The sympathetic restoration of Leicester Castle Business School has put it in the finals of one of Leicester's biggest celebrations of property and construction, the ProCon Awards 2017.
It is one of just two historic buildings in the Regeneration category of the competition, which recognises important properties carefully brought back into use thanks to visionary owners.
Once the home of Leicester’s crown and magistrates’ courts, the Grade I listed Leicester Castle had not been in day-to-day use since 1990 and is on Historic England’s Buildings At Risk register. The castle surrounds date from 1068, soon after the Norman Conquest and its centrepiece is the Great Hall, a symbol of the magnificence and status of its owners.
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De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) invested £3.7m in the refurbishment and the building is now in daily use by students and staff. It is regularly opened to the public for events and as part of Leicester City Council’s Heritage Sundays programme which celebrates the city’s historic buildings.
Professor Dana Brown, PVC Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law and principal of LCBS, said of the restoration: "There is a real connection to the past throughout but also a sense of a new legacy and that, at its heart is what business is: drawing on the lessons of the past to make a new future."
LCBS is up against Abbots Oak Phase One, Coalville, which is a former chapel transformed into a boutique country house hotel. It has been transformed over four years.
The regeneration category is sponsored by Pochin. The awards’ overall sponsors are Salus Approved Inspectors, Spearing Waite, Unique Window Systems and Westleigh Partnerships. The Leicester Mercury is the Awards’ media partner. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on November 9.
The other five awards are:
• Small Residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Infrastructure Investments
• Large Residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Infrastructure Investments
• Small Non-residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Gateley
• Large Non-residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Gateley
• Architectural Image of the Year
David Pochin, managing director of the award sponsor Pochin Plumbing and Heating Merchants, said: “We are proud to be supporting the ProCon Awards, and particularly the regeneration category which celebrates the projects that are catalysts for improving our home city and our county.
“Pochin has supplied plumbing and heating products and expertise into Leicestershire’s homes, public sector and commercial properties for more than 150 years – including many iconic local buildings – so we are excited to see which of the finalists is crowned the winner.”
Posted on Tuesday 29 August 2017