PPIY Architects have a long association with the North York Moors Railway and recently designed their new Carriage Works project as part of the Yorkshire’s Magnificent Journey Project.
The practice, alongside architect John Ives and Alan Wood + Partners, designed over 7,000sqm of carriage storage and restoration facilities located on a site located in a floodplain and adjacent to a fully operational heritage railway. We engaged heavily in client consultation on the project to understand the operational needs of the railway and worked collaboratively with the project design team to understand the myriad of technical, operational, environmental and design challenges that the project faced and put forward pragmatic and creative solutions.
As a leading heritage railway, the NYMR owns and relies upon historically important locomotives and carriages which provide the means of public access to the railway and its environment. The NYMR is one of the largest heritage railway in the country without dedicated storage and restoration facilities to house its historic collection of carriages and maintain them properly.
In 2016 PPIY Architects were approached to design a new and upgraded storage and repair facilities for the railway’s historic rolling stock on land to the north of Pickering Station with the provision of two new facilities for these carriages. The project comprised of the design of two buildings; a carriage stable where operational trains could be securely stored and serviced and a carriage workshop where major restorations of carriages could occur.
The Carriage Stable, covering approximately 5,000sqm, provided covered storage space for 37 carriages, halting the deterioration of these heritage vehicles, along with facilities for operational maintenance. The sheer scale of the building demonstrates PPIY’s ability to provide market leading solutions and deliver them to clients recognised as leading in their specified field.
The Carriage Workshop, approximately 2,000sqm, was designed to provide much needed restoration, repair and carriage overhaul facilities. The existing NYMR repair facilities could overhaul one carriage at once, which was causing the railway to remove carriages from service while they were awaiting repairs. It was identified that this bottleneck was limiting the growth and success of the railway (and the tourist economy it supports) by constraining the services it could operate PPIY’s proposals provided repair capacity for up to 8 carriages to be restored simultaneously with a further paintshop for an additional coach.
The project contained a series of design challenges brought about by its location; on a flood plain and alongside an operational heritage railway. A further key design consideration was how the 22,000sqm industrial site could be blended into the landscape.
PPIY have over 30 years of professional experience in managing railway projects, projects situated within contextually sensitive sites and working with complex client bodies. Working collaboratively with the project team, PPIY were able to overcome complex operational, design and environmental challenges to successfully gain full planning permission.