Commendation for best conversion
Ordnance Survey
This Grade II* listed building, like the Grand Store (see pages 35-36), is a late-Georgian building whose design is attributed to James and Lewis Wyatt. It was built in 1808-13 as the offices of the Master of Ordnance, who was the Duke of Wellington until his death in 1852. The Board of Ordnance was abolished three years later.
The building was in a highly derelict state when it was acquired from the Ministry of Defence by Berkeley Homes. There were many cracks in the external brickwork that had to be repaired. Some of the supporting walls on the ground floor had to be demolished and rebuilt; all the existing windows had to be replaced; and the original black entrance doors were pinned back and retained as a historical feature of the historic building.
Most of the roof timbers were rotten (though a few were saved by the injection of resin) and they were stripped out and replaced by new timbers using traditional methods of construction, as required by English Heritage. This entailed using oak beams up to four metres long and hoisting them into position in the roof to be married to the surviving timbers using old-fashioned joints.
The original timber roof lantern also had to be completely replaced in replica, and the vaulted ceiling below had to be renewed using traditional techniques of lath and plaster. The decorative cornice between the walls and the ceiling also had to be reconstructed to the original design. The central atrium with its elegant cantilevered staircase snaking up the perimeter walls had to be carefully restored, which required repairs to the cast-iron balustrades and the hardwood handrails.
As with all the refurbished buildings at Royal Arsenal, the exterior was washed rather than sandblasted, in order to preserve the façades. Where the walls had been damaged during the Second World War, the bricks used for the repair work were carefully selected to match the originals as closely as possible – and then “painted” with soot to replicate 150 years of weathering. Internally, all the plaster was stripped out.
Internally the glazed round-headed entrance doors to the atrium had to be restored and upgraded to meet modern fire regulations, as did the old wooden front doors to what are now 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments, which were sold at prices from £225,000 to £335,000. The apartments created in the conversion have high ceilings and a wonderful feeling of space and light. As well as repairing or replacing all the doors and windows, specialist joiners restored all the skirting boards, architraves, panelled access hatches and alcoves. All the old floorboards were left in-situ and covered with acoustic flooring and new floorboards or tiles.
Apartment 103 was of particular interest because it includes the Duke of Wellington’s rooms. All the original lath and plaster elements were retained, but parts of the decorative cornice had to be replicated to match the original sections.
Two unusual survivals in the central atrium are the wooden key cabinet, with its labelled keyboard and its original lock (but without its key), and the twisted remains of an old wood stove used to heat the building. This has been carefully restored and painted black, and now has pride of place in the centre of the atrium, mounted on a stone plinth and lit at night by spotlights mounted in the black and white tiled floor.
More than 1,250 apartments have already been restored or built anew at Royal Arsenal, and plans have been approved for another 3,000 homes to be built on the 76-acre site between now and the target completion date of 2015. An important part of our military history has been given a new lease of life.
HomeBuilder : BERKELY HOMES (EAST THAMES) LIMITED
Berkeley House, Arsenal Way, London SE18 6TF
Tel 020 8319 5900 Fax 020 8319 5901
Contact: Amber Hawkes, Marketing Manager
Email: amber.hawkes@berkeleygroup.co.uk
Website: www.berkeleyhomes.co.uk
Architects: A + Q PARTNERSHIP (LONDON) LIMITED
The Lux Building, 2-4 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU
Tel 020 7613 2244 Fax 020 7613 2642
Contact: Keith Cowell, Director
Email: london@aqp.co.uk
Website: www.aqp.co.uk