of the scheme due to savings achieved by retaining the external structure.