HOTEL & HERITAGE ASSETS
Welcome
We are a creative design and planning consultancy for the built environment.
Our team of nearly 35 people includes architects, heritage experts, planners, urban designers, regeneration specialists and urban geographers.
From our offices in Bath and Bristol, we work on projects in sectors including leisure and residential to identify where new value can be created. Our portfolio of work on highend properties, heritage assets and listed buildings spans our 30 years of experience and covers sites across the UK.
For every commercial project, three elements underpin our approach: creativity, process and design. Add to this our awareness of cost, quality and technical regulations, and this combination helps to ensure a smooth project and a high standard of design.
We value the views of our colleagues and gather these through internal critique sessions, in which all levels of staff are involved – from design assistants to directors. By challenging each other, we constantly raise the bar and continually improve, championing
at each stage of the RIBA Plan of Work (planning, design, construction).
Our starting point for every project is always the context – how a place came to be, the way it is now and its inherent potential for the future.
Skillsets
With over 30 years in business, the development of our expertise has never stopped gathering pace and seeking new directions and it is no surprise that these skill sets have naturally led us to establish connections to hotel consultancy, particularly through our links and experience with other leisure and tourist based projects. A wide understanding of place and place creating and of the complexities associated with the legislation and changing environment makes us an attractive option to inspire and deliver many varied projects.
We have a vision for reinvigoration of places and a passion for detailed design along with brand awareness combine with a professional delivery service model, and this allows us to enjoy what we do and do it well.
Planning and Regeneration
Nash Partnership has a long standing proven history of gaining permissions and delivering projects for challenging and complex sites and projects.
Our familiarity with evaluating sites and mapping out design options in line with policies, brings best value right from the start.
Often, the perceived ogre of the planning process dominates the beginning of the process for both client and design team and this is where Nash can make a real difference.
We treat each site and client as an individual and use a design led strategic planning approach, to select the most appropriate plan of action to give the client best value from their asset. We pay particular attention to matching their business model and funding needs and will create a strategy that presents the most cost effective way to progress and fund their scheme to delivery.
Design Awareness
Nash Partnership pride ourselves on the attention to detail that we pay to each project. Every project is unique and we aim to capture and capitalise on the site’s potential and exploit this through the design.
With our extensive expertise in contextual design and the character assessment of both building and environment we are able to advise on the right form and design to meet both functional requirements for use as a hotel and to address any challenges of location and setting.
We are able to give equal prominence to the creation of new buildings and the regeneration of existing, and provide flexible solutions which give best value in varying economic times for many clients including the hotel industry.
Brand Compliance
Each hotel type and brand seeks to deliver its own unique atmosphere and experience and understanding the factors that create this brand and experience is a key part of our delivery process.
The criteria for individuals will be different to group operators. Our portfolio includes projects working alongside branding companies and directly with individual clients to understand and interpret these requirements and encompasses differing hotel types from individually owned family run hotels and boutique style hotels to multinational operators at both budget and luxury ends of the market. This experience gives us an understanding of specific market expectations and an ability to address these alongside individual client requirements.
Attention to Detail
The little things matter.
As we progress with the larger strategic or viability assessments, we are always thinking of the detail that will enhance a building’s sense of place.
It is these details from which the visitor will draw most of their immediate reference.
Delivery
We strive to offer our clients relevant and cost effective advice which draws fully on the experience of the partners and the varied skills, experience, abilities and passions of all of our specialist team.
Nash Partnership has a team focused culture, geared to working with small and large projects alike. We operate a managed work structure which ensures that critical decisions are considered in a proactive manner offering clarity and control to the process when acting as either Architect or project managers.
From conception through feasibility and planning, Nash has engineered many successful permissions through innovative and imaginative solutions and strategies. We design to a budget and manage to a programme, delivering the highest quality using the current technologies and with an inbuilt awareness of environmental issues and sustainability to provide sensible, achievable advice.
Climate and Energy
This is no longer a ‘buzz’ word. It is a real and fundamental part of every design process.
Our holistic approach to sustainability, bridges the distance between the wider government agenda, the challenges of individual building types and contextual variation and this is naturally considered in every project.
Individual beliefs are increasingly important - specifically with the development of eco-friendly places to stay. Our environmental awareness is tested on all projects and our experience in this field is essential for any development in the modern world.
Future Forecasting
As living conditions continue to improve the hotel experience must also keep pace. As a design conscious firm we keep pace with the standards expected of successful hotels at the edge of current design fashion and hotel trends.
