PROJECT REPORT: HERITAGE & HISTORIC 39


A new thermal wall forms the back wall of the cloister at the rear of the apartments, boosting the scheme’s overall thermal performance. “When you analyse the apartments from a SAP point of view, 50% of the building is thermally insulated,” says Sidebotham. “If all of the apartments had existing exposed brick walls, we’d have ended up having to do a lot more insulated dry lining etc, thereby losing the exposed brick aesthetic.”


A typical two-bed fl at in the former mill has bedrooms positioned against the thermal wall, with the living space positioned along the outer perimeter wall. But what of the bold colour scheme for the cores, which is also picked out on elements of the Phoenix building? Yellow is one of shedkm’s signature colours, explains Sidebotham: “We’re modernists; using primary colours in a succinct way is something we’ve always done.” The courtyard runs north-south, limiting


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the amount of sunlight, but according to the architect, even on a dull day daylight refl ects from the yellow onto the warehouse bricks, brightening up the space. Alongside the cores, the steel frame bridge links are another contemporary motif, helping differentiate the new additions from the heritage buildings.


Unpredictable structure Understanding the structural make up of historic buildings is notoriously diffi cult due to a frequent lack of surviving construction documentation and the fact that many structures are hidden from view, requiring intrusive investigation work. Things were further complicated on Crusader Works because intrusive surveys and materials testing were not carried out until a relatively late stage and the results revealed major issues with the structural timber, which was relatively low grade. “This was diffi cult to understand,


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These ‘cloisters’ are linked via new steel footbridges to bright yellow cores, which stand as separate architectural elements


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