Building of the Year Joint Winner 2004 (2)
Conwy County Borough Council : St George's Old National School, Llandudno
St. George’s old National school
has been identified as one of the earliest buildings
in Llandudno, having occupied the prominent Church
Walks site since the Schoolmasters house and original
School building were completed in 1846.
Subsequent investigation established that extensions
to the original building were constructed around
1853, again prior to 1889, with one further extension
during the early 20th century.
The building comprises primarily simple single storey
accommodation although the majority of the spaces are
two-storey in form. Only the original masters house
incorporates first floor accommodation, accessed via
a centrally located pitch pine staircase. The
building is of traditional masonry construction
with
traditional timber purlin/rafter slated roofs.
The project comprised the
restoration of the Grade II Listed Old St. George’s
National School, and its conversion for use as an
Early Years Learning Centre.
The latter part of the 20th Century saw the school
increasingly fall into disrepair, and following the
construction of a new purpose-built New St. Georges
School during the 1990’s the Old National school
finally became derelict.
Despite proposals being drawn up for the possible
demolition of the derelict school, it’s future has
been secured following the refurbishment and
conversion project undertaken by Llandudno Seaside
Buildings Preservation Trust and Conwy County Borough
Council.
The project sought to transform
the vacant derelict school building into a new Early
Years Learning Centre housing a nursery, toy library,
and resources facility, whilst addressing the need
for modern ancillary facilities.
The refurbishment and conversion of the St. Georges
old National school involved the systematic
restoration of the buildings original features,
including sandstone window surrounds, copings and
kneelers; the re-introduction of the Leaded windows
and the reconstruction of the two chimneys that had
served the original schoolroom, and which had been
removed at some time during the middle of the 20th
Century.
In addition, the work also sought to address defects
and inappropriate works which had been undertaken
during the life of the building, including the
application of inappropriate cement based renders to
stonework and the intrusion of 1960’s steel windows
to the original stone facades.
Additional works were also undertaken to replace
decayed floors, localised timber windows, and decayed
roof timbers. Previous inappropriate alterations and
extensions, including a 1960’’s flat roof toilet
block and metal clad lean-to extension were
demolished. The former allowing the recreation of the
original courtyard and the formation of a safe
enclosed play area serving the nursery.
The existing entrance porch to the schoolmaster’s
house has also been restored with the existing
profiled metal roof removed and a new lead sheet roof
constructed. The original timber panelling to the
porch has been replaced with new timber panelling
reconstructed from dimensions obtained from the
sections that remained on site, to accurately reflect
the original panelling.
The works also saw the removal of suspended ceilings
thus allowing the original timber roofs to be
restored and exposed, especially within the main
Schoolroom.
It has also involved the complete restoration of the
original part-glazed timber screen that had
originally divided the schoolroom, segregating the
male and female pupils. The original timber panelling
to the walls have all been removed, stripped of
modern paint finishes and re-fixed.
The boxed-out ventilators have been reinstated and
now incorporate modern electrical and computer outlet
points.
The external chimneys to this area have been
reconstructed in reconstituted stone based on
information gained from the Archives and from
drawings prepared by the Architect indicating the
size and shape of each section of the chimney.
The introduction of a new modern heating system and
complete new electrical installation ensures that the
building provides a very good level of heating as
well as the facilities expected in a building
intended for modern day use.
The introduction of underfloor heating to the main
areas ensures that the heating system is as
unobtrusive as possible and avoids it detracting from
the restored original character of the internal
spaces.
The need to provide adequate modern facilities
coupled with the need to provide localised and
dedicated facilities for the separate uses within the
building resulted in the construction of a new
extension housing male, female and disabled WC
facilities.
This new extension has been designed to be
sympathetic with the existing original building and
constructed utilising stone salvaged from the
formation of the new car park entrance in the
original schoolyard wall.
Reconstructed stonecopings have
been produced based on existing coping profiles
evident on the existing main entrance lobby to the
schoolmasters house.
The later 20th century extension has been transformed
into a kitchen and refreshment area serving the
Nursery and the ancillary support facilities in the
building.
The kitchen itself has been designed to be as
sympathetic as possible to the original building with
the layout screening modern appliances where
possible.
The decoration in the kitchen and throughout the
building has been undertaken in Victorian colours,
which in turn have complimented the exposed
timberworks, sandstone surrounds and leaded
windows.
The original toilet blocks serving the main school
rooms have been retained, albeit with new facilities,
with a further dedicated infants wc inc shower and
disabled facilities being created in the original
area to servethe new nursery facility.
The original stair and balustrading to the first
floor have been retained and restored and the first
floor rooms now provide office facilities for the
management staff running the centre.
Externally all the existing exposed stonework has
been re-pointed with lime mortar, whilst the
inappropriate and potentially damaging cement render
to the remaining areas has been hacked-off and
replaced with a more appropriate Lime render.
The existing plaster throughout and the localised
areas of Asbestos have been completely removed and
the walls re-plastered with new lime plaster, paint
finished.
A number of existing internal
doors believed to be original have been retained and
refurbished.
New doors have been provided where required and which
have been purpose-made in sympathy with the
appearance of the existing ones being retained.
External spaces have also been carefully considered,
with the external hard and soft landscaping being
designed to compliment the building, whilst again
providing external spaces suitable for use by
children.
This provision includes external seating areas and
enclosed play areas with safe-play surfacing.
A car park has also been formed on part of the
original schoolyard to the rear of the building with
a new disabled ramp providing access to the building
from the car park.
Disabled access has also been provided via a new ramp
off Church Walks.
The project is regarded as a very good example of
what can be achieved when there is a desire to retain
existing buildings whilst still accommodating the
needs of a modern day building.
In addition its new role as an Early Years Learning
Centre has ensured that the original educational use
is maintained for the foreseeable future.
| Name of Authority | Conwy County Borough Council |
| Contract Value | £680,202.84 |
| Date of Practical Completion | 9th June 2003 |
| Architect Practice | Pritchard Bond Architects |
| Project Architect | Steve Bond RIBA |
| Structural Engineers | Shepherd Gilmour Consulting Engineers |
| Contact | Geraint Owen |
| Main / Principal Contractor | Messrs Peter T. Griffiths |
| Client | Conwy County Borough Council (Education Dept) |
| (Joint venture) | Seaside Buildings Preservation Trust |