Changing legislation - specifically climate change initiatives, social awareness and the effect of the financial climate - must be brought to bear in the creation of the chosen brief for any project. Future proofing is becoming the norm with the fast pace of changing legislation and developing technologies.
Understanding the client’s hotel type and the market direction is essential. Our team structure and working methods allow the client’s brief to be developed effectively and efficiently from the earliest stages and designs and planning strategies to be developed that will be sufficiently flexible to address both current and future market requirements.
IMAGE
Byron Hotel, Woolacombe
Investigative Tools, Recording and Presentational Methods
Heritage assets contain a wealth of information about their history of purpose and use, which is important to understand before works are done that could put this at risk. Sometimes this information is visible and needs interpreting. It may be hidden behind paint or plaster finishes. It may be comprehensible only through study of a building or town’s street plan, or in fragmentary evidence or remains deep in the ground. Often, large parts of an asset’s story, its value and significance may exist away from its site in archives.
To handle historic assets, buildings and sites well we need to know enough to advise building owners on the techniques and tools available to find and interpret this diversity of information. We deal with a wide range of specialists. Some are archival researchers, others wield specialist equipment able to uncover evidence not visible on the surface and often necessarily non-invasive.
To record the detail and condition of historic buildings and reveal archaeological evidence without
destroying it, drones and sonar imaging cameras are now familiar tools.
Historic assets are limited and a precious resource not replaceable if damaged or destroyed. So, before specifying change we have to be able to record what exists in considerable depth. The patina of age, of lichens grown over centuries or the surface evidence of structural decay deep inside timber or stone are important evidence. Whilst getting up to the more difficult to access parts of a building via physical survey remains important, being able to carry away from site the fruits of inspection matter even more. Now, using drones assembling multiple photographs and plotting them into a 3D Cloud Point Software tool, we can produce a virtual model of every surface of a historic building both inside and out. Each hinge, door knob or pane of glass can be available for inspection during specification from the office desk.
When we have such tools to record what exists we have a robust baseline from which to present, describe and score proposals for change. We can
use this to schedule repairs into the 3D model, to record the progress of a project programme, and the results. We can use such tools to educate others, inform our clients, or brief the workforce.
Such tools have added greatly to the confidence with which we undertake our work and how we communicate knowledge and requirements to others.
We often work closely with specialists and are used to engaging with these on a day-to-day basis.
Early in a project we carry out visual surveys to assess the condition of a property, the causes of decay and the repair requirements. We produce tabulated Schedules of Condition and Repair with an assessment of priorities that help clients and contractors in the early stages of planning and pricing maintenance. We often develop these in concert with feasibility study options for alterations to arrive at a planning strategy that has the best chance of securing the necessary permissions.
Technical Depth
Evaluating archaeological reports and scoping briefs.
Accessing research sources.
Scoping and evaluating building investigations and using noninvasive techniques.
Obtaining specialist analysis for damp, dendrology, surface finishes, historic mortar and plaster composition etc.
Sourcing replacement materials and craft skills.
Surveying, photographic and sonar surveys.
Building condition surveys and reports.
Surface removal and cleaning techniques for historic materials.
Installing services discretely into historic buildings.
Passive sustainability in historic buildings.
PORTFOLIOHOTELS
A selection of some of our work. Please do come and talk to us for more information - we would love to hear from you.
Monkey Island , Bray
Grade I
Monkey Island has a unique and romantic setting, sitting within the River Thames near Bray, Monkey Island has a unique and romantic setting. The island houses two Grade I listed pavilions which were last used as a hotel until their closure in 2015.
Years of incidental change had confused the servicing and aesthetic quality of the asset and required sensitive un-picking.
On behalf of YTL International hotel group, we developed proposals to re-vitalise the buildings and included a new vision to improve operational viability.
Facilities now include the ‘Whiskey Room’, dining for a total of 316 split over a restaurant and function rooms, a Spa barge and extensive landscaped riverside gardens.
Gotham Hotel, Guildhall, Bristol, Grade II*
This project came to Nash Partnership in mid-2020, Covid had gripped the country and the implementation of a consent for a large hotel conversion set within the old lawcourts the Grade I listed Bank of England building had stalled on viability. The developer for the site, Trevor Osborne Group, approached us to help them derisk the scheme by splitting the development into a smaller boutique hotel set wholly within the Guildhall and then separately look at a residential conversion and commercial use for the remainder of the site. The key to this was that a new operator, Gotham Hotels, had identified this as an ideal building to expand their brand and operation into the South West. Our challenge was to negotiate the complex planning & listed building consent history for the site to help the team re-design the front of house and bedroom layouts to align with the distinctive fresh approach of the Gotham Brand.
