Found between Stour Street and the Great Stour River, this project offers a thoughtful, contemporary response to the growing need of spaces for stonemasonry education. Built from local stone and other low-carbon, traditional ma-terials, the building quietly reflects Canterburys historic stone architecture in a contemporary tone.
The school will be a joint effort funded by the Canterbury Cathedral Workshop Fellowship and the London Crafts College to provide up to date spaces, workshops and technologies to equip aspiring stonemasons for the ever growing demand for low carbon stone building.
The school will provide a dedicated place for people of all ages to train as stonemasons, progressing through Levels 1-3 qualifications and beyond. By taking established hand skills passed down through generations of professionals and combinging them with modern tools and methods, this project supports the long-term survival of heritage skills in a time where there is greater and greater need for lower-carbon materials and method of construction to reduce the impacts of the Climate Emergency.
The project aims to create accessible routes to meaningful, skilled work with particular focus for those individuals and groups who might otherwise have faced barriers due to economic, social or other pressures. The aims of this project are to help safeguard valued, local and cultural knowledge while contributing to a more sustainable built environment. In this way, the project connects past traditions with present needs and future resilience.
Architecture 
Ben Pardon | Architecture
