High praise from Historic England for a contemporary solution to Hooke Heritage Centre following initial consultation
On the 8th September, as part of Heritage Open Week, James gave a talk to members of the congregation, community, as well as planning and heritage experts from Milton Keynes Council. The purpose of the presentation was to present early ideas for the development of a heritage centre at St Mary Magdalene Church Willen.
The concept of the new building is to provide space for facilities that cannot be held in the church owing to its significance, as well as providing a flexible space that can be used by heritage visitors to learn more about polymath Sir Robert Hooke, a very special scientist who was also repsonsible for the design and construction of St Mary Magdalen’s Church.
Historic England have provided positive encouragement for the development of options at St Mary Magdalen Church, Willen. They responded as follows:
With regards to the internal reordering options, given the high degree of significance which we attach to the interior furnishings any internal reordering, involving loss of pews, would in our view entail a high degree of harm and gives considerable cause for concern. The less radical reordering to repurpose the south vestry into an accessible toilet, whilst would be less harmful, it still would be a complex undertaking, and would require a large degree of intervention into the fabric of this Grade I listed church, change of levels and potentially access, which raises a number of concerns.
The parish have put forward a number of indicative options of a separate building standing to the north of the churchyard. In our view, these options demonstrate that the distance between the two could be sufficient to allow an appreciation of the architectural qualities of Hooke’s church, particularly in views from the west. Whilst being able to appreciate this building in its simple and largely unaltered form contributes to its aesthetic qualities and therefore is an important aspect of its significance, we do not hold that its architectural qualities are dependant of it appearing completely alone in the church-yard. Therefore whilst building on this site could entail a degree of harm to the significance of the church, providing the design is good, no key views are blocked and the two buildings are clearly separate this harm could be kept to a low level.
Of the proposed designs, Option 1 and 2 both propose avowedly contemporary designs, which appear the right response here; the character of the church is so strong that it would be very difficult to successfully emulate. The angled roof and form of Option 1 seems to particularly works well, succeeding in being deferential without being apologetic and makes for an interesting structure. We however appreciate there may be archaeological impacts that need to be further understood as well as any implications from removing the tree. The success of the designs, and how well it relates to the church, will be dependant largely on the quality of the materials and detailing used.
Option 2 for the proposed new Hooke Heritage Centre
We look forward to developing the scheme through to the next stage.