Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has won planning for its £5.8 million “language immersion centre” at a 13th century priory in Gloucester.

The three-storey educational facility will replace 19th and 20th century industrial buildings, which were built on the south-east quadrant of the medieval Blackfriars Priory.

The new brick structure is intended to repair the form of the cloister courtyard of Britain’s best-preserved Dominican priory.

The building should transform the priory into a public venue with a new public route across the site linking the cloister with a proposed new square.

It will also reconnect to remote upper floors of adjoining priory ranges to make these accessible to all, said the practice.

Feilden Clegg Bradley previously led the design team for the site’s masterplan, which is regarded as the critical project within Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company’s plans to redevelop the city. The project area contains more than 40 listed buildings, 23 of them grade I, and two scheduled ancient monuments.

Feilden Clegg Bradley partner Geoff Rich said: “We have been working in Gloucester and at Blackfriars Priory for many years and are excited by the prospect of completing the historic cloister with a contemporary piece of architecture.

“This project re-establishes the priory as a pioneering seat of learning which brings an element of continuity with its historical function.”

The immersion centre, targeted at teenagers, will concentrate on less-taught languages such as Russian, Mandarin and Arabic.

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