The ‘Gotham’ hotel brand had first gained recognition through their projects in Manchester and Glasgow.
Both had involved high profile city centre prominent listed buildings. Both projects exemplified the exceptional Gotham design ethos, focused on exceptional design, celebrating the character and drama of heritage buildings encompassed within an elegant hotel environment. So, the Guildhall in Bristol represented an ideal project for the Gotham Group to step into and they were particularly keen on looking for local knowledge to help them realise the potential of this prominent Bristol heritage asset.
The collaboration with the client and their interior designers, squid.inc, helped us shape a much more efficient layout for the boutique operation whilst still maintaining heritage fabric integrity. The final scheme managed to deliver 80 keys wholly contained within the Guildhall and still present characterful f&b spaces within the original law court rooms and vaulted basements. The consented scheme is planned to start on site in early 2022 and looks set to become another excellent additional to the Gotham portfolio.
The Mansion , Leeds
The Mansion is a magnificent early Victorian stately home in, and overlooking, the landscaped gardens of Roundhay Park, Leeds. In 2009 Leeds City Council agreed a 25year lease with the Dine team for the refurbishment of the building, and the establishment of Dine at The Mansion as the premier event location for weddings, social and corporate functions. Dine also operates a café restaurant, open to the general public seven days a week.
Dine is now planning to create a boutique hotel at The Mansion & Carriage Houses on Mansion Lane. The hotel will be operated by Dine at The Mansion: it will meet the demand for a new and stylish boutique hotel
in this attractive location and it will enhance the existing event business.
Existing office and administrative facilities for Dine at The Mansion in the main building will be relocated elsewhere. In the space vacated, 16 guest bedrooms will be built; two storeys of seven bedrooms each will be added above the Education Centre, without altering the access or functionality of the Education Centre in any way; to 12 bedrooms will be built within what was the Carriage House and a further three bedrooms will be created within the cottage adjacent to the Carriage House. The hotel will thus have 45 rooms.
Ballogie Estate Hotel and Spa , Aberdeenshire
This exciting scheme included a new 40-bedroom hotel, spa, conference and events centre at Ballogie Estate, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire. Ballogie Estate Enterprises saw this site, next to Potarch Bridge (Grade ‘A’ listed) and in the heart of the countryside right alongside the River Dee, a world renowned salmon fishing destination, as an ideal location.
The hotel itself aims to create several room types to: those with river views, those with valley views, and those with woodland views. The 360 degree openness of the site is a big part of its draw, certainly for generating potential repeat business.
A new purpose built spa ‘barn’, with a unique outside space, will be a real feature.
Food and beverage will be at the heart of the hotel, offering relaxed as well as formal dining experiences.
The events venue will be capable of hosting around 200 people for receptions or 150 people for weddings, conferences and other celebratory events. Designing this to ensure the hotel and spa could still operate independently became an integral part of the development brief.
The scheme received officer support, but was withdrawn prior to formal delegation by the client during the uncertainty surrounding the Scottish independence vote and awaits next instructions.
Lee Bay, Devon
Bordered on three sides by beautiful rolling North Devon countryside, the fourth by the Bristol Channel, Lee Bay is two miles to the West of Ilfracombe and is in the North Devon AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) which covers approximately 171 km sq of coastal landscape. The picturesque village is situated in a deep combe, heavily wooded with a real sense of place and beauty.
Nash Partnership was appointed to the project as architects and planners in early 2009 and immediately identified the importance of developing sensitive proposals and an appropriate public realm for this beautiful location and its currently derelict and tired hotel building.
Previous planning applications made by other teams had been unsuccessful so, leading a team of consultants, Nash Partnership established a working model for a fractional ownership apartment layout with a spa, various dining experiences, the redevelopment of the external pool and facilities, and various garden experiences submerged in the grounds.
Additional garden apartments designed as ‘eco pods’ are also an exciting part of the proposal and although contrary to planning guidelines these are designed to address the issues of the AONB and therefore seek to increase and enhance the beauty of the site.
Planning permission has been granted, though the project remains unbuilt.
Holiday Inn Express , Bath
Situated on the south side of the River Avon in Bath, this project sought to develop the site of the former police and local authority depot to provide a new 126 bed hotel with 15% of all rooms being specially designed for disabled visitors, a separate restaurant and ancillary building along with 96 car parking spaces and room for coach parking.
