The National Trust’s Awards honour contributions to community, identity and sense of place. At this year’s awards, RJC Engineers (RJC), together with the cSPACE team, was a proud recipient of the Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Award for the cSPACE King Edward School project, in Category A: projects completed between 2012 and 2017 that have creatively renewed or transformed historic places or landscapes for new uses. 

The Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Awards bring national attention to exemplary projects and places that contribute to quality of life and sense of place, and illustrate the viability of heritage buildings and sites for traditional or new uses.

The project involved the adaptive reuse of the Historic King Edward School (circa 1912) to a new arts hub. Existing classrooms spaces were repurposed to become new incubator spaces for artists in the community. A new elevator, feature stairway and mechanical and electrical systems were integrated into the structure to bring the existing building up to modern day standards. One of the most defining elements of this project included the addition of a new four-storey steel and glass theatre and office space in place of the original west wing of the of the building that was previously removed. Original features of the historic boiler plates were also highlighted in the new spaces by using glass exhibit boxes set into the floors of the building.

To learn more about other RJC Heritage Conservation projects, click here.