Built as the parish church of St. Thomas and St. Clements, St. Thomas’s Church was designed in the Gothic style by architect Mr. E. W. Elmslie and described by Professor Pevsner as “the most ambitious Victorian church in Winchester’’. The richness of the architectural detail is exceptional scheme, from the colourful stained glass and tiling to the soaring arches and of course the sculptural treatment of the stone work with the foliated leaf capitals, corbel effigy’s and tracery windows scheme ("England does not contain a modern church more remarkable for the beauty of its design’’, The Winchester Quarterly Review, 1857). The building was de-consecrated in the late 1960's, converted into the Hampshire Records Office and subsequently occupied by a variety of office tenants and youth groups until the Council decided to sell the property. The challenge was to re-design a previously approved scheme whilst opening up the interior to restore some of the double and triple height spaces infilled by the previous conversion to offices, and exposing the historic fabric in each of the 9 apartments as a contrast to the clean, white, simple lines of the new fabric, kitchens, and bathrooms.