New Event Space for St John’s College, Durham University
Converting an old chapel and former library to a state of the art event space for physical and online events
Highlights
Client: St John’s College, Durham
Location: Former Library Building, St John’s College, Durham
Brief: Convert an underused former library building into an event space that can be used for lectures, weddings, concerts and online events. The space needed appropriate Audio-Visual equipment, heating and cooling capabilities and to be as energy efficient as possible.
Role: To design, tender and project manage the works.
Outcome: A high specification refurbishment creating a space that can be used by different groups of people incorporating new thermal improvements helping the college move towards their aim of net zero.
About St John’s College
St John’s College is one of the recognised colleges of Durham University. The college was established in 1909 as a Church of England theological college and became a full constituent college of the university in 1919.
Being an independent college, St John’s is financially and constitutionally independent of the university and has a greater degree of administrative independence. The college has a reputation for being religious because it is the only college in Durham authorised to train people to priesthood.
The Challenge
The site is listed and close to the UNESCO world heritage site of Durham Cathedral. The refurbishment works had to be sympathetic to the building and ensure that any fixtures and fittings are in keeping with the initial architectural design.
The college has an ambition to improve their estate to net zero and the project had to reflect this. We considered many options to achieve this within an old building.
Our Approach
We reviewed the elements of the building that could be thermally upgraded. We then looked at ways to improve the mechanical and electrical systems to incorporate air source heat pumps and modern methods of mechanical ventilation and cooling. We listened to the college and their staff to understand their ambitions for the space.
What We Delivered
- Detailed Specification documents
- Drawings
- Tender packs
- Project Management of project through the construction phase
- Budget and programme control
The Outcome
The building has been renamed Binks Hall and offers the college a beautiful and practical space for teaching, worship, events and celebrations. Sophisticated AV equipment allows for online events.
The Value to St John’s College
- Ability to offer teaching and event space to internal and external organisations .
- Modern IT and Audio-Visual installations allowing conferences and lectures to be live streamed.
- A long-term legacy project that has created an event space that will benefit generations to come.
- A potential income stream source for event hire such as weddings.
Why St John’s College Choose Method Building Consultancy
- Director led service backed by a team of experienced and practically driven surveyors.
- Weekly meetings to address and resolve any queries as quickly a possible.
- Experience and understanding of the challenges and sensitivities of working with similar types of buildings.
- Positive recommendations from other university colleges.
