As a follow up to his previous talk regarding the Minster Precinct, Alex McAllion Director of Works and Precinct, showed a party of 15 members of York Rotary around the Minster Precinct and particularly the elements of the Centre of Excellence that are nearing completion.
The visit started in the courtyard of St Williams College with Alex explaining about the factors that are driving the precinct developments. In order to progress the plans the Minster went through an unusual process of consultation and agreement of a neighbourhood plan; , that has greatly assisted the planning and consent issues of the development. Alex also explained that deterioration of the Minster continues at an increasing rate and one on thing the Centre of Excellence seeks to achieve is improved craft training, with an associated reduction costs such that output can be increased by 40%, thereby enabling more conservation to be carried out for a given sum of money.
From St William’s College we went to the new Centre of Excellence hub that is due for completion in October. The hub provides admin accommodation along with a large workshop for masons and accommodation for six first year apprentices to live. Providing living accommodation is a radical initiative and, of the six, two will be for overseas mason’s visiting from partnering craft centres. The design of the building incorporates a curved roof, glazed screens that achieve a light area and provide a view into the workshop for those standing on the bar walls. The building is centred around what will be a lovely courtyard area.
We walked back through Deans Park and Alex explained the long term vision for development of the Minster library, the creation of an improved archive store and an accredited museum. The centre will also link with the bar walls via a link bridge with lift access from the museum, that will be a fantastic facility for the disabled who cannot normally appreciate the views that offers.
As we walked from Deans Park to the former stoneyard area Alex stopped to show is a sample of the PV installation that it is planned to place on the Nave roof. The Minster are trying to maximise the use of PV installations on roofs where appropriate to reduce their carbon footprint and to reduce energy costs.
Finally we saw how the former stoneyard area has been altered to create a new technology centre housing a new computer controlled saw and milling machine. These items are linked with a digital scanning system that scans existing stone and prepares the information needed to work new stone. The output from the digital scanning equipment form the basis for programming the saw and milling machine.
The redeveloped hub area incorporates a stone storage facility and within that the stone will all be tracked electronically from the quarry, into store then through the sawing and milling process prior to going to the Centre of Excellence for working. The whole process will greatly reduce labour input. The design of the technology space is again really imaginative with curved roofs and northlight glazing. Once again the roof incorporates a PV installation.
It was a real privilege to be among one of the first groups to tour the Centre of Excellence complex prior to its completion. We thank Alex for being with us before he needed to get away to go to London on the train for project meetings. We all hope that the Centre of Excellence and ongoing developments will all be very successful.
Thanks to Mike Fieldsend for organising the visit.
David Fotheringham
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