The new base for the National Centre for Early Music is located in the previously redundant, listed St Margaret’s Church in Walmgate. We upgraded the medieval church to meet the needs of varying types and sizes of performance, and built accommodation for teaching, conferences and exhibitions in a new annex. This challenged the brief, which was to put the extra accommodation within the aisle of the church.
The street elevation of the low-lying, sedum-roofed structure is clad in zinc, in contrast to the local handmade bricks of the church elevation. It sits discretely behind the churchyard walls and is attached to the church by a narrow glazed link. The roof of the church was completely rebuilt using many of the original materials to provide enhanced acoustics. This was an HLF funded project.
