Architects Buckley Gray Yeoman have added a modern twist to a Brighton language school’s Grade I-listed Regency building.

Education First, housed in the 1827 structure, tasked the practice with refurbishing and opening up the historic space while paying homage to the original design by architects Amon Wilds and Charles Augustin Busby.

Buckley Gray Yeoman director Paul White says: ‘Our challenge in the design of Education First was to remain sensitive to the existing building and its heritage while creating a contemporary piece of architecture which enhances the school’s functionality and support its ethos.’

Buckley Gray Yeoman retained original features such as the property’s patterned Victorian flooring, decorative mouldings and cast-iron balustrades but reconfigured its narrow ground-floor reception area into a wider welcome hall.

The practice also revamped the school’s 13 classrooms, lecture theatre and cafeteria, as well as relocating its interactive learning spaces, dubbed ‘I-Labs’, to the third floor of the five-storey building.