Bank Hall – Mikhail Riches

Introduction

Riches Hawley Mikhail were commissioned by Urban Splash to design 23 new-build houses in the grounds of a Grade II Listed Elizabethan Hall in the Lancashire Greenbelt, as well as converting the Hall into an additional 13 dwellings. This sensitive site required a strategy that would optimise its development potential but also minimise impact on the setting of the Hall. The scheme is arranged around two courtyards using semi-detached and terraced house typologies, which are architecturally low key.

New Build Housing

The two courtyards each respond to the subtly different nature of their setting whilst remaining architecturally low key. In the first courtyard we propose to plant an orchard of pear trees set on individual mounds, all grafted from the one remaining nineteenth century pear. The trees and mounds help traffic calming and the grid on which they are set out helps define parking from private front gardens. The courtyard is further defined by a single storey red brick wall, reminiscent of the walled kitchen-garden of Bankhall. The courtyard to the east is more wooded and here eight ‘semi-attached’ houses are arranged around three existing trees; an oak and two pines. With less opportunity for long views out, the houses are designed so that they reach three storeys into their roofs and take views and daylight from four directions, sometimes over the tree canopy.

Whilst the scheme works within a broadly contemporary architectural language, it embraces the notion of an agricultural courtyard, reinterpreted for this setting. This strategy keeps all suburban elements; such as driveways, bins and cars out of the view of the visiting public. Pedestrians are given priority throughout, with good connections across the site to the wider landscape as well as to the gardens of the main house and to the small children’s play area in the sunny south west corner.

Conversion of Bank Hall

The Grade II Bank Hall is the result of centuries of work – at its core is an Elizabethan house which has been added to and remodelled. The prospect tower to the south was added later. There has also been extensive remodelling during the 19th century, probably by Webster.

The strategy for conversion of the hall into houses and flats has been to retain, as much as possible, the scale of the existing rooms and use existing circulation routes. The hall lends itself well to the provision of ten flats and two houses (accommodation mix: 3 no. 1 bedroom flats, 6 no. 2 bedroom flats, and 3 no. 3 bedroom flats). Some new windows are proposed, which will match the existing windows, and some blind windows will be opened up. A new glazed entrance hall is the only modern addition, tucked away behind the service wing this will be used to gain access to 4 flats.

Plans and sections show how the tall room heights have been used to maximum effect, emphasising the height and scale of the original rooms. Generous modern interiors with high ceilings will contrast with the texture and grain of the existing gothic exterior. By retaining the main substantial internal walls, but with new walls, kitchens and bathrooms treated as pieces of furniture, the intention is to clearly delineate old form new wherever practicable. For example, in some cases kitchens and bathrooms are grouped together to offer sleeping or study platforms, overlooking the high living spaces, and completely detached from historic wall structures.

Project TeamDavid Mikhail, Annalie Riches, Sabine Rosenkranz, Sophie King O’Neill

ClientUrban Splash

LocationChorley, Lancashire

TOP

A project on a sensitive site in the Greenbelt

Bank Hall, Lancashire
Project TeamDavid Mikhail, Annalie Riches, Sabine Rosenkranz, Sophie King O’Neill
ClientUrban Splash
LocationChorley, Lancashire
Related Projects

Goldsmith Street

High density, urban social housing in Norwich City Centre

Watchet

A mixed-use development on the edge of a Somerset Seaside Town

Brentford Lock West

Urban housing as part of a wider masterplan

Duncan Street

10 family houses within the Tribeca Masterplan in Liverpool