Project Detail

Located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, the Calderdale Central Library & Archives is a bespoke design to rehouse the existing public library service and provide it with state of the art facilities to meet the needs of a modern public library and create flexible community spaces. Clad in locally-hand-made, long-format clay bricks, the design took careful consideration of the historic context of the site and its surrounding buildings. The site was previously occupied by a Grade II* Listed 19th century Neo-Gothic style church, which was largely destroyed by fire in the 1970s. The new library was designed to wrap around the ruins – the impressive Spire and the remaining Transept with its intricately carved stone rose window. This allowed the building to give new life to the ruins through expert repair work, specialist reglazing of the original windows and integration of the Transept into the library’s main public spaces.

We were appointed to work on restoring the stonework of the building to allow the key architectural stone features to be retained in the new development. Much of the internal stonework of the church was retained and has became a major feature in the building. We repaired, restored and cleaned the arches and walling which were then offset by the clean lines and glass used in the new interior.

We repaired and restored the beautiful original rose window, which had suffered with movement using both Portland stone from Dorset and French Caen stone. When the restoration work began, the stone was in poor condition, having been extensively damaged by the weather. Some stones were missing, some eroded, and the tracery had become misaligned. The restored rose window was to become a focal point of the new library.

Restoration and cleaning were also carried out to the external elevations. The new Central Library and archive blends the remains of the stone fabric within its layout. Externally the new Library is a bold addition connecting to Piece Hall.