Menors Place

Situated in a rural market town in North Devon, this site originally formed the local primary school untill September 2000 when it became redundant due to the building of a new replacement school. The development forms two parts: the conversion of the old school buildings; and new homes located in the old playground.

The old school buildings have been converted into six units comprising of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom houses. The new homes located in the surrounding playgrounds consist of 2 and 3 bedroom houses and apartments with a total of 8no. houses and 4no. apartments.

Naturally a great deal of reconstruction and restoration work had to be carried out to bring the old school into modern living accommodation which included the gardens and parking areas. The original cathedral style windows (incorporating wood double glazing) together with the doors had to be reconstructed, and new mezzanine floors were created together with new bathrooms and fully fitted kitchens.The outside Victorian appearance of the school has been retained and improved by demolishing the original
classrooms and toilet block within the playground. Recycling of materials from the original building i.e. stone and roof tiles all added to the authenticity of the refurbishment of the old school. All the work was carried out by local craftsmen and materials purchased from local suppliers.

A colony of bats was identified to be living in the rafters of the old school and as part of the bat mitigation works, overseen by English Nature, bat entries were incorporated to allow bats into the exisitng roof spaces and materials were specified as not to harm the bats.

This development clearly shows a sensitive approach by both the architects and the developer, in what is considered to be a very sensitive location. Its sense of history has been retained through the careful consideration to scale, form and attention to detail.