An historic Armagh landmark – currently listed on the ‘Buildings at Risk’ register – could shortly be given a new lease of life as supported living accommodation.
The property in question has been a familiar sight for generations of Armagh folk, sitting as it does at the entrance to St Luke’s Hospital, on the edge of the Loughgall Road.
A Grade B Listed Building and long vacant, the instantly recognisable ‘Gate Lodge’ has featured on the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society’s Buildings at Risk register, with conservationists keen to see intervention to ensure its preservation and future.
Now those hopes and aspirations may be about to be realised, with the submission of a planning application by Southern Health Trust estates, which owns and operates the St Luke’s Hospital site.
It is hoping to convert the Gate Lodge into supported living accommodation for a single user. Plans also include the construction of a small kitchen extension to the rear to replace a kitchen previously provided but later demolished.
Michael Herron Architects have provided details of plans in a supporting statement as the Trust seeks to secure listed building consent from ABC Council in order to proceed.
The new accommodation would take the form of “a single-occupancy supported living unit for a care leaver”.
The design and access statement explains that an estates feasibility report confirmed the “strategic need for sheltered accommodation for care leavers and identifies the Gate Lodge as a viable asset”.
The property is described in its current state as “uninhabited, comprising an existing shell with an earth floor and approximately 60 sqm internal area”.
Situated 100 metres from the Mullinure entrance, the Gate Lodge “forms part of the historic entrance sequence to the former St Luke’s Hospital estate and retains its original massing, proportions, and architectural character”.
The single supported living unit planned comprises a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and dining area and living room, with the proposed works taking a “minimal-intervention, conservation-led approach” which would ultimately see it “brought back into meaningful, sustainable use”.
A “modest rear extension” – of around 20 sq metres – will “accommodate essential domestic facilities”.
It has been “positioned to minimise visual impact and follows the footprint of an historic structure previously removed”.
All internal works will respect original wall positions, where feasible, use materials compatible with the building’s historic fabric, and introduce modern services discreetly “to avoid harm to heritage features”.
The design and access statement adds: “A private rear garden is proposed to provide essential amenity space and privacy, with the addition of a one metre high garden wall and yard, materials to match existing. This reinstates the historic garden arrangement shown in archive drawings.”
The front garden will include a 1.5m boundary hedging sitting behind railing/fencing, a new pedestrian access from Loughgall Road, and existing car parking space.
These works will “enhance the setting while maintaining the lodge’s historic relationship with the road”.
It will provide a “secure private outdoor space”, with “proximity to support services within the St Luke’s campus”, and a design which “supports a young person transitioning to independent living”.
Boundary treatments and lighting will “ensure safety without compromising the building’s heritage character”.
The works also include a complete new electrical and heating system, including air source heat pump, along with modern insulation, upgraded windows and doors in “heritage-appropriate styles”.
According to the architects: “The works represent a positive conservation outcome, preventing further deterioration of a currently unused listed asset.”
In addition, the plans meet a “critical accommodation need for care leavers” and will see the Gate Lodge “removed” from the BARNI register as a “building at risk due to not being inhabited”.
The application will now be advertised shortly.
