Transforming a listed building

The challenge

Following the successful delivery of BPP’s Law School and Head Offices in London, our scope of work soon expanded to include additional facilities in London and regionally – starting with St James’s building in Manchester.

The challenge began with the essential negotiation of a Change of Use with the Local Planning Authority, alongside the agreement of lease terms that would allow us to develop a programme that would work with BPP’s critical educational term dates.

The approach

As a listed building, we took a creative approach to combine the traditional aspects of the architecture with our contemporary interventions. To do so, we exposed much of the original building fabric, and worked in harmony with the lofty storey heights as we developed modern, open spaces.

The school houses state-of-the art facilities, including a 200-seat auditorium, a mock ‘Court Room’ for specialised training, a library, 9 seminar rooms, tutorial space, a student refectory, and staff and administration offices.

The results

This 2,300m² renovation has transformed the interior into a functional and professional, yet contemporary and collaborative space that reflects the high-quality and care associated with BPP Law University.