Conservation and conversion work to create a new headquarters for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations within the grade A listed former Catholic Apostolic Church at Mansfield Place in Edinburgh by Rowand Anderson was completed in 2003.
The project involved comprehensive repair of the building fabric and extensive remodelling of the interior. The main body of the original church has been upgraded to form a multi use venue for the Arts. Two floors of offices have been inserted below the Nave by demolishing dividing walls and lowering the original floor level. An elegant steel structure now supports the Nave floor. The two floors of open-plan offices beneath are ranged around a central void, connected to each other by light-weight steel stairs. They are reached from Nave level by a steel and oak spiral stair inserted into a newly excavated space beneath the massive stone drum of the Baptistry.
