You are here: home » history & heritage » designs on the future

HISTORY & HERITAGE

Designs on the future

Tony Hills has already played a major part in shaping much of Kendal. The Lancaster-based architect, who designed the Lune Valley home he shares with his wife Helena, has come a long way from his Bournemouth roots after reading architecture at Nottingham University before moving to Manchester in 1980.

One of his first professional jobs saw him as the regional architect for Barnados - a job which saw him designing an extension for the charity’s children’s home at Barrows Green outside Kendal more than 20 years ago. He went on to work for several private practices in Manchester, including Covell Matthews Histon where he was the project architect for the Westmorland Shopping Centre. He also designed Blackhall Yard in the late 1980s.

With a background in commercial projects, he set up his own practice in the area in April 1994 and initially worked from an office he had designed in Haverflatts Lane, Milnthorpe. He joined forces with Ross Erwin a few months later. The partners, who both held senior positions in large commercial Manchester practices, now have offices in Manchester and Lancaster. Between them, they attract numerous inquiries and work contracts, most of which have been in north Lancashire and South Lakeland.

“Most of our work has been in Cumbria - but part of that was from having an office in Manchester. “It has worked out very well. Most of our work is repeat business. We try to be quite selective about the clients we work for.”

Mr Hills’s links with The Westmorland Gazette go back several years as he was also involved in earlier plans to redevelop the newspaper’s site. That was when Boots wanted to move from its previous location on Stricklandgate, however the project came to an end when M&S moved from the high street to its current site. M&S’s new store created a new link with Stricklandgate which led to the Elephant Yard development. The Hills Erwin Partnership was also involved in designing this 35,000 sq ft town centre retail scheme which featured work on the listed Woolpack Inn and the Library.

The Hills Erwin Partnership has developed particular expertise in the field of low energy, environmentally friendly design and has completed two area offices for the Environment Agency. Each of these has been awarded an “excellent” rating under the Building Research Establishment’s environmental assessment method. The Agency’s building off Junction 40, M6, Penrith, has a very low energy usage because it faces south to get maximum benefit of the sun; water is recycled, with rainfall used for flushing toilets, while the walls and ceilings are concrete to ensure any heat generated is absorbed in the building.

The partnership’s projects at the Penrith Junction 40 Business Park also included new offices for the North West Development Agency, Royal London Insurance, National Care Standards Commission and Castle Transmission International.

The partnership has also worked on the conversion of the former engineering works to form a sorting office for the Royal Mail at Troutbeck Bridge. Another project was a new 25,000 sq ft industrial unit for Mardix with 6,000 sq ft of integral office space for the manufacture, storage and distribution of electrical switch gear at the Westmorland Business Park, Kendal.

The partnership has also worked on office buildings at Murley Moss Business Village, Kendal, including offices for English Nature and Friends of the Lake District.

Reproduced courtesy of The Westmorland Gazette,
'New Horizon', Friday, March 14, 2003

return to previous page »