Whilst not in the centre of the historic townscape the site does lie next
to significant structures such as Hayesfield School and St James’ Cemetery. Consequently, the design was able to utilise the existing mature planting of the cemetery and draw upon this feature to create a significant open space and a suitable setting for the hotel which also contributes to the public realm.
The building provides accommodation over four storeys clad in a combination of natural Bath Stone ashlar with
complementary contrasting panels of yellow ochre render. An entrance and bar area in glazed curtain walling add a modern lift to the otherwise traditional structure. The construction phase utilised off site manufacture and modern methods of construction techniques such as precast concrete walls and floors and bathroom pods to minimise the on site programme.
Holiday Inn Express , Swindon
This existing hotel went through a major overhaul and upgrade to better its entrance sequence, front of house facilities, improve accessibility, and bring some excitement to the shared spaces. A phased upgrade of the rooms was also undertaken to bring them in line with the latest generation of HIX standards and brand compliance. This was carefully planned to enable the hotel to still generate income during the works. 108 rooms
were also added by infilling a courtyard space, and adding a mezzanine level in first floor space originally planned for commercial use. A cafe was added at ground floor level, fronting the street to complete the overall presentation of this building and its offer. Nash Partnership worked alongside Matthews Mee interior designers to complete the project through planning and detail design stages, onto site and completion.
This existing building was planned for a nightclub and consisted of two double high spaces. It had lain dormant for many years so Nash Partnership assisted to achieve planning permission, detailed design and site assistance to convert the spaces to a new IBIS Style city hotel. The scheme also incorporated a new public gym at street level, bringing some much needed permeability and movement to the street frontage. Nash teamed up with Matthews Mee for this project once again.
IBIS , Swindon
Narracott Hotel , Woolacombe
Occupying a prominent location in the coastal town of Woolacombe, the proposals for the future direction of the Narracott Hotel stem from an urgent need to reverse its decline and re-establish it as a commercially successful part of the local community, supporting jobs and offering a range of facilities to suit the demands of the modern market and maximising the length of the visitor season for the area.
The re-vitalisation of the hotel begins with the demolition of the existing staff accommodation and the erection of self-catered holiday apartments laid out over two storeys. A significant part of the development of proposals has been the incorporation of a major rebranding exercise at the earliest stages, allowing the hotel’s owners confidence that their investment is developed to most accurately meet their vision and that of the local community. It also provides an enhancement which complements the natural beauty of the coastal location.
The main phase of work will reduce the existing 78 bedrooms in the main
hotel to 39 spacious bedrooms, all with balconies and a sea view that is the site’s key feature. Guests will be served by a new complex of facilities designed to provide an upgrade across the services provided. This will include new reception and front of house areas, providing restaurant and coffee facilities for both residents and daily trade. In addition, careful attention has been paid to the smaller but important details which will enhance the guest experience such as the provision of surfboard and wetsuit storage and drying facilities away from the guest rooms, reinforcing the hotel’s credentials in the growing local watersports market.
The proposed scheme will be a significant improvement to the townscape. The design quality of the refurbished building will be far higher than that which exists now. The refurbishment will also deliver significant sustainability and energy efficient benefits through levels of insulation and solar shading, which will add to its modern credentials.
Ski Chalet , Sainte Foy, France
With the new ski season fast approaching our client required a full set of drawings to discuss proposed and some existing changes made to the chalet with the local mayor for approval. We worked with the client to quickly turn around drawings in order to allow discussion and works to take place ready for the ski season.
Pools and Spas
Over the last twenty years Nash Partnership has worked on a mix of private residences and hotels where relaxation and or exercise has been part of the brief. We have had the privilege of being part of some wonderful schemes that range from small home spas and gyms right through to hotel schemes that could operate as an independent spa offer.
Wether the need is for a simple sauna and steam room, or a full immersive spa experience, we love designing and challenging the sort of experience that is suited to each moment. On one of our schemes the Spa is floating on a Dutch barge to add something rather unique to the experience but at the same time enhancing the sites distinct characteristics and sense of place.
When it comes to pools, we know what needs to be considered for them to be included in proposals, that’s important. We also love the integration into a scheme that water can bring so they are often more than just a pool. We have recently completed on a reed filtered pool with uv water treatment that is heated via a new water wheel in the sites adjacent river that generates the electricity to do so....all in a listed building setting.
