Quay Place comes Highly Commended!

We are delighted to announce that Quay Place, Ipswich has been highly commended in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards Grand Final 2017.

This national award showcases outstanding work in conservation of a single building or a group of buildings or structures and covers renovation or conservation to a new or original use. This commendation follows from Quay Place winning the RICS Building Conservation Award for the East of England earlier this year.

 The Grade II* church of St Mary-at-the-Quay opened to the public, as Quay Place last November, revealing the result of a £5.1m scheme that has been eight years in the making. This regeneration project came about through a ground-breaking partnership between The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) and Suffolk Mind.  It saw the rescue of the ‘at risk’ medieval church and its transformation into a unique heritage and wellbeing centre.

  This is what RICS said about Quay Place:

 ‘The CCT have a proven track record of exemplary conservation and imaginative re-use of Churches that have fallen out of use. St Mary at the Quay posed significant structural questions that had to be overcome in order to provide the building with a sustainable future. An impressive structural engineering solution was enacted to remove highly unsightly and rudimentary previous stabilisation works and which was clearly integrated to provide the structure for additional office space. Conservation repairs have been neatly undertaken and a new extension almost seamlessly added in matching materials. The new use provides a haven of calm within this busy area and it is felt this project will act as a catalyst for the completion of the areas redevelopment’.