A NEW £2m monastery will look like “an ocean liner on a collision course” if it is allowed to be built, according to one critic.
Alex Baldwin, conservation adviser for the Victorian Society, has spoken out after seeing designs for the new monastery at the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield.
Mr Baldwin believes building work on the monastery will ruin views of the Grade II listed church which stands two metres away on the Stocks Bank Road site.
He said: “We don’t object in principle to a new monastery being built at Mirfield, but the design and scale of what is proposed for this sensitive historic location is very wrong.
“The curved walls don’t fit in with the surrounding buildings – instead the metal and glass structure looks more like an ocean liner set on a collision course with the church.
“Too many of the changes proposed for Mirfield will cause long- term damage to the listed church. A sensitive re-think is badly needed.”
The Victorian Society has written to Kirklees Council to recommend that the current planning application is refused.
Fr George Guiver, of the Community, told the Examiner the main reason the community was carrying out the refurbishments was to allow better disabled access to the Romanesque church.
Plans are to convert the current monastery into housing. Inside the church, which was designed by Sir Walter Tapper, the original stone floor will be taken up to provide better access.
