How a historic building will be transformed into the hub of community life

Works will start to repair the Grade II listed structure this month, and at last, the village can look forward to seeing this lovely old building properly restored and returned to use. It’s been an anxious wait for all the village volunteers working on this project.

And for the rest of the village - what will actually be happening behind the contractors’ cones and barriers? How do we get from a building which is closed, abandoned and unsafe, to one which can not only provide a new home for the library, but will also open its doors as a new community hub?

We invited the volunteers and the architect to explain what's going to be happening.

THE Addingham Hub will be home to the community library and a new information centre.

It will also house a local heritage centre and will hold the village archive - a substantial collection of photos, maps and other records which is currently stored in the homes of volunteers. Added to all this, the Hub will offer space for exhibitions, local drop-in events and community meetings.

The key ingredient to bring all these things together in one place is, of course, a building to put them in, and that’s where the Old School has come into play. Owned by the Parish Council, but underused in recent years, it was asking for re-development.

The starting point for all the volunteers’ hard work was when the Council decided to hand it over to the community last summer. At the time the Council was in the middle of appointing a specialist professional team to help bring forward a capital scheme to renovate the building, and had started to look into raising funds for the building works.

Chairman of the library Trustees and Parish Councillor Adrian Naylor said: “This building has had many uses but, since 1668, has always been at the heart of the village. It was only right that we should seek to restore it for future generations to enjoy so we thought it was critical to involve as many of the residents as possible in this ongoing project.”

Carol Hindle, library trustee and one of the main fundraisers for the project, said: “I have been over the moon ever since we knew that we’d got enough funding together to start work on the Hub. The library wasn’t looking forward to another winter in our draughty cabin at the other end of the village, but it’s all bearable now I know we’re going home again soon.”

Chairman of the Civic Society, Jim Robinson, was delighted to hear that the village could take a hand in designing a new village amenity. “What a great idea to have this historic little place available for everyone to come in when they want, make a hot drink, have community meetings, or just meet friends,” he said.

One of the volunteers, Don Barrett, who is involved in the digitisation of archived records in preparation for displaying them in the Hub said: “Having our own Hub in Addingham will be vital for looking after the village archive for years to come. Without a proper place to put it, the valuable records were at risk of being dispersed when people were no longer able to give space to them in their own homes.”

The Parish Council and library have now secured funding so the project can proceed. Grants have been awarded from The Big Lottery Fund and the Garfield Weston Foundation for the repair works.

Just this last week, the Council has heard that its application to the LEADER scheme (within the Rural Development Programme) for improvements to the facilities has been successful. This brings welcome additional funding of over £25,000 to the project, and the total now available for capital works and Hub equipment amounts to some £126,000.

As the project is about to start, architect and project manager Richard Crooks tells us more:

“A building like this has a lot of history. It dates from the mid-17th century and has been used over the centuries for many different purposes, not least as the village jail. My work as a specialist conservation architect is not simply to preserve and restore historic buildings but often it involves sensitively adapting them to suit new uses and so help secure their long term care and maintenance. Working on a Listed Building introduces additional challenges when the need arises to make changes.

"There must be a balance between respect for the old and celebration of the new. It is always a privilege to be given the opportunity to work on a historic building that has seen so many changes over time. This project is especially exciting as it involves rescuing a building that was at risk of demolition.

"Addingham would have lost a building which has been at the heart of the village for nearly 400 years. Instead the building will now be able to meet the needs of both existing and new users for many years to come, so safeguarding its future as a well-used community asset and focal point in the village.

“In creating this new asset, I have to work with the original features that remain, but also with any adaptations that have been made to the building over the years, not always with the most robust of materials! For the Old School, these have involved partitions going up and down, the addition of an upper storey and access doorways being opened and then closed again.

"This is an interesting structure, as it is built into the side of the hill. This gives it a particular shape and capacity, and leaves the fascinating remains of some original nooks let into the rear of the property, but it also brings some unique problems to solve!”

Since the building came into the ownership of the parish council in 1974, extensive repairs and restoration works have been carried out, including, in 1981, the removal of the render finish to the front wall, installation of a glazed door to the now blocked up eastern doorway and a window inserted where the existing doorway is located. In 2006, further works stabilised the upper masonry at the front.

Steelwork was introduced over the large front window, the adjoining doorway was blocked up and the original left hand doorway was reopened.

That’s how it all remained, with the library on the ground floor, until 2017 when the Parish Council awarded a contract for refurbishing the property. The works included installation of new timber framed windows, together with a rewiring plan and the upgrading of incoming services.

However, the initial stripping out revealed that there were real problems with the structural stability of the front wall. The building had to be closed, while its future was decided.

This could have been the end of the road for the Old School, but fortunately, a suggestion to demolish it was not well received by Bradford MBC conservation officers.

As a result, the Parish Council approached Capstone Consulting Engineers and Richard Crooks Partnership Architects of Leeds to jointly carry out an assessment of the property and its future viability. Both companies are Conservation Accredited and were responsible for the rescue of a very similar building in Horsforth some years ago and which too had a very unstable structure.

To repair the building, the contractors will be following a programme of work agreed by the architect and engineer. The building will be stabilised by introducing stainless steel reinforcement into the bed joints of the upper stonework to the front and west walls; loose masonry will be rebuilt; voids will be grouted and internal mortar joints repointed with traditional lime mortar.

Cracks in the outer face of the masonry will be similarly repointed. The front and rear external walls will then be tied back to the first-floor structure with bespoke stainless steel straps.

The old timber beams to the upper floor construction will in turn be strengthened to meet modern loading requirements. This requires precise technical work, as shown in the pictured brackets and countersunk detail below.

The roof will be stripped and re-slated re-using all the existing slates which are in sound condition, supplemented with matching second-hand slates to replace any which are unsuitable. This gives the opportunity to incorporate insulation at roof level thus reducing heating costs and improving the comfort for users of the building, as well as improving the building’s own carbon footprint within the village.

With the Old School being partially built into the hillside, damp penetration is an issue on the rear and side walls. This is going to be addressed by introducing a ventilated damp proof membrane to both the walls and the floor with drainage to take away any excess water ingress. This system will be concealed by the new ground floor construction and insulated wall finishes.

All these building works will improve the condition of this heritage asset and ensure it is fit for modern use, complete with disabled access and toilet facilities, and with a sustainable means of maintaining it for the future.

For the first time in the building’s history, the two floors will be connected internally by a staircase, and at the upper level there will be an accessible toilet, tea bar and storage for the upper meeting room.

Direct access to the upper room via the external door will be improved by ramping up the footpath to the rear of the property. This will also provide much-needed improvements to the disabled access into the upper floor of the building.

Chairman of the Parish Council, Catherine Coates, said: “A project like this may take years to develop, but hopefully only a few weeks to complete. The most satisfying aspect for everyone involved is the creation of a new and special place to be used and valued by its community for many years to come, and we are all absolutely delighted to reach this stage.”

The building contract has now been awarded to R.N. Wooler & Co Ltd of Keighley who will commence work in January 2019 with anticipated completion in April 2019.