A former police station is now in the custody of a thriving architecture practice.
And the job of converting the Old Police Station at Bridge Lane in Holmfirth to its new use is proving a labour of love for Natalie Garside, a partner at the firm of A+DP Architecture and Design.
Natalie, who lives at New Mill, is closely involved in the project, which includes creating a spacious reception area at the front of the building and carrying out internal alterations to form offices and meeting rooms.
There are also three holding cells which once held local felons, but which are now being converted to new uses.
“We have been in here since February 14 last year,” says Natalie. “We bought the property 12 months before that, but we have been so busy doing other people’s projects that this has become a work in progress!
“We have re-roofed the building, installed new windows and a new heating system and new electrics.
“The basement also had to be tanked. The building was also part of the next door college at one time and the boiler for the whole complex was in the basement. It was as big as a car, but still had to be removed!”
The new premises have also served another purpose. The Old Police Station was one of the fringe venues for Holmfirth Art Week, providing gallery space for a number of pictures.
Before moving to its current address, A+DP rented premises on nearby Huddersfield Road. Natalie says: “We had been looking to move for quite a while, but couldn’t find any premises that were suitable.
“It was originally an old terraced house and we were on four floors, which was not ideal for the kind of interaction you should have between people working on different projects.
“We also wanted a better image for what we do. We wanted our own premises.”
A+DP was formed in 1978 by business partners Russell Earnshaw and Steve Greaves. Natalie became a partner in 2011 – the year that Steve retired.
The firm now has three partners with Russell, Natalie and Tony Stead.
Natalie hails from Taylor Hill and attended Newsome High School and Greenhead College. At school, she wanted to work in banking, but her career choice changed dramatically in the sixth form.
“I always liked art and maths,” she says. “I wanted to go to university, but I didn’t know what to do. A couple of people suggested architecture.”
When a friend who had done a degree showed her a portfolio of his work, Natalie was hooked – although it was to be the start of an exacting, seven-year process.
She graduated with first class honours from the three-year BA in architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University, having worked at A+DP during her year out.
The practice continues to offer placements for architecture students.
Natalie also won the Ibstock Brick Award for best-performing student during the first year of her degree course.
Natalie returned to Leeds Met to study for her diploma, during which time A+DP kept in contact.
After about six months, she was regularly working a day or two each week with the firm.
Natalie completed another 12 months working for A+DP before sitting her final exams and – at long last – qualifying as an architect.
She went on to become an associate at A+DP before being made a partner in 2011.
Natalie works mainly on residential projects, saying: “It’s what I most enjoy doing – house extensions and housing developments.
“I do quite a lot of small-scale developments – anything from four to 10 houses – although I am also doing a development for 46 retirement flats at Prickleden Mill for McCarthy & Stone.”
Natalie has also been involved in a number of barn conversions to create stylish homes or offices – as well as projects involving extending or altering petrol filling station forecourts.
A+DP is also working with Waterloo-based signage and corporate branding specialist Principle Global, which allows the architect team to work on projects worldwide.
The workload includes working on car showroom schemes for locations in Korea, Japan and Italy.
Over the years, the practice has played a part in shaping several notable buildings in the Huddersfield area – including the textile and fashion design incubator at the Textile Centre of Excellence on Red Doles Lane and a new head office and factory building for Principle Global,
Says Natalie: “We have a good reputation for getting things through planning by looking at alternative ways of doing things, looking at the arguments for why things should be done a certain way and making compromises that allow things to get done. Across the company we have between 70 and 100 ‘live’ projects at any one time, which we share between the three partners.”
Says Natalie: “Over the years, I have done lots of different things. One of my first main projects was the conversion of two listed buildings in Sowerby Bridge for British Waterways. One was converted into artisan workshops and the other was converted to provide offices, a restaurant and an information centre.”
House conversions and extensions remain a big part of her work – but Natalie says it isn’t always easy to answer the clients’ questions.
“One of the first things people ask is how much will it cost, but it can be difficult to cost a project,” she says. You don’t know what you will find when you survey a building – the structure of the existing house, its foundations, where the drains are located. We carry out all our own measured surveys so we can understand the building from scratch.
“I’m often on site with my hard hat and hi-vis jacket because being part of a smaller company means being involved with the whole process.
“One of the things I like most about the job is the diversity. One minute I need to be smart and in the office dealing with management issues. Within a few hours I can be on site up to my knees in mud or climbing the scaffolding onto the rooftops.”
Indeed, Natalie attracted strange looks from other parents when she once rolled up at the school gates – still in her building site garb – to collect her daughter.
Home life for Natalie revolves around husband Liam and their daughters Ava, seven and three-year-old Mia.
“I like keep fit and I go a couple of times a week,” says Natalie. “I take the girls swimming and ferry them to dance lessons and out-of-school clubs. We also like going out for meals and having family nights in watching films. We have movie nights at home, but we can’t always agree what to watch!”
But Natalie’s enthusiasm for her job is undimmed. “I like going to see buildings and dealing with people and seeing what we can do for them,” she says. “It is satisfying to see how it comes out.”
