Rosebery Medical Centre, Loughborough

Closed in 2006, the original Rosebery Street School was boarded up and saw a number of failed planning applications for conversion into residential use.

The site was re-marketed and, although most modern NHS facilities are purpose built on greenfield or cleared sites, it became the only viable site within the densely populated catchment area of the health practice.

The underlying requirement from the conservation team at Charnwood Borough Council was minimum intervention, maximum preservation and clear identification between old and new.

The resulting scheme saw the retention of much of the design clarity of the original design, with some subdivision, but in the main a very sympathetic reuse of the existing fabric.

In terms of spatial similarities, primary health care and Victorian school design has much in common. Both contain a large central focus, be it the school hall or waiting room, that is surrounded by lesser spaces in the form of classrooms or clinical spaces.