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PROJECT REPORT: ADAPTIVE REUSE
ACCOMMODATING NEW FUNCTIONS An existing double height space was retained and partially fi lled with a new build mezzanine designed to accommodate an events space
CONNECTION TO THE PAST
Fusebox is remarkable for being one of the UK’s earliest municipally-owned power stations.
Built in the early 1890s on the site of a gas works dating back to 1818, the building was constructed in two stages, the fi rst section along George Street housed generators and within two years it was extended to form the current L shape. A new, larger engine house was added in 1902, a section of which survives, then in 1921 the power station closed its doors, assuming an administrative role. The most signifi cant heritage elements of the surviving building are the street facades, which are mostly in their original condition and made of engineering-quality red brick with a regular arrangement of recessed round-arched windows on the ground and fi rst fl oors.
“The detailing of the brickwork is notable, with the patterns and recesses around window openings giving it a strong tectonic quality and rhythm,” says John Puttick at John Puttick Associates. “The building is a link to Blackburn’s industrial past and the lives of local people and so forms an important cultural memory in the town centre.”
The brickwork was cleaned as part of the project while inside the building, in what has become the main events space, an original overhead travelling crane was restored to provide another physical reminder of the building’s past.
and cleaning the brickwork and original windows. The old boarded-up entrance on Pilkington Street was ‘liberated,’ and glazed to create a light and airy new central entrance – not just a practical improvement, but a symbol of accessibility and inclusion. The existing building’s interior was much less impressive or worth holding on to. “It had been very chopped around, there was a warren of very small rooms which weren’t original, it was kind of a mess, and lots of suspended ceilings,” says Puttick. These were mostly cleared out to create a visually open and coherent spatial arrangement more akin to the original operational building and well suited to youth activities. One existing double height space was retained and partially fi lled with a new build mezzanine designed to accommodate an events space. This connects through at fi rst fl oor level to the building’s
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Employment Hub, and an offi ce area. The ground fl oor of the building contains a series of creative spaces, including a Makers Space and an Arts Studio. A major challenge was how to address the varying levels across the site, making it possible to open up the central entrance on Pilkington Street. A new FlexStep system installed inside the entrance takes visitors up to the ground fl oor foyer below the mezzanine. To connect the Fusebox to the lower level youth centre building meant installing a ramp and stairway along the interior ‘L’-shaped wall of the Fusebox. These integrate with new tiered amphitheatre-style seating, complete with phone charging points, facing onto a central recreation area. Behind the seating, the glazing was opened up to allow young people to catch glimpses of activities going on inside and for those inside to see
ADF NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025
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