Evolving a heritage institution

Design and led by Tonkin Liu, the Heritage Quad is one of two buildings that make up the new world-class Centre of Excellence for research, education, and training at the York Minster. The first significant new building project in the Minister’s precinct in a century, the Centre looks to solve the challenges of caring for heritage buildings and heritage craft skills in the 21st century, bringing together advances in digital fabrication technology, embedded with a commitment to training, apprenticeships, and international research exchange.

Donald Insall Associates was commissioned to provide heritage consultancy services on the project, cumulating in a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) that supported the design team’s heritage-led approach. We helped develop a scheme that would be acceptable in planning terms and justified against local and national planning policy. The HIA included a detailed understanding of historic development, key views, asset descriptions, heritage significance and an assessment of the proposals.

The location of the Centre for Excellence is highly significant, sandwiched between York Minster and the City Walls, with 1000 years of history layered into the site. DIA worked collaboratively with the wider design team to minimise and mitigate potential impacts of the site’s development, including through the preservation of historic fabric where possible, orientation and variety of the new roofscape, appropriate materiality and retaining a sense of openness within the new development. The final structure balances exceptional spatial clarity with a sensitive handling of scale, natural light and sustainable material, ensuring every element feels both contemporary and rooted in the long cultural continuity of medieval craft yards.

As part of the statutory planning consultation, DIA engaged with City of York Council and Historic England to advocate for the heritage outcomes of the scheme. Ultimately, the HIA found that the public benefits of the proposals would substantially outweigh the minor degree of harm arising from the proposals, resulting in a positive and viable new development that transforms York Minster and its works department.