Bath Office
23a Sydney Buildings, Bath, BA2 6BZ 01225 442424
Bristol Office
The Generator, Counterslip, Bristol, BS1 6BX 0117 332 7560
London Office
Two Kingdom Street, Paddington, Lodon W2 6BD 0203 7648777
www.nashpartnership.com
mail@nashpartnership.com
HOTEL & HERITAGE ASSETS RELATED PROJECTS - CONSERVATION
Over the last 30 years, our team has managed projects on several hundred historic buildings, in a multitude of conservation areas, involving ancient monuments, historic landscapes and world heritage sites. Our conservation and regeneration projects have included castles and palaces, theatres and cinemas, MOD and education establishments, historic factories, seaside piers, cathedrals, museums, hotels, churches and homes built over many centuries.
Burwalls, Bristol
Located on the western slide of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in an area of outstanding beauty and designated as a Site of Significant Scientific interest, Burwalls is a Grade II listed mansion in a stunning five-acre parkland setting. This sensitive restoration included the conversion of the main house into four luxury apartments and six new homes. High quality development in a historic setting
Burwalls comprises a historic Grade II listed mansion, stable block and lodge set in mature landscape gardens and grounds in an area designated as green belt within the Leigh Woods Conservation area. It has magnificent views over the Avon Gorge and to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
This project needed sensitive and imaginative treatment to capture and extend the quality of the mature historic setting across the site. By developing a landscape master plan, we could show the potential of new and exciting
interventions that were sensitive to the setting and re-engaged with the grandeur of the building. Listed building consent to convert and develop this heritage asset estate was achieved through delegation, through considered design and stakeholder consultation.
A landscape strategy to guide the management and maintenance of the landscape was also developed to reassure the planning authority that the quality, sustainability, ecology and biodiversity of Burwalls will be maintained in the long term.
Our role on this project was to provide design, principal designer and construction delivery services for this high-quality development which retains and enhances the splendour of the manor house. Finished and detailed to a very high standard, presales are reported to be achieving the highest square foot value in the entire South West.
Claverton Manor, Bath
The American Museum in Britain occupies Claverton Manor and is set in a 125-acre estate which has developed into an educational, cultural and social institution of great value to Bath and the region. A Grade I listed building, the estate lies within the South Cotswolds Area of Outstanding National Beauty and the Bath peripheral Green Belt.
We have worked with the Trustees and Directors over the past 20 years, acting as lead consultants, to care for the estate and work with its historic buildings to create a wide range of new facilities. Our work often demanded the careful balancing of specialist maintenance of the estate’s historic assets while rigorously exploring the potential of available spaces to improve the Museum’s income stream.
Strengthening resilience
Due to concerns about falling visitor numbers, a 10-year phased development plan was developed to re-establish the Museum’s social and cultural identity and purpose. It provided a sustainable business plan that would enable the museum to adhere to a maintenance plan for the estate as well as fund larger development projects.
Our work has included planning, conservation advice, project management and construction design and delivery to repair the historic fabric; create new basement galleries; bring full disability access to the Manor; build a new restaurant; create education facilities, an auditorium and extensive new gardens.
Improving accessibility
We began working with the Museum in 1996. Our first project involved the installation of a lift in the four storey Claverton Manor in response to the Disability Discrimination Act. This would enable all visitors to have good access to the mansion, large parts of which they had previously been excluded from. This small but technically challenging project demanded detailed surveys to demonstrate that a bespoke lift could be accommodated without detriment to the building.
With greater access to all levels, the restoration of the basement galleries opened up further opportunities to extend exhibits to include fragile native American artefacts. Critical to this was the need to ensure that damp issues were resolved. As part of a gallery
redesign, a sophisticated air handling system was installed to help address this problem.
Increased visitor numbers
To meet the demand from increased visitor numbers – a result of the initial phase of work – a re-configuration and extension to the Orangery created a bigger café area and accommodate larger visitor groups.
Creating education and events spaces
To further build on the programmes offered by the Museum, the neoclassical coach house and stables were converted to create flexible space for temporary exhibitions alongside lecture rooms and an auditorium. The stables had originally been designed for miniature ponies and the building had provided difficult to use being a single low space. By lowering the floor by 1.5m and in-filling the segment of the crescent, we were able to create an intimate auditorium with excellent acoustics. The ability to host a series of events added further to the museum’s income stream.
Great Pulteney Street, Bath
The fine Georgian terrace was designed at the end of the 18th century by the architects Thomas Baldwin and is listed Grade I. The six-storey properties were for many years used as hotels, nursing homes, offices and surgeries and n2 was commissioned to investigate converting two of these terraces into contemporary homes.
