Conservation

A public consultation was held  on 24 November  2021 for a proposed scheme for two new houses in a conservation area at the top of Wimbledon hill designed to be parsonages for the parish of St. Mary. This follows a previous consultation and pre-application consultation with the local planning authority.

New Lion gates at Oriel College, Oxford.  We tried to make the lions minimal, scary, powerful and welcoming.  Laser cut and hand worked by artist blacksmith Ben Prothero.

Planning permission and Listed Building Consent were granted on 11 August. This is our first collaboration with Stanton Williams Architects who are designing a £37 million scheme which will radically transform this Grade II* listed building. Our role was to research the cultural significance of the building, landscape and setting, advise Stanton Williams on conservation and design aspects of the proposals and help them overcome the many conservation challenges during prolonged discussions with Oxford City Council and Historic England. It was fascinating to go through the Rhodes Trust archives to track Herbert Baker’s design development and the late evolution of the plan to incorporate what is now the Rotunda, the original correspondence sprinkled with sketches and diagrams, some on folded scraps of tracing paper. I seem to be following Cecil Rhodes around, after spending 5 years on the Rhodes building at Oriel college, where a major refurbishment by MBA added an extra floor. By adding another layer of history architects can add nuance and cultural context to our built heritage.

A new development for New College and New College School at Savile Road Oxford was granted planning permission in June 2018.

Proposals include a new tower, south facing garden quads, new buildings interweaving with existing, some listed, in a conservation area containing a stretch of the civil war ramparts.

MBA are conservation architects advising David Kohn Architects and the construction team.

Our role to:

• assess the heritage significances of the site
• advise the design team
• engage with Historic England and Oxford City Council.

We are also involved in the construction stages of the project.

More here – David Kohn Architects

and here [Architects Journal]

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MBA acted in a similar role as conservation architects for Gort Scott at St Hilda’s College, granted planning permission in May 2018.

See  here [Architects Journal]

Planning permission was granted on  13 March 2018 for a major redevelopment at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, including a new tower. MBA are conservation architects for the scheme, working with Gort Scott Architects as lead designers. Our role was to research and analyse the heritage significance of the college, to advise Gort Scott during the design development, and to assess the heritage impact of the scheme. This is one of a number of projects where MBA support leading design practices in major conservation projects, using our experience in high value heritage assets and our design skills to offer conservation expertise to the design team.