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PROJECT REPORT: HERITAGE & HISTORIC
building, with chunky, thick walls, cast iron columns, timber beams and fl oors, and some amazing roof trusses.” An early decision was to make the scheme car-free, encouraging residents to use bikes and local transport infrastructure including the tram and Piccadilly Station just a few minutes walk away. This revealed an opportunity to transform the existing central space between the mill buildings, then being used as a car park, into a landscaped communal courtyard for residents. The multi-use space is intended as a contemplative garden with communal activities including barbecues, fi re-pits, cycle facilities and wi-fi access.
Two bright cores Visitors to Crusader Works are immediately struck by two bright yellow cores that rise up from the centre of the courtyard plan. These form part of a simple circulation strategy connecting steel footbridges and
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cloister walkways running behind the existing masonry facades.
Locating the yellow cores within the central space, rather than within the existing building, avoided the need to carve out large portions of the existing historic fabric of the mills, says Sidebotham, explaining that “trying to put a perfectly square steel frame core through a cast iron and timber fl oored building is always complicated.” The move also increased the net area of the scheme and made it possible to separate the living accommodation from lifts and refuse stores.
Where standard layout solutions for apartment blocks rely on a central corridor with single-aspect apartments, the cloister and courtyard confi guration gives most apartments a dual aspect, also improving natural light and cross ventilation. It also made it possible to retain more of the exposed brickwork than if the walls were penetrated by apartment windows.
ADF FEBRUARY 2025
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