Grade 2-listed school amongst RIBA Regional Award triumphs for Michelmersh's bricks

For more than 180 years, the RIBA Awards have been commemorating exceptional accomplishments. Its esteemed awards and prizes are seen as a symbol of excellence worldwide, honouring first-class architecture, architects, research, and students. This year, Michelmersh was proud to see a wide range of its products used by five Regional RIBA Award winners, including the retrofit of the Grade 2-listed Houlton School in Rugby.

The carefully considered design of Houlton School by Van Heyningen & Haward (VHH) is the successful retrofit of a collection of historic, Grade 2-listed radio station buildings. Its cost-effective evolution into a thriving, sustainable secondary school comes from the careful integration of the previous buildings and by choosing to use products that fitted soundly within the pre-existing vernacular.

Adapting the original framework to today’s standards was a job that took years to come to fruition, careful application of steel frame and the restoration of the original brickwork has meant that the two main listed structures, Transmission Hall and Power Hall will become a place of learning for generations of students. Handmade clay bricks provided by Michelmersh were vital to the restoration of the project, where they were used to ensure the structures could be repaired and retained rather than rebuilt from the ground up.

Throughout the project, various elements of the building’s industrial past have been retained, with arched windows and high ceilings to ensure that the history of this nearly century-old building is revered, but not overpowering compared to its newly instated modern sensibilities. Charnwood’s range of Cathedral Grey, Multi Brindle and Steel Grey bricks juxtapose with the original elements of the radio station to create a pleasing mix of old and new.

For further information visit www.mbhplc.co.uk