Restoring Usk's Heritage

This project focuses on heritage; heritage of the site, town and the craft industry. Usk has a strong connection to heritage crafts; with New Market Street during the 1800’s, home to creative industries such as woodcarving, and basketweaving. Usk is uniquely know for its japanning industry, which started in Pontypool in 1684. After a family dispute in the Allgood family, a group moved to Usk in 1763.

The industry which saw the closure of the factory in 1860. Japanning, as well as many other heritage crafts, are listed as endangered; many of these skills are in the hands of individuals who have been unable to make provision to pass them on. Today Japanning is practiced by less than five individuals in the UK, and is currently listed by the UK heritage arts organisation as endangered. The site of the scheme is located to the west of the river in Usk, known as the woodside area.

The site previously was the location of a goods yard which was used by the Monmouthshire railway line, to transport iron to the Brecon beacons. Currently abandoned and disused, the goods yard retains many original features; such as daggerboard detailing, arch windows, vertical timber slats interior, and tracks embedded beneath the ground where the trains would have arrived through the shed. To the east of the goods yards is the office, which is in poor condition. From the hand drawn elevations, the character and unique elements can be demonstrated, with the scheme aiming to maintain and restore these features. The goods yard will be converted into a gallery, museum and shop space, for visitors to view the heritage crafts made on the wider site and scheme, learn about heritage crafts once practiced in Usk, as well as putting the goods shed to a use for the wider public. The language of the wooden slats, daggerboards, and brick materiality have been used to redevelop the once abandoned office, turning this into storage, public toilets, meeting rooms, storage and a top floor gallery space. The gallery space is accessible via the CLT staircase structure in the main shed, inspired by the Garden Museum, Lambeth.

This structure allows the public to access new parts of the goods shed, and view the building from a new angle, whilst also interacting with original feature wall. The goods shed will be insulated, with an added wall composition of 400mm. Creating a new gallery space on the east of the shed, allows what was an external wall, to become an internal partition wall of the two spaces, retaining its character and original materiality. And new lift will be installed in the corner of the building to ensure wheelchair access to first floors.