The remodelling and conservation of York Guildhall was the winner of three awards at the Yorkshire Regional Group Institution of Structural Engineering Awards 2023: Best medium Project; the Sustainability Award and the Overall Winner Award. Congratulations to our colleagues at Arup who were the Structural Engineers for the project.
The Guildhall complex, made up of Grade I, II* and II listed buildings built around a large 15th-century Guild Hall, is owned by City of York Council. The refurbishment and remodelling has provided a world class venue, supporting and nurturing the expansion of York’s vibrant creative businesses; combining events and exhibition space with state-of-the-art collaboration and co-working facilities in the heart of the historic and creative city.
The existing buildings were on the Heritage at Risk register and the tower in particular was in need of significant stabilisation works.The main hall suffered significant bomb damage during the second world war and since its reopening in 1960 had received only reactive repairs. The project has secured the future of the Guildhall complex, through the delivery of an economically viable and sustainable scheme. It has delivered a comprehensive refurbishment, together with new build interventions as necessary to re-purpose the complex for a new use.
The core requirement for modern flexible offices and the associated provision of multipurpose space to suit a variety of potential uses as co-working / conferencing / meeting and events / exhibition space has been achieved through sensitive planning and an understanding of the balance between new and existing, volume and space.
A café and a separate restaurant unit benefit from a new south facing riverside courtyard, with a landscape treatment designed to provide flood resilience. The refurbishment of Common Hall Yard into a flexible external space builds on its ceremonial traditions and improves public access throughout the complex.
The River Ouse was used to transport materials to and from the site to avoid construction traffic in York's narrow city centre streets. The Guildhall's riverside location allowed contractors to use the river to erect an on-site Tower Crane and provide access for deliveries, which would otherwise be impossible via road.
York Guildhall has also been shortlisted for Project of the Year at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2024, in three categories: Commercial and Offices; Retrofit; and Public Use. The CIBSE Building Performance Awards (BPAs) recognises the people, products and projects that demonstrate engineering excellence in the built environment. They are the only industry awards that focus on actual, measured performance outcomes, and not just design intent or performance specifications. Congratulations to our colleagues at SGA Consulting who were the Services Engineers for the project.
Sustainability measures included: introducing a River Source Heat Pump to provide sustainable green energy from the adjacent River Ouse, significantly reducing carbon emissions; improving the thermal insulation of the existing Listed building where possible; and thermally insulating the existing roofs, including the Guildhall roof, following agreement with Historic England to amend the roof covering from lead to zinc to reduce weight.