The Gateway Masterplan in Blackpool involved the purchase and demolition of a number of commercial properties on King Street and Cookson Street. This included premises that were occupied by the King Street Dental Practice which is claimed to be the largest Dental Practice in the Northwest of England.

The Hop Inn is located at top of King Street. The building is locally listed and therefore had to be retained. Blackpool Council were keen to relocate the King Street Dental Practice into the heritage-sensitive Hop Inn. The Hop Inn therefore became pivotal in the masterplan.

The pre-project configuration of the building could not accommodate the space required for a 15-chair dental surgery.

It was therefore necessary to completely reconfigure the internal arrangement and to provide a three-storey extension. The local listing permitted such changes but required the retention of the three street-facing façades.

In this pivotal project BKP enabled:

• a complex remodelling and repair of a dilapidated, listed building with façade retention for a major change of use;
• the retention of areas of existing horizontal structures to minimise temporary façade retention measures and the extent of new structure;
• the re-use of existing foundations by pioneering the use of prefabricated timber cassettes in place of metal deck and concrete.

These innovations minimised the environmental impact of the structure, made best use of offsite manufacturing and delivered considerable savings in programme and cost.

Winner of NW IStructE Best Small Project and Most Sustainable Project 2023

Click here to view / download our entry (1.9MB PDF).