A residential development with a difference

HWA is working with Jonathan Hendry Architects to convert a historic chapel into a striking home. The chapel was built in 1905 and is being converted into a three storey home which, due to its Grade II listed status, requires thoughtful design.  

The upper floors are formed by a largely independent steel frame within the original chapel in order that the beautiful brickwork, stonework and stained glass windows are retained. Archaeological studies initially required foundations for the new structure to create minimal disruption below the existing ground floor. Although later investigations allowed some relaxation of these constraints, further redesign was required to provide a foundation solution that worked with possibly the widest spread brick foundation that we have ever seen. The chapel walls are almost 1m thick solid brickwork at ground level but then corbel outwards in a combination of brick and stonework to a total width of around 3m.  

The new steel columns fall directly over the corbelled masonry meaning that conventional pad foundations would have been unworkable and so we designed a reinforced concrete raft slab to act as both ground floor and foundation for the columns. 

A challenging project, but one we relish, is progressing well on site and is due to be complete later this year.