WSRM was commissioned to design the St. Bernard’s School refurbishment project, in May 2013 for the Education Department of the Government of Gibraltar, and the project was awarded based on an ideas competition submitted by a selection of local architects. The scheme aimed to provide a flexible joint use of amenities, shared by the two schools accommodated on the site, whilst retaining as much as possible of the original historic buildings. From the beginning there were conflicts between the functional requirements of the proposed new use as educational facilities, and the historic sensitivities of the existing structures. It was therefore important to strike a good balance between these opposing requirements, and whilst some of it had to give way to accommodate the new facilities, like the sportshall to the rear, the more visually dominant and important facades and structures were eventually retained. To draw a distinction between the existing historic buildings and the new additions, a conceptual architectural language of different finishes, fittings and colour schemes was used to assist the viewer in determining and differentiating between the ‘new and the old’.