Dunelm House Including Landing Stage, Steps and attached Walls

Dunelm House, Students' Union Building

A Brutalist style students' union building constructed between 1964 and 1966 by the Architects' Co-Partnership, with Michael Powers as partner-in-charge, Richard Raines as job architect, and Ove Arup and Partners as engineers.

The building is constructed from reinforced concrete, partly in-situ and partly pre-cast, and clad in foamed slag aggregate from the Consett Steel Works, with some board-marking visible. The roof is formed of pre-cast concrete interlocking slabs sixteen feet long by two inches thick.

The building sits on a steeply sloping site between the Grade I listed Kingsgate Bridge and the River Wear, stepping down the ravine across seven levels. The design employs a broad central staircase that links the road and river, with wide landings on each level from which accommodation is reached on either side. This creates small-scale massing to the street and large-scale massing to the river gorge, allowing bars and cafes to be built on several levels and to take advantage of views across the gorge. The roof comprises a mixture of flat and east and west sloping forms, creating a serrated roofline above the eaves on all elevations, with a small central roof garden incorporated. Rainwater is managed through concrete gutters set within the building structure, with outlets provided by chains and gargoyles in some areas.

The principal spaces include bars, a cafeteria, the Margot Fonteyn Ballroom and a gymnasium, with ancillary accommodation around them. The largest rooms, including the gymnasia and ballroom, are deliberately positioned at the bottom of the site, while smaller offices occupy the top. Student and staff accommodation was kept separate within the plan.

Mullioned windows are set at a maximum of six-foot centres with a minimum of one foot, with opening lights at two-foot centres. Much glazing is fixed directly and set back behind irregular projecting mullions; the remainder is in metal surrounds. The mullion pattern is repeated in clerestory glazing within the roof, which serves the cafeteria, main bar and staircase.

The west elevation facing the river is broken down into a series of concrete boxes terraced into the riverbank, ending with a boathouse and landing stage reached via steep steps with its own river entrance. This elevation is divided externally into three vertical units: the solid wall of the projecting Margot Fonteyn Ballroom dominates the central unit, with the cafeteria and roof terrace above featuring a clerestory window; to the right stands the solid wall of Vane Tempest Hall, with coffee bar and separate terrace and clerestory windows above; to the left is the former staff quarters situated above a car park level. The south side features a steep flight of steps leading to the upper level entrance, and a large asymmetrical mullioned window to the main range. A replacement plaster bust of Ove Arup stands to the right of this entrance. A prominent corner chimney is set in its L-shaped corner behind the main range within a sunken yard. An original entrance on this elevation at New Elvet corner is fitted with replacement double doors, accessible by ramp and steps from the bridge and shallow concrete stair from the roadside. The east elevation has an entrance on the level below, reached up a cranked covered way parallel to the street from the north, above which rise low cantilevered boxes. The north elevation has a wall pierced by hexagonal openings below a ramp now serving the English Language Unit in the former staff area, which extends over a car park and vehicular service access from New Elvet. The former staff area is reached by separate stepped access and has timber double doors repeating the mullion motif.

The concrete cover of all elevations displays spalling and delamination with reinforcement visible in areas, discolouration is clearly evident, and patch repairs have been attempted.

Internally, the original plan is retained with entrances at the rear, from which views of the building descending to the river terraces are gained. A large staircase forms a spine through the building with wide landings to each level, serving the various rooms; some landings provide fine views of the east end of Durham Cathedral. Access from the road to the ballroom is provided via this central staircase. The boathouse at the foot of the slope is entered from outside. Throughout, floor coverings are mostly quarry tiled and vertical and horizontal surfaces are exposed board-marked concrete, now painted over except in some storage and plant rooms. Walls are almost all structural and support the cantilevered form as the building descends the ravine.

The topmost floor comprises mainly offices and the former caretaker's flat, which retains its original plan with a series of rooms to the lower floor and a mezzanine level reached by staircase. Bars, a shop, offices and the cafeteria occupy the two intermediate levels, with a central roof garden accessed from the upper of these floors. The cafeteria is one of the principal spaces, a double-height room with clerestory glazing and curved acoustic ceiling formed of slatted timber, with an inserted raised floor over part of it. Doors through the west wall give access to a two-level roof terrace. The former coffee shop on the same level has been converted to open plan office. Below these floors is Vane Tempest Hall, a smaller performance space with wooden stage, timber-boarded floor and acoustic boarded roof. Concrete steps lead down to the principal hall, the Margot Fonteyn Ballroom, with sunken sprung floor and high acoustic boarded ceiling. These large volumes are deliberately concealed by their location at the bottom of the site. The former staff accommodation at the north of the building, including dining room, bar, lounge and guest rooms, has been converted to offices; some spaces remain intact while others have been pierced and subdivided.

The various interiors are plain and simple. Concrete furniture was originally built-in and purpose-designed; at least three fixed concrete benches and three ash trays remain on two of the landings, and a single concrete bench survives on the bar roof terrace, but otherwise most original fittings have been removed. A single original pivoted and frameless door is retained on a semi-external door adjacent to the former coffee shop. Various service and plant rooms are arranged across several floors, and in some of these, the underside of ceilings below the original roof shows water staining indicating water ingress.