Award Winners Announced!

The Sudbury Society is delighted to announce the results of its revived Alan Phillips Architectural Awards for outstanding contributions to the built environment in Sudbury.  The joint winners are Goldsmiths Mansion on the junction of Market Hill and Friars Street, and the re-development of St Leonard’s Hospital off the Newton Road.  The Grade II listed Goldsmiths Mansion, also known as Mattingly’s, was rebuilt after being devastated by fire in September 2015.  St Leonard’s was closed as a hospital by the NHS in the same year with the original Victorian building and surrounding site refurbished for new sympathetic housing.

Chairman of the Sudbury Society, Ian Liddell said: “We are very fortunate to have had two such outstanding submissions for the Alan Phillips Architectural Awards this year.  “The judging panel agreed that both projects demonstrated the highest standards of restoration and conservation, deploying traditional skills whilst creating a new modern life for these buildings.”

Goldsmiths Mansion

It was almost five years ago that Sudbury was brought to a standstill after flames devoured the landmark building housing Oxfam and upstairs residential flats as well as scorching adjacent properties.

  

Building owners Roger Mattingley and Christina Manning were determined that the re-build be in keeping with its setting and retain original characteristics whilst not being an exact replica.

The result achieved by architects Wincer Kievenaar and builder/contractor Rose Builders “is more than we could have hoped for”.

Philip Branton, Director of Wincer Kievenaar said:  “Goldsmiths Mansion has been a fantastically rewarding project to work on, the attention to detail and careful choice of traditional materials has resulted in a building the whole team can be proud of.”

Steven Rose, Managing Director of Rose Builders said:  “We are delighted that Goldsmiths Mansion has been recognised with this award. The project delivery involved total teamwork from Architect to Builder, Tradesman to Supplier and we are very proud that the building will endure as a significant landmark within the Sudbury Town Centre street scene.”

The Award judges agreed that the finished result of the building’s frontage is stunning and commended the attention to detail throughout the project, including the decorative brickwork moulded from original bricks by the Bulmer Brick Company. They also noted the original date roundel was salvaged and restored and clearance work also revealed a 17th century wall painting of a mounted horseman in one of the upstairs apartments.

Some of the judges were disappointed that the internal structure was not replaced in oak timber framing with timber flooring, better from a low carbon view, but it was accepted that a reinforced concrete frame and floor structure was the technically correct solution for a multifunctional commercial building requiring sound isolation and 2 hour fire separation.

St Leonard’s

The redevelopment of St Leonard’s by Hartog Hutton offered another example of a high quality refurbishment, this time of a site which contained a jumble of modern buildings centred around a Victorian Hospital.

Many locals will remember attending St Leonard’s for blood tests, midwifery appointments and the like over the years, yet it is hard to recollect the maze of nondescript outbuildings now when viewing the spacious and elegant modern houses surrounded by trees and greenery.

Most striking is the careful refurbishing of the main hospital building at the development’s heart - all the original features and main window openings have been retained, and meticulous care has been taken to steam clean original brickwork and repoint with a high degree of craftsmanship rarely found in modern developments.

Malcolm Payne, Director at Hartog Hutton explained: “We were keen as a company from the outset to keep and restore as much of the old Victorian  building as possible, and fortunate we had a solid canvas to work on.” Malcolm added “we put in a lot of work with our design team and it’s an honour to share the award with Goldsmiths Mansion which I think is really outstanding and deserving of recognition.”

Ian Liddell said he was delighted to congratulate both worthy winners of the Awards.

He added: “The Sudbury Society was formed over 40 years ago, inspired by the saving of the Corn Exchange building, now the town’s much admired Library on Market Hill. And we’re still working today to highlight and commend new buildings that add so much to our wonderful townscape.”

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