Case study York House Nottingham Case Study

York House on Mansfield Road in Nottingham is vibrant new student accommodation scheme successfully delivered on a complex city centre site with a series of challenges to overcome.

The challenge was to find a solution that would maximise bed spaces while keeping the development within the external envelope proposed and taking into account the complex site conditions. These included existing caves, to which access needed to be retained, the location of existing structural support, a constrained site bound by city centre roads and an adjacent listed building.

The site of the previous ‘York House’ had remained undeveloped since its demolition in 2015 which had left the 1960s ground floor concrete slab in situ. Previously home to the Nottingham Brewery, hidden below the surface are a series of caves, some of which were used as air raid shelters during the Second World War.

York House is a ‘background’ building in respect of the view up and down Mansfield Road, in particular the neighbouring pub with its richly detailed façade. The scheme is designed as a series of stepped blocks, up to 10-storeys in height, surrounding three courtyards.

Given the complex nature of the site, a multitude of structural solutions were required to support the intricate arrangement of blocks. The existing concrete slab was reused to site a nine-storey block, supported on concrete columns dropped through the caves to bedrock below, it required a lattice work of steel transfer structure together with a hybrid hot rolled steel and LGS frame solution.

Aesthetically, the blocks were designed to be similar in style, with high parapets, deep window reveals and varying lengths of vertical glazing elements. The five blocks have been visually defined by the colour of their brickwork, ranging from cream to grey using Forterra’s Carsington Cream and Granite Ash bricks. Feature panels of recessed black brickwork part the primary blocks, creating visual interest.

The main entrance is defined through the use of a deeply recessed curtain wall and revolving door, flanked by four impressive case stone columns. Other design features used on the external envelope include soldier string courses and cant brick reveals.