Student Accommodation, Liverpool Hope University, Shaw Street, Liverpool

As is common now, the use of indigenous stones is restricted by availability. Happily in this case the design team of Downs Variava were able to use Red St. Bee’s sandstone to produce a contemporary building with a solid and honest track record in the locality. Red St Bee’s is an excellent match for the Cheshire red sandstone quarried in the city but no longer available.

Merseyside has seen many projects develop in Red St Bees and in this case, the figuring in the stone together with it’s excellent weathering properties ensured that the original design ethos was translated effectively into a modern solution to residential challenges.