Located within the York Central Historic Core Conservation, the dilapidated existing building was assumed to be the original coach house and gardens to the Grade I listed Micklegate House. Significant alterations, due to fragmented use as a warehouse, music venue and leisure venue meant much of the historic fabric had been lost.

We were tasked with introducing a new 500 capacity music venue and much needed grade A office space to the site.

The existing coach house had previously been extended to the rear, removing the former garden with 3 pitched warehouse style roofs which created an uncomfortable and harmful relationship with the Grade I listed Micklegate House. Any proposals needed to improve this relationship.

Located in character area 21 of the conservation area, tanner row and toft green have a varied character and scale. Historically much of the built form on the southern side of the street were coach houses and outhouses which were associated with large townhouses on Micklegate, many these have been lost, apart from 1 toft green and the proposed site. The northern side of the street was heavily influenced by the emergence of the railways, this included york’s first train station, which is now the council’s office as well as a number of other developments which have been subsequently replaced with large modern buildings.

To the rear of the property, facing micklegate house, much consideration was needed to the impact of the new uses on the surrounding properties, most importantly avoiding overlooking and negatively effected daylight and residential amenity.

Massing of the proposal sought to create a building which was appropriate for the site and reinstate the historic pattern of development through the introduction of a first floor garden area between the Micklegate House and a building on toft green. The garden would be accessible from the office and provide high quality amenity space.

The front elevation was designed to reflect the historic character of the street through a well-proportioned and tactile brick façade. Rusticated brick piers and larger opening at the ground floor defined the entrances and gave much needed activation to the street.

A more contemporary and sculptural approach was applied to the rear. A faceted timber clad façade was developed to mitigate an overlooking of the neighbouring properties and create a lightweight and harmonious backdrop to the surrounding heritage assets.

At ground floor a multifunctional events space was proposed for all day use. The upper floors sought to provide 9000 sqft of open plan grade A office.