Nottingham Civic Society - Mark of the Month Commendation April 2002

NEW RECTORY AT WILFORD, NOTTINGHAM

In order to provide more appropriate and efficient accommodation for the incumbent and his family at Wilford, on the outskirts of Nottingham, the local Diocese decided to build a new house in the gardens of the existing large Rectory building. The old Rectory will be sold.

The listed old Rectory and associated outbuildings are located in a Conservation Area and comprise an important and visually cohesive group adjacent to St. Wilfrid's Church. The new Rectory does not challenge the existing setting and through siting, building form, massing and use of similar materials (brick and plain tile) relates to, but modestly underplays its impact on the existing building group and the area.

The total floor area of the house is 190 sq. metres and is comprised of accommodation and facilities as set out in a comprehensive brief and design guide prepared by the Church Commissioners. The brief required the building to have a private and public function, providing a home for the incumbent and his family and also a calling point for parishioners to meet their Vicar individually or in groups. The house plan has been arranged to enable these potentially separate activities to proceed simultaneously if required.

The house has been designed to provide an 'open' character on the ground floor, positively creating strong visual and circulation links between internal spaces and with the garden. The first floor represents a deliberate contrast with quieter, more introspective areas for sleeping and personal pursuits. Generous storage facilities are distributed throughout the house including the roof space, first floor roof voids and first floor perimeter zones with an extensive library facility adjacent to the staircase.

The site of the new house is at the bottom of the original garden to the old Rectory. Care was taken to ensure that although the size of the old Rectory garden would be reduced, it still retained sufficient area appropriate to the scale and character of the original building. The landscaped boundary between the old and new Rectory is a green colour coated steel wire fence forming a trellis for shrub screen planting. The new building has been positioned on the available site to avoid mature tree roots and to exploit the potential for garden areas of reasonable size but differing character. All habitable rooms are south facing. A specific requirement in the brief was for direct public access to the main entrance of the house but also for private garden areas for use by the occupants. Garden walls have been introduced for screening and enclosure purposes, extending the main body of the house as links between the new and existing buildings.

Rationalised traditional cavity wall construction but with time saving and cost effective prefabricated components including precast concrete ground floor beams, infilled with high performance expanded polystyrene blocks, and manufactured timber joists, rafters and beams used in the upper floor and roof. Services include a gas fired central heating system, thermostatically controlled, with condensing boiler. Low energy lighting systems plus fire and intruder alarm installations. Information technology data points have been installed in all habitable rooms.

Allan Mulcahy