Provincial House Premium Student Accommodation

The grade II Listed Building has been sensitively restored to include 24 studios with the former chapel being converted into a common room and cinema. Around the original Presbytery, 3 complimentary buildings have been designed to give 79 apartments and studios. All are red brick and designed to restore the urban grain of the street patterns

The Brief

A key driver for the scheme was to create a development which provided a sustainable future for Provincial House and allowed the area, the St Vincent’s Quarter and Well Meadows Conservation Area, to retain an important part of its original heritage. A simple conversion of the presbytery building alone would not have been significant enough to support the continued future of the building and so the owner sought to use the associated car parks and additional land around the building to construct new buildings in order to generate a residential scheme large enough to underpin a sustainable future for the entire 0.5 acre site.

The Design

The design development and planning process was complex, involving many design iterations, conservation and heritage discussions with Sheffield City Council and Historic England, detailed archaeological, ecological and geotechnical investigations and several innovative engineering solutions to take account of the varying site levels and listed building constraints.

The historically significant, Grade II Listed Provincial House provides an anchor to the development ensuring that an important part of the heritage of the St. Vincent’s Quarter and Well Meadows Conservation Area is both retained and celebrated. The scheme, involving the refurbishment of the listed, and three complimentary buildings that have been sympathetically designed, responds to the character of the area.

The final client/ end user Empiric Student Properties came on board after tender and just as the building was to start on site. We were able to quickly adapt and work with the client to ensure their exacting aspirations were met without affecting the planning approval and programme.

The Outcome

A historically significant building for Sheffield has been retained and carefully refurbished giving it a sustainable future for many years to come. A very unique residential scheme has been created with Provincial House and the Chapel building taking centre stage.