MGMA Architects Limited

Planning permission and listed building consent have been granted for the conversion of the Grade II listed Humyak House, located in the Duke Street conservation area of central Liverpool, to comprise 13 apart-hotel suites and a bar restaurant. Working with agent Greyside Planning and Liath Heritage, MGMA Architects delivered a site specific design concept, and detailed coordinated project drawings, to secure the approvals. The building is currently vacant with the previous office consent works part-completed. Completed in 1864, Humyak House is a structure of significant mass and weight, built with materials and techniques of astonishing durability: an architecture seeking permanence in contrast to its temporary holdings. Characterised by substantial timber beams, heavy cast iron columns, and the material muscularity of thick brickwork walls, the tectonic elements of fireproof warehouse construction are the timeless matrix for a changing inventory. The open nature of the floorplates was a key characteristic in the original building, and had informed the previously approved consents. There is a prima facie conflict with the Client’s intended use as an apart-hotel, which inevitably requires a degree of subdivision. The conservation approach therefore had to limit subdivision, enable the reuse of the building, and safeguard the heritage elements disassembled during the previous, part-completed works. The baled, sacked, barrelled, or crated holdings stored securely in fireproof framed warehouses provides a narrative beginning for development of the design concept. Borrowing the term ‘storehouse’, the project seeks to connect the historic use and mode of storage with the contemporary visitor economy. The design concept employs sleeping and sanitary accommodation within ‘crate’ style pods within the apart hotel suites. The crates are dispersed within the suite in a non-aligned fashion, so as to emphasise the temporal nature of stored materials in the warehouse setting. Greyside Planning Laith Heritage BLACKETT-ORD CONSERVATION LIMITED Rodney Environmental Consultants Vextrix AM Pyro #heritage #listedbuildings #conservationarchitecture #retrofit #retrofitlistedbuildings #liverpoolwarehouse

Liverpool Architecture Festival 2024 In addition to his day job as director of MGMA Architects Limited, Mathew Giles is also the Founder and co-Director of Liverpool Architecture Foundation CIC Architecture Festival. LAF24 has just finished delivering the biggest programme yet consisting of over 100 free-to-attend activities and events throughout all six boroughs of Liverpool City Region during the month of June. Matthew Ashton delivered two guided tours of the surviving works of celebrated Liverpool Architect Peter Ellis (1805-1884) as part of the Liverpool Architecture Festival 2024 #LAF24 in June. The free-to-attend tours accommodated over 40 people taking in the Grade I listed Oriel Chambers, home of MGMA Architects Limited, and Grade II* listed 16 Cook Street, in Liverpool City Centre. The team at @MGMAArchitectsLimited put lots of time and effort towards the Liverpool Architecture Festival. Collectively we prepared and exhibited pieces at the Architecture Showcase, organised events, volunteered, created content and showed support at the LAF events throughout June. We can’t wait for this to get bigger in the near future, and we are so proud to have been involved among the talented and dedicated people in the field. It’s been a pleasure to take part and we really hope that there’s more to come. The Liverpool Architecture Festival will return for the summer of 2026.   If you are interested in learning more head to Liverpool Architecture Foundation CIC, www.laf-uk.com or @laf_uk on Instagram.

NEWS RELEASE : 20th March 2024 MGMA Architects secures planning permission to revive historic glass bottle workshop in St Helens. MGMA Architects, specialising in new uses for historic buildings, has received planning permission for their proposed phase I refurbishment works to Cannington Shaw No.7 Bottle Shop, a derelict Grade II listed Scheduled Monument currently listed as Priority A on Historic England’s ‘Heritage At Risk’ Register. Working with the Cannington Shaw Preservation Trust as client and site custodian, we have developed proposals to secure the building shell and provide emergency conservation works, alongside new facilities for the Trust including community, education, and event spaces together with a feature viewing tower. The phase I works are part of a broader initiative funded by the St Helens Town Deal Board, which was successfully awarded £25 million from the UK Government’s Towns Fund initiative. The bottle shop has been vacant and deteriorating since the former United Glass site was cleared in the early 1980s. Scheduled Monument consent for the phase I works was granted by Historic England in August 2023, clearing the way for the planning application to be brought forward. The project blends conservation of this unique industrial heritage asset with complementary uses including visitor facilitates and a base for the Trust’s heritage skills academy, designed to develop awareness of traditional building techniques in the local construction supply chain. MGMA Architects were supported in the application process by planning consultant Pegasus Group as Agent, Blackett-Ord Conservation Engineers, AWK Engineers (Civils), Prime Transport Consultants, Rodney Environmental Consultants (MEP), JT Project Management Ltd, and Caroline Platt Consultancy. Director Matthew Ashton said, “Receiving planning permission is a significant step towards saving this at risk Scheduled Monument structure, a recognition of the work of the Trust, and a key part of the regeneration of St Helens which celebrates the special value of the town’s industrial heritage.” For more information about this project please contact: Matthew Ashton RIBA – Director Email – studio@mgma-architects.co.uk Phone – 0151 236 6627

Happy International Women's Day! Our Part 2 Architectural Assistant, Lucy Fell, is taking part in the Liverpool Half Marathon on 17th March. She is using this event as an opportunity to raise money for Parkinson’s UK in memory of her Grandad, who passed away from this disease in 2022. Having never run long distance before, this is a big physical challenge for her. She is excited to take on the course, and is looking forward to a Guinness at the finish line! If you would like to find out more, or to donate to this cause, please visit the Just Giving page set up for Lucy’s Half Marathon for Parkinson’s UK: https://lnkd.in/eDfmfzXm

Working with Darren Muir from Pegasus Group, MGMA Architects delivered a workshop in January for 21 young people as part of the PLACED Academy programme. The workshop again focused on a live MGMA studio project, the development of premises for the Young Person’s Advisory Service, a Liverpool-based charity delivering a range of wellbeing and therapeutic services for children and young people. Pegasus are delivering planning consultancy services for the project. During the workshop, the young people developed an interior design brief, investigating the existing building and its therapeutic and communal spaces, developing their understanding of the needs and experience of staff and service users. The day included a site visit before a presentation and discussion with Mathew, Darren, and Val O’Donnell of YPAS. MGMA Architects are proud to sponsor the Placed Academy, a free to access, creative programme about the built environment for 14-18 year olds, empowering young people to shape the places we live, work and spend time. For further details of how young people can be involved, and how organisations can support the Academy, please visit https://lnkd.in/e2gTuF2b #collaboration #youngpeople #architects #planning #interiordesign #consultation

The Team at MGMA Architects Limited would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and all the very best for the New Year! Hope you like the video of the homemade Christmas cards. #homemadechristmascards #seasonsgreetings