Heritage Skills Centre, Lincoln Castle

The Heritage Skills Centre is a new-build single storey structure set within the grounds of Lincoln Castle, a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. The project ran alongside the broader £19.9M Lincoln Castle Revealed project, for which the Practice has also been appointed.

The Client brief was to create a space where traditional crafts and skills such as stone masonry, lime technology, stained glass repairs etc are taught, and then applied to the future conservation of the Castle and adjacent Cathedral, as well as to support the conservation sector locally. The construction is an adaptable and sustainable building, respectful of the historic setting and also capable of enhancing the experience of the visitors to the Castle.

The structure consists of Glue-Laminated (GluLam) softwood frames with steel flitch plates, supporting a turf green roof. The foundations were designed to minimize the excavation of the archaeologically rich substrate and consist of a stiff RC raft capable of spreading the posts’ load evenly.

The building aimed for a “Very Good” rating under the strict BREEAM scheme for designing and assessing sustainable buildings.

For this and other projects visit www.themortonpartnership.co.uk