Fellside Estates

Wool Factory, Leicester

Conversion of hosiery factory to student accommodation

The Wool Factory is an old hosiery factory in Leicester's city centre, which has been converted to high quality student accommodation. It is ideally situated for De Montfort University's City Campus and the City Centre itself.

Finished to a high standard, the building provides a total of 41 spacious bedrooms across 9 cluster flats. 50% of the rooms offer en-suite accommodation and the other 50% have shared facilities.

Each flat has:
• a large fully-fitted kitchen
• communal dining/living area
• spacious bedrooms with double-beds, fitted wardrobes and storage space and a large workstation
• in-room internet access
• heating and lighting to sustainable and low energy specification throughout.

Additionally, the building provides:
• an on-site laundry
• secure bike storage
• secure door access system
• CCTV cameras to safeguard students' personal safety.

The Wool Factory is situated in the Market Street Conservation Area. This Conservation Area aims to preserve Leicester's industrial heritage from the years of economic growth during the mid 19th century when the hosiery and boot and shoe industries expanded rapidly. Built from local red bricks, the Wool Factory has been designated a ‘Building of Local Interest' by the City Council due to its architectural quality.

The team
Architect: G4 Design
Quantity Surveyors: Richard Julian Associates
Mechanical and Electrical Consultants: BC Design
Structural Engineers: Blackwell Structural Consultants

9 student flats of 2,4 or 5 beds in Leicester's City Centre

The Wool Factory is situated in Leicester's Market Street Conservation area, which exemplifies the early years of Leicester's economic growth and residential expansion. By the mid 19^th century, fuelled by the availability of cheap coal and the rise of industrial machines, a host of small factories and warehouses had appeared in the streets around the Wool Factory.

During the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, the occupiers of the building are listed in local directories as wool staplers or wool merchants, hence the building's new name. A wool stapler purchased wool from the producers, sorted and graded it and then sold it on to the manufacturer.

The Wool Factory itself is mentioned in the Conservation Area report as a building worthy of special mention. The report states ‘The architectural quality of the four storey building at 26-28 Chancery Street stands out. Well built in local red bricks, it has stone and corbelled brick string courses and eaves, a frieze of square sunflower terracotta panels, segmental window arches with brick hood moulds and two gables to the top storey, each with Venetian windows surmounted by a decorative brickwork tympanum.'*

The year-long project to renovate the building threw up some interesting challenges. As always, working in a city centre location brings its own issues; it was impossible to have a separate site office or a materials storage facility so all equipment and materials had to be moved manually through the building. Close liaison with neighbours was also required due to noise and occasional traffic disruption.

Whilst digging the lift pit for the new lift shaft, the team came across an old soakaway which caused drainage issues and therefore had to be resolved quickly before work could proceed. The lift pit work also involved digging below the level of the existing foundations thus incurring a Party Wall issue. A further complication was that one of the buildings covered under the Party Wall notice had gone into administration, necessitating extra legal work.

The team was determined to maintain the historic character of the building, but in doing so bring the building up to the latest standards throughout, in many places exceeding the standards required by current regulations. The new dual hot water and heating system for example keeps energy consumption to a minimum, with an external thermostat controlling the maximum internal temperature throughout the building. The trace heating throughout the building ensures that the hot water in the pipes stays hot, reducing water usage. The lighting in the common areas is all controlled by PIRs reducing energy wastage. All window glass throughout the building has also been replaced.

* The building was originally on Chancery Street - the recent renovations moved the front door, and consequently the building's address, to Marble Street.