Our work included a detailed survey and analysis of the floor plans with care being taken to produce designs that enabled residential use suitable
for modern day family living in a historic six-storey town house. We also secured listed building consent and planning approvals, overseeing construction to completion. We established where repairs were required including cleaning ornamental plasterwork and implementing a new entrance from Great Pulteney Street and staircases ensuring both houses had generous accommodation over six floors, and private rear gardens.
Lupton House, Devon
We were appointed to provide heritage services to the Lupton Trust a charitable group looking to return Lupton House to use for the community. Our appointment was for the restoration of an exceptionally early Victorian Italianate garden that formed part of the Grade II* registered Lupton Park. In common with many large historic house schools sites significant repair works are required to halt decades of relative neglect.
The Italianate Garden was extremely overgrown with flower beds lost, large sections of the stone balustrades damaged, decayed or missing, cast ironwork removed and the fountain inoperable.
We were appointed with other consultants to help prepare a Stage 2 lottery bid, undertake heritage research and prepare documentation for Listed Building applications and tender. Via survey work on site and research we were able to show the stone work of the
Italianate Garden had been substantially reconstructed recently, and that the now derelict Aviary building had a greater significance than previously thought being an exceptionally rare building type with only two others on the national list. As a result of our work the Trust is now looking to prepare a revised Lottery Application taking into account a wider scope.
We have been able to identify business strands and conservation priorities for the Trust that will help them manage the property in the future. The Trust is now undertaking a review of their business plan in order to widen its impact, prove viable uses for the Aviary and to understand how the garden can best be utilised to augment their existing business model. In turn this will help attract new visitors to the site increase the level of public understanding.
Set within a Victorian Italianate garden within a Grade II* listed park.
Didmarton Manor, Gloucestershire
A listed Manor House with substantial barns, stables, cart lodges and a cottage. The property had been neglected for many years, with areas being effectively abandoned as they became surplus to use, and the previous owners retreated.
to the best rooms. Our clients were exceptionally concerned that the building’s historic features should be conserved and repaired, including substantial areas of Georgian panelling.
The Manor House is built around the remains of a once Grand Tudor manor, substantially extended and modernised in the Restoration Period.
A single storey late Victorian wing replaced two north bays lost to fire, and approximately half of the southern elevation was demolished in the
late 19th century. Substantial areas of timber panelling survive with the main house with the earliest surviving paint layers dated to the 1770’s by a specialist conservator.
After a period of careful research and investigation together with other conservation professionals we submitted a scheme that received approval for remodelling the interior of the Victorian wing to make a better connection with the main house, re-using semi-derelict areas and protecting the staircases. The renewal of services, particularly the electrical system, and safeguarding the escape from the upper floors has been critical to bringing the building back into use.
Hartlebury Castle, Worcestershire
Grade I
Our expertise in working with heritage assets meant we were appointed to a project at this beautiful Grade I listed building.
We were initially appointed by a charitable trust looking to buy the property, which included the former Bishop’s Palace, with the County Museum occupying one wing and out-buildings scheduled for disposal by church commissioners. Our initial role was to advise on repairs and alterations to this Grade I listed property.
However, it quickly became apparent that the real need was to identify uses that can adapt to the constraints of site and the buildings and attract new uses worthy of its social and cultural status. So we helped the trust to develop a business plan for a successful Heritage Lottery Fund Application. The project focus was then to identify uses that minimise any intervention within the building whilst obtaining sufficient return to justify the purchase of the building.
We showed how one of the castle’s main assets and also a key limitation,
the 18th century Bishop Hurd Library, could be used as the focus of a research and specialist education offer and showed how the building facilities could be of value to the County Council too as educational providers. We also demonstrated how these assets, both internal and external, could be used as a focus for regional, cultural and craft workshops and to give the building status across as many lives and organisations as possible; to the Church, business organisations, the County Council, English Heritage and other consultees. This work enabled the Trustees to prepare and submit applications to Heritage Lottery (and other funders) around a much more visionary and joined up role worthy of many centuries of social and cultural capital. Also, on the strength of our analysis, the Hereford and Worcester Chamber of Commerce agreed to run an Enterprise Centre at Hartlebury Castle.
This won the funds needed to acquire it.
Broadwalk House, London
Nash Partnership was invited to design two bespoke Georgian style grand houses in the leafy suburbs of Enfield. The existing site had a large 1970s house set within a beautiful two-acre landscape. The house was proposed for demolition and we were instructed to prepare designs for two individual houses each approximately 12,000ft² utilising a ground source heat pump.
