Award winning restoration

Wed, Sep 20th 2006, 11:00

A landmark building, saved from the brink of ruin, has won a ‘best major restoration’ award thanks to a sympathetic conversion by Redrow Homes.

The Crescent building at Redrow’s Collingwood Place development scooped the award at the Gloucester City Council Civic awards, having beaten off stiff competition in its category from the city museum and Gloucester Cathedral.

The award comes following the completion of a major refurbishment of the Grade II listed, 19th century Horton Hospital, which, after 12 years of neglect, has been restored to its former glory by Redrow and renamed Collingwood Crescent.

Redrow’s transformation has also rescued the building from the English Heritage ‘Buildings at Risk’ register.

Peter Wright, Redrow’s project manager, says: "We are incredibly proud and honoured to win this award especially as we were in a category with other terrific buildings. Everyone involved with this project has worked very hard to restore the old hospital as sympathetically as possible and the award is a real credit to their efforts.

Building work on Horton Hospital began in 1815 and the hospital opened in 1823. It closed in March 1988, after which it stood decaying for some 12 years before it was acquired by Redrow for a life saving renovation.

Redrow’s refurbishment has retained as many original features of the old building as possible, including sliding sash windows, barrel vaulted ceilings in some apartments, a fabulous cantilevered stone staircase, feature coving and the former hospital’s very rare cast iron roof tiles.

Redrow painstakingly numbered and recorded the position of every original sash window in the building so they could be removed, repaired, cleaned and replaced in exactly the same place.

The cast iron roof tiles – believed to feature on only a handful of buildings in the UK, including the Houses of Parliament - have been saved, but the developer could not be sure that they would not leak. To solve this problem another modern waterproof roof, has been constructed below the historic roof – out of sight.

The Crescent also features a beautiful example of a stone cantilever staircase, which is designed and built to support its own weight. This has been fully restored, with damaged areas of the handrail and balustrades sympathetically repaired or replaced by experienced craftsmen.

Where features were beyond repair exact copies of the original woodwork, such as six-inch deep, solid wood skirting boards and architraves have been fitted, while Redrow designed new fire doors to match the Crescent’s historic doors.

Throughout, Redrow has worked closely with English Heritage and Gloucester City Council’s principal conservation and design officer. Redrow has used specialist sub-contractors, all experts in their own fields, to carry out essential repairs and restoration works.

 

Hugh Worsnip, spokesman for Gloucester Civic Trust, says: "The future of this building of national and international importance had been in doubt for some time. We are really pleased with the way Redrow have treated the restoration of Collingwood Crescent as it is now a building of exceptional quality. All the judges on the night felt it was a very worthy winner."

The Collingwood Place development in Gloucester is a perfect example of Redrow’s diverse property range. It not only features the refurbishment of the 19th century Horton Hospital into 79 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, but is also surrounded by new homes carefully created to complement the stunning centre piece.

There are 193 sensitively designed brand new homes in the grounds, including three and four-bedroom townhouses and apartments.

Prices of refurbished properties within Collingwood Crescent start from £135,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and £145,000 for a two-bedroom apartment, while a three-bedroom duplex is also available for £235,995.

For more information visit the show apartment or call 01452 332904.