Methodist College is a co-educational, Voluntary Grammar School in Belfast with 1,810 pupils and 200 staff. The college contains a mixed building stock, with the earliest structures dating back to the 1860s. The School House (1865) is Grade B1 listed. Over 60% of the College’s accommodation is pre-1950 and was identified as in need of upgrade and refurbishment some years ago. The old classrooms were smaller than the Department’s recommendations, being below 60m2, with seven below 51m2. There was also a general lack of associated storage/resource areas and considerable maintenance backlog. The School House is significant, given its form and location, and it is regarded as the ‘public face’ of the College. It houses the main reception and administration of the College, as well as classrooms, pastoral care, library, staff facilities, sanitary, medical and services facilities. A range of outdated former boarding accommodation/dormitories were largely vacant and no longer required. It had been modified on a number of occasions, with a single storey extension added in the 1960s. Hamilton Architects led the ICT tasked with refurbishing and extending the School House accommodation to provide modern classroom facilities while safeguarding its historic features, such as the Tudoresque entrance, ornate oak-lined reception and original central staircase with heavy timber balustrade. We took forward the design, beginning with the development of an Initial Brief, through to RIBA Plan of Work and Stage 3 Developed Design complete with full performance specification. Subsequently, we procured an Integrated Supply Team (IST) to undertake the Develop & Build aspect of the project, to include detailed Technical Design to completion of RIBA Plan of Work 2013 Stage 4 and construction in accordance with the Works Information.