Our sketches demonstrated elegantly proportioned houses, maximising views and introducing pool houses to the rear gardens. Large living room spaces took full advantage of the garden views with room-width sliding folding doors.
With highly influential neighbours scrutinising our designs, the layouts had to be carefully crafted to address neighbours’ concerns and eliminate any overlooking. As a result of careful
pre-application and considered design, these two grand houses sailed through the planning process and are now fully occupied.
Key Features
Each house C.12,000 ft2
Ground source heat pump used to heat indoor swimming pool
Westley Richards, Birmingham
The relocation of the famous sporting gun manufacturers, Westley Richards, to a new site within the Birmingham gun quarter resulted from the compulsory purchase of their existing historic building.
By combining a new build factory with restored and converted 19th century brick warehouses, we have created a working and visitor environment appropriate for a firm whose work depends wholly on highly skilled and visually refined craft-workmanship for a global market.
The new factory incorporates an underground test firing range and
a modern pressings factory unit for Westley Engineering.
The new purpose designed pressing and tooling factory provides factory floor space and an ancillary space in a steel portal frame. The envelope of the factory is formed using a combination of insulated brick panels, insulated wall panels and light-diffusing panels which maximise the natural daylight to the working areas.
As some of the client’s specialist machines (such as their water lathe) are sensitive to vibration, areas of the reinforced concrete floor were purpose designed to incorporate isolated concrete bases.
James Purdey & Sons, West London
After occupying the site for nearly 30 years, a new purpose-built factory for gun and rifle makers James Purdey & Sons Ltd has provided 2,300m² of new accommodation, a dedicated parking area and arrival courtyard for visitors and a new underground test facility.
A new building to improve working conditions
Located between their Mayfair showroom and the West London Shooting Grounds, a new purpose-built factory was designed to create the best working conditions suitable for one of the finest gun makers in London. The new buildings replaced single storey accommodation with a three-story structure, redesigned to include high levels of diffused daylighting lighting for the craftsmen and engravers.
Dedicated spaces to maximise efficiency
Working in collaboration with a specialist firing range consultant,
we developed the design to create dedicated spaces including a computer controlled, vibration sensitive machine shop, a separate gun making, assembly, finishing and testing floor and an underground calibrated test firing facility. All of the new working spaces are designed around a courtyard above hidden undercroft car parking and adjoin a dedicated reception suite for Purdey’s international customers.
The new building provides a wide range of specialist servicing requirements across the diversity of manufacturing, finishing, and testing which includes the supply of gases and machining coolant and extraction of chemical and combustion fumes, dust and machine waste. This plus taking into account the acoustic demands of building a test facility in a substantially residential area, is one of our most technically advanced buildings completed.
Cheltenham College, Cheltenham
The public school of Cheltenham College is highly prominent. Several listed buildings and landscaped grounds contribute to the character of this part of Cheltenham’s conservation area and to the school’s qualities. When Cheltenham College wished to embark on an ambitious programme of faculty expansion, Nash Partnership was commissioned to advise on building confidence in the organisation’s longterm plans. This involved enabling new facilities to be planned over many years without the frustrations of planning difficulties as each came forward.
To build such an Institutional Development Plan, we talked to all faculty leaders and charted how all buildings were used. We investigated the efficiency of their utilisation patterns with regard to energy use, and movement patterns for pupils and staff around the campus. We identified and
tested where new buildings could be most optimally located, considering the listed building setting or conservation character. We also showed why some buildings are particularly unsuited for their present pattern of uses or why they incur high energy and management costs. By swapping some uses around, higher and more cost effective utilisation could be achieved with lower relative repair and maintenance and heating costs. Our study concluded that some peripheral buildings could effectively be shared with other users and generate income for the College.
From this work, we produced a 15-year Institutional Masterplan which could be endorsed by the local planning authority and Historic England. From this, new facilities and reuse development projects could be rolled out year by year over this term.
Holystreet Manor, Dartmoor National Park
Holystreet Manor is a Grade II listed property located in the Teign Valley near to Chagford within the Dartmoor National Park. Holystreet was one of 16 farms listed in the Doomsday survey as part of the Manor of Chagford and Teigncombe, belonging to the Bishop of Coutances. It is also more recently linked with Mary Ellis and her father who was important in the construction of the first car.
The manor is one of a number of buildings within the immediate estate and grounds, including a garage block with a two-bedroom flat, a stable block with a three-bedroom cottage and a further two-bedroom flat, all of which have individual historic importance.
