History
Plas Menai was built for the Sports Council of Wales as a purpose-built national centre for water sports and outdoor pursuits in response to recommendations from the Welsh Joint Education Committee. The Sports Council of Wales had been established in 1972, and in 1973, the Welsh Joint Education Committee identified a need for a mountaineering and water pursuits centre, later also recommending that a residential sailing centre for Wales should be established. The site at Griffiths’ Crossing was eventually chosen for this centre, its location offering immediate access to the Menai Strait, as well as proximity to the Snowdonia mountains. In 1977, the first schedule of accommodation was produced, and Bowen Dann Davies were appointed as project architects. Construction started in November 1978, and the Centre was officially opened on 23rd September 1983, though work was not completed until 1985. The final construction cost was £3,787,000.
The complex was designed by Bill Davies of the Bowen Dann Davies Partnership with Jonathan Knox as project architect. The Quantity Surveyors were Patterson, Seaton & Co., the Structural Engineers were W.G. Curtin & Partners. Service Engineers were Donald Smith, Seymour & Rooley.
Originally known as the National Outdoor Pursuits Centre, it became the National Watersports Centre in 1985 and then in 2014, the National Outdoor Centre, reflecting the broader range of activities offered.
The original brief was for a centre that could provide ‘residential courses in the value and techniques of activities related to the environment on land and water’. It was originally intended to cater for 60 people plus staff. It was designed to provide a range of facilities on a single site, including office and staff accommodation, teaching rooms, kitchen and dining room, bar and recreation rooms, bedrooms, swimming pool, laundry, drying rooms, and an indoor climbing wall.
The centre was originally intended to have a further bedroom block as a third phase of construction. This would have extended from the kitchen block on the SW corner but was never constructed. Some alterations have been carried out as part of the continued operation of the Plas Menai as a National Centre These include the installation of roof mounted solar panels on the SW facing roof slopes around the entrance, some window replacement, pool changing rooms and changes to internal joinery detail.
Plas Menai won a Gold Medal for architecture at the National Eisteddfod for Wales in 1985, and an RIBA Commendation in 1986.
Exterior
Outdoor education complex in a distinctive modern vernacular idiom. The complex combines a range of facilities in a series of linked blocks. These form a staggered plan in three main ranges, accommodated to the sloping site and falling away towards the shoreline, comprising four main levels in all. The site pivots around a cluster of blocks that house the main public areas and form its central core: here, lounges, recreation rooms and offices are housed over the upper three levels of the site. From this central core, the advanced SW range houses entrance and reception, office and dining facilities over the top two levels of the site; the main accommodation block runs back to the NE, housing swimming pool, bedrooms etc, over the second and third levels of the site. From the central core, a NW range steps down towards the Menai Strait shoreline, housing stores and some sports facilities mainly on the first and second levels of the site. The natural stone climbing wall in the upper end of this range was designed by John Jackson, chief instructor at the National Mountain Centre at Plas y Brenin between 1957 and 1975, and first head of Plas Menai. The NW range is linked to a NE range housing workshop space, wet classroom accommodation etc forming the lowest level of the site. The NE and NW ranges form two sides of a courtyard, the upper range of which is formed by the central core, which rises from the lower level above a battered stone-faced retaining wall.
The complex presents a varied and picturesque composition, in which each range is stepped in plan and height, giving subtle external expression to internal divisions of space and function. Elevations are correspondingly varied in surface treatment, for example in the use of slate-hanging and in the changing rhythm of the horizontal bands of fenestration. Rooflines are also broken not only by their stepped heights, but also by extensive use of sweeping outshuts, and in parts of the SE range, by upper storeys pushed up through the main roofline, which forms a skirt of slate beneath long lines of attic windows; other roof detail includes an inset balcony on the outward facing slope of the SW range, and a prominent angled stone chimney stack in the SE range. A harmonious composition throughout is achieved by consistent use of angles and slopes. In the SW corner of the SW range, a stone flying buttress appears to anchor the building to the ground.
The various blocks are unified by a consistent architectural language and tight palette of materials. The dominant elements are the huge spreading Welsh slate roofs (concealed in part by photo-voltaic panels) with low eaves and deep overhangs on projecting joists. The walls are mostly roughcast with some use of exposed stone and slate-hanging. Windows are usually arranged as long horizontal bands immediately beneath the eaves, in an asymmetrical but tight rhythm articulated by the use of external applied mullions. Some have been replaced with UPVC, but the original dark-stained timber windows still dominate visually. The palette of material and detail varies according to the function of each block – for example the main accommodation block in the SE range has near-continuous glazing in both principal elevations, whereas the NW range presents larger expanses of roughcast walling. Structurally, the walls are load-bearing (stone and brick) combined with supporting columns and beams, with pre-cast floor structures and laminated timber roofs.
As set out above, some external alterations have been carried out including the installation of roof mounted solar panels, window replacements and additions as well as works to the rear entrance (from main car park). These C21 alterations and additions are not of special interest.
Interior
The general arrangement and disposition of interior spaces survives substantially as built, and although some changes have been made, particularly in the reception area, bar and lounge, sufficient original detail survives to enable the building’s remarkable aesthetic to be appreciated. In the principle public areas, much use is made of exposed stone, concrete and wood (now painted in places), with exposed stone in main staircase and chimney breast in main lounge (now concealed in a store cupboard), extensive tongue-and groove boarding, and chunky joinery detail to staircases etc. Joinery detail is consistent across the site although the original dark stain has been painted in some areas. Most doors have been replaced by standard fire regulation doors but their distinctive boarded architraves survive, and many storerooms and some cupboards retain the original doors, characterised by applied timber strips that echo the externally applied mullions of the windows. Original bespoke furniture including the reception desk and bar have been replaced.. .Refurbished areas at the pool level and dining hall serving bay are identifiable by a change in materials and finishes. All en suites to the dormitories have been refurbished. These C21 alterations and additions are not of special interest.
Reasons for Listing
Included at grade II* for its special architectural interest as a major work by one of the leading Welsh architectural practices of the post-war period. It clearly demonstrates the principles of the vernacular modernism developed by Bill Davies and the Bowen Dann Davies Partnership, fusing modernist design principles with sensitivity to climate and landscape context. The building is a fine exemplar of this style and marks an important contribution to the development of a Welsh architecture for the late C20. Beautifully designed and crafted for both its purpose and its location, and coherent in form and detail, Plas Menai provides a stylistically elegant response to an ambitious educational brief.
Group value with associated accommodation block to the south.
External Links
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
Recommended Books
Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas