The Lanes, Nelson St,  Bristol.

The Lanes is a Listed Grade II former Employment Exchange building of 1931 built in the Civic Classical style. Its fine red brickwork comprises a heavily  rusticated base with two storeys above and a boldly articulated façade onto Nelson St. The site which adjoins the ancient line of the old City wall rises steeply so that the rear ground level is a whole storey (some 5 m) higher than the front. Behind the acute angle L-shaped plan an external courtyard is enclosed by a high concrete retaining wall. At the lower (Nelson St ) level  is an outside courtyard.  This slightly gloomy triangle is to be enclosed with a new roof deck at first floor level, providing an auditorium for live music below and a courtyard garden above, the latter introducing one more to a chain of small green pockets that punctuate the pedestrian route along the line of the old City wall.

The project involves a complex system of existing and new escape routes which also serve to integrate the new facilities with the reorganised spaces within the existing building.

Planning and Listed Building Consent have been applied for and granted, although work has not yet begun.