Nash Partnership was asked to help rationalise the internal layout of
the building which had seen many changes of use over the past 100 years. Natural light and the internal space needed much improvement whilst adding some exciting new extensions to maximise the potential of the unique location of the manor.
A south-facing garden room, natural pool and pool house and new atrium all add to the manor. We were responsible for the planning strategy, conservation advice and architectural design which included early liaison with the local council and parish which helped steer this project through the statutory process and deliver the client’s brief.
Bath Office
23a Sydney Buildings, Bath, BA2 6BZ 01225 442424
Bristol Office
The Generator, Counterslip, Bristol, BS1 6BX 0117 332 7560
London Office
Two Kingdom Street, Paddington, Lodon W2 6BD 0203 7648777
www.nashpartnership.com
mail@nashpartnership.com
KEY TEAM MEMBERS
Daniel Lugsden
BA
(Hons) DIPARCH (Hons) RIBA Partner
Having grown up and studied in areas of coastal and rural beauty, Daniel is very much inspired by context and the importance of understanding a place before designing ‘change’.
Daniel has been with Nash Partnership since 2002 and has been a partner since 2014. He has experience in all phases of a project. Recently, he has used his varied skills and interests in managing brief development, design, presentation and communication to clients and the public alike across sensitive complex city regeneration projects, leisure schemes encompassing hotels and spas, and individual homes of the highest standards. His experience helps to deliver clear and balanced commercial design advice.
Daniel set up Nash Partnership’s Bristol office in 2011, developing its team and skills to make a difference in the region it serves, with many successful projects now making positive change across the city.
More recently, Daniel was runner up in the Architectural Designer of the Year category at the National Building Awards 2019, held at Wembley Stadium. This accolade recognises
the quality and variety in scale and sector of project design work he has undertaken.
A motivated individual and a very keen sportsman with multiple international honours, Daniel applies the same focus and energy to his work whether he is understanding driving influences on the built environment and its architecture or putting pencil to paper.
Relevant Project Experience
Hope House, Bath
Dan led the planning and technical delivery of the regeneration of the Royal High School buildings that occupy the grounds adjacent to Grade II listed Hope House. An ambition project that features 58 new dwellings, with a mix of sizes, arranged around the historic listed Hope House, gardens and parkland. Due to escalating construction costs and the challenges posed by the site, Dan’s collaborative work with B&NES ultimately ensured a distinctive, buildable scheme can be delivered on one of the most spectacular sites in Bath and provides a valuable contribution towards meeting housing demand in a highly constrained city.
Lee Bay Hotel, North Devon
Dan led the regeneration and extension of a former Arts and Crafts Hotel into a luxury apart-hotel with fractional ownership apartments, eco garden apartments, spa and wellbeing facility, outdoor pool and pool house, bar and bistro, fine dining, and local produce kiosk. This is a very important local building situated in an AONB and coastal protection zone, so a sensitive design and strategy are required to consider its impact on not only the immediate site but the village and surrounding bays. The contractor sadly went into liquidation after only a few weeks of starting, and has yet to restart.
Holystreet Manor, Dartmoor
Holystreet Manor is a grade 2 listed property located in the Teign Valley near to Chagford within Dartmoor National Park.
Whilst attractive in its current form, the building and estate had been unsympathetically altered over the course of its life according to its use. In particular, the use as a boarding school caused some fundamental damage to the historic fabric of the building.
On instruction of a private client, Nash’s Planning Team worked alongside the Design and Conservation Teams to steer numerous applications through the planning system to reinstate the building to its original form and purpose along with a number of contemporary alterations. Although some alterations were relatively significant the house is now fit for purpose as a residential property and its long term future is secure.
Notably, despite the conservation restrictions on the site (Listed, Conservation Area, National Park etc), Nash secured the major changes under delegated powers with the full support of the local Parish Council, providing Nash’s excellent negotiation and presentation skills.
Ballogie Estate Hotel and Spa, Aberdeenshire
This exciting scheme included a new 40-bedroom hotel, spa, conference and events centre at Ballogie Estate, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire. Potarch Inn, the existing six bedroom hotel and restaurant on site was in need of much renewal.
The hotel itself aims to create several room types, those with river views, those with valley views, and those with woodland views. The 360 degree openness of the site is a big part of its draw, certainly for generating potential repeat business.
The spa will match the hotel in terms of the quality of its offering, providing a luxurious, pampering spa experience and treatments for hotel guests and day visitors. This includes several treatment rooms and several different internal and external experiences, taking advantage of a new purpose