LEICESTER CATHEDRAL

Leicester Cathedral's new Heritage Learning Centre is a quietly remarkable piece of architecture, a four-storey contemporary extension that sits comfortably alongside a Grade II* listed cathedral while holding its own distinct identity. Designed by vHH Architects, the building draws on buff sandstone and copper alloy cladding to echo the cathedral's historic fabric, but it is the glazed faience fins running across its principal façades that give the HLC its particular character.

As Peter Hanson of vHH describes it, the fins introduce a new material, hand-glazed, greenish terracotta, to make a clear distinction between old and new, draw visual connections to the surroundings, and mark the building's key public spaces. They also do important compositional work: alongside the ashlar grooves, window proportions, and brass-clad parapet, the fins help correct the building's perceived proportions, drawing the eye upward and lending verticality to what might otherwise have read as a squat form.

We handcrafted the 300 terracotta faience fin units that define those façades, each one manufactured here at Darwen to the precision the design demanded, and carefully coordinated with the window and brise-soleil detailing to meet the building's stringent thermal and airtightness performance requirements.

The project has been recognised with the Regional RICS Community Benefit Award 2026, a well-deserved recognition for a building that genuinely transforms the welcome Leicester Cathedral can offer to its city.