Castle Rushen Planning Statement

Application Details

Castle Rushen • Registered Building 24

Castletown Conservation Area

Application for Full Planning Approval

Registered Building Consent Application for Scheduled Monument Consent

Manx National Heritage • Applicant Horncastle Thomas Ltd • Agent

02.1 Description

USE

This application seeks consent to make a number of modest additions to the Castle to improve access for all and to improve the visitor experience. Developing and enhancing the visitor experience, and making certain areas of the Castle more accessible, are important parts of the the Conservation Management Plans for this significant and internationally important ancient monument.

The proposal has been considered in three parts:

• A Improvements to the ticketing arrangements and improvement of the retail space by relocating these from the current side room to the adjacent outer guesthouse.
• B The existing bridge, giving access over the drawbridge pit to the Castle Keep will be removed and replaced. The current bridge is thought to date from the early 20th Century and is in very poor repair, having been recently propped from below with additional timber posts and bracing.
• C A new ramp and steps are proposed to be added to the rear half of the Keep.

Two of the rooms accessed from the Keep house are Castle's main introductory exhibition and video presentation. Currently, access from the Keep to the ground floor Castle rooms is via a large threshold step. The new ramp would significantly improve access to these rooms for wheelchair users and for ambulant disabled visitors.

From the conservation viewpoint, all of the proposals are intended to be reversible with a minimal effect on the existing historic structure. Frange, where required, will only be into joints within the existing stone work and will not cause any damage to the stonework of the castle walls or floors.

02.2 Description

AMOUNT

The amount of development is limited to the elements and areas described above; there is no new development per se, though it includes the reuse and enclosure of one existing covered area (the existing outer guest house). The enclosed floor area created is 21 ha.

02.3 Description

LAYOUT

A New shop

• A The new shop - a ticket area: The proposal to relocate the ticket desk and shop will allow Manx National Heritage to cater better for their visitors' needs and will enable them to better accommodate larger groups of visitors, such as school groups or visiting coach parties. The shop and ticket desk are currently located in a room that is not directly on the visitor route through the Castle; this is accessed via a narrow door and by negotiating a series of single step thresholds. This proposal is to provide a new retail and ticket area in the outer guesthouse. This space, although under cover, is currently open to the elements and is accessed from the street entrance via the open Barbican.

B New bridge in the drawbridge location:

• B The layout and position of the new bridge will generally replicate the existing bridge. The decking for the new bridge will, however, offer an indication of how the original drawbridge functioned; an area of full-width decking will be installed at the castle end of the bridge where, originally, a permanent fixed full-width platform sat over the moving section of the drawbridge. Although the new bridge will not move and will necessarily have balustrades where the Castle drawbridge would not, the difference between the two sections will be legible to the modern visitor.

C New access ramp in the keep:

• C The ramp and decked section, as proposed, will provide both a single ramp (wheelchair) and stepped (ambulant disabled) access along with the necessary handrails. The proposal to use the whole width of the rear section of the keep so that the deck and ramp appear as one simple object, thereby minimising the visual impact, maintaining a balance between providing meaningful and useful access arrangements and preserving and protecting the essential character of the Keep.

The main principles adopted for each of the design elements are that they should be as 'light touch' as possible, that as little disturbance should be made to the historic fabric as possible and that the installation of the proposed elements could be removed without trace, if so required. In order to bring a sense of unity to the current proposals, a common palate of materials is adopted; timber decking appears in each section, handrails will be in a circular-section hardwood, belustery in galvanised steel rods.

A New shop

• A The new shop - a ticket area will be enclosed at both existing openings using simple glazed screen doors with brushed stainless steel hinges.
• A A new shop - a ticket area will be enclosed at both existing openings using simple glazed screen doors with brushed stainless steel hinges.
• B A new shop - a ticket area will be enclosed at both existing openings using simple glazed screen doors with brushed stainless steel hinges.
• C A new shop - a ticket area will be enclosed at both existing openings using simple glazed screen doors with brushed stainless steel hinges.
• D A new shop - a ticket area will be enclosed at both existing openings using simple glazed screen doors with brushed stainless steel hinges.

B New bridge in the drawbridge location:

• B The layout and position of the new bridge will generally replicate the existing bridge. The decking for the new bridge will, however, offer an indication of how the original drawbridge functioned; an area of full-width decking will be installed at the castle end of the bridge where, originally, a permanent fixed full-width platform sat over the moving section of the drawbridge. Although the new bridge will not move and will necessarily have balustrades where the Castle drawbridge would not, the difference between the two sections will be legible to the modern visitor.

C New access ramp in the keep:

• C The ramp and decked section, as proposed, will provide both a single ramp (wheelchair) and stepped (ambulant disabled) access along with the necessary handrails. The proposal to use the whole width of the rear section of the keep so that the deck and ramp appear as one simple object, thereby minimising the visual impact, maintaining a balance between providing meaningful and useful access arrangements and preserving and protecting the essential character of the Keep.

03 Access

03.1 Vehicular + Transport Links

The Castle is well placed to take account of pedestrian access via nearby parking areas and transport links. These elements fall outside of the scope of the proposals; the purpose of the proposals is to improve access for mobility-impaired visitors within the Castle.

03.2 Inclusive Access

The general aim of the proposals is to improve access within the Castle for mobility-impaired visitors.

A New shop + ticket area: this will be achieved relatively simply by raising the floor with a new timber deck, thereby incorporating the existing Castle thresholds into the floor level of the shop.

B New bridge in the drawbridge location: The existing bridge is of a timber construction with a timber handrails either side at 900mm above the deck, balusters at roughly 2m centres and a second rail at mid height (490mm). The existing bridge does not comply with the current requirements for access by wheelchair; or ambulant disabled person, by some margin. The bridge has a 140mm timber step at the entrance end and the gradient is approximately 1:12 over a length of 9.1m. Although the large stone walls flanking the bridge would make it difficult to fall from the side of the bridge (and no such occurrences have been reported over the bridge's 100 year life), the centre rail and absence of other guarding would make it easy to climb on.

It is, first, proposed to remove the step, thereby creating a level access to the bridge at the entrance. There is a similar step at the Castle end but as this threshold forms a part of the historic fabric of the Castle, rather than a part of the bridge, it will not be possible to remove this. The consequence, which must be weighed against the benefit of removing the step and providing level access at the entrance end of the bridge, is a marginal increase in the gradient of the ramp, from 1:12 to 1:10.5. The length of the ramp would also be reduced marginally to 8.9m.

In relation to the historic context of the bridge, it is not considered possible to introduce any landings into the slope of the bridge and, whilst it is acknowledged that the gradient of the ramp could prove problematic for wheelchair users to navigate unaided, it is noted that, when open, the Castle is well staffed with attendants on site to assist wheelchair users if necessary. It is also acknowledged that the length and gradient of the ramp could prove difficult for ambulant disabled persons to use. Many National Heritage undertake to have a wheelchair available on site for the use of ambulant disabled persons, to be assisted by a member of the Mans National Heritage staff whenever required.

It is noted that the handrails for the bridge will be set at a height of 1m above the deck of the bridge, complying with part K of the building regulations. Large flank walls are adjacent to the bridge, generally average approx 500mm from the outside of the handrail, to a maximum of 560mm. The height of the flank walls above the deck reduces from approximately 1.5m at the entrance end to approximately 1.2m at the castle end.

Many National Heritage have noted that this bridge has been in use for c.100 years (with a lower handrail height of 800mm and a single, climbable, rail at mid height) without incident.

On the basis that it is vital that the form and appearance of the bridge does not harm the character of the Scheduled Ancient Monument, that a management plan can be implemented to reduce the impact of the length of the bridge on wheelchair or ambulant disabled visitors, the necessary relaxations required from the Building Regulations will be sought for this part of the scheme at the time of application for Building Regulations Approval for the proposals.

C New access ramp in the keep: This will provide access to the ground floor areas of the Castle's exhibition rooms, to the general standards expected in Part M of the building regulations. Level access is currently unavailable in this area.

The ramp will comply with the requirements of part M, having a maximum length of 4.8m, its lower end being tapered to account for the slope in the keep's stone flag floor. The gradient is 1.15 (ie within the maximum length set out in part M for this gradient). The ramp has been designed to allow access to the three ground floor doorways that currently have a stepped access, all providing access to the Castle's primary exhibition spaces. The width of the ramp increases as it rises and the level area of decking then curves around the Castle's wall. Both sides of the ramp have a continuous handrail, extending 300mm beyond the start of the ramp, spaced at 1500mm at the bottom of the ramp, opening to 2.7m at the top. One of the handrails sits off the castle wall (75mm); this handrail does not continue 300mm beyond the top of the ramp as this could form a hazard to visitors passing the end of this wall. The curved section of handrail extends past the wall and down the two steps, finishing 300mm beyond the bottom step. There is a second handrail at the other side of the steps, also extending 300mm beyond the bottom step, this time returning at right angles towards the castle wall.

The level of the new deck, set to best serve the doorway threshold levels in the keep, does not, however, correspond to level of the bottom tread of the adjacent stone steps. The stone steps form the exit route from the bed of the upper floor rooms during the castle visit. The risers are uneven and range from 202mm to 216mm, with the bottom step currently being 244mm; there is a gate at the bottom which is to stop visitors going up the stairs and going the wrong way around the castle. There are two options available to accommodate this condition, which will be evaluated once the deck has been installed.

01 To accept that there will be an uneven step at the bottom of the stone staircase: The bottom step would be approximately 75mm. The floor surfaces would be clearly distinguishable between the steps and the deck (ie stone tread vs timber decking) and the step would be on the line of the exit gate and could have a small warning sign if required.

02 The steps date from the castle's Prison period, relatively recent history, and are of poor quality and irregular construction (stone and brick pieces). Following discussions with the Inspector of Ancient Monuments, it was suggested that a number of the lower steps could be "feathered up" to increase their level, thereby increasing the rise on the bottom step. This would be undertaken in a clearly separate and "new" material and would be acceptable on this basis to the Inspector of Ancient Monuments if material were to be added to the steps, not taken away.

01 visitor entrance from Castle Street via Barbican 02 location of portcullis 03 current location of ticket desk and shop 04 tarmac area with steps down 05 flank walls to bridge 06 drawbridge pit 07 the castle well 08 stone steps $\cdot$ the exit from the castle tour 09 castle exhibition 10 video presentation

A outer guard-house $\cdot$ proposed location of new shop $\cdot$ ticket desk new timber deck raised floor to provide level access and accommodate electrical services B new steel and timber bridge over drawbridge pit in location of drawbridge C the castle keep $\cdot$ proposed timber deck ramp $\cdot$ steps with steel edge $\cdot$ balustrading to improve access for wheelchair users and ambulant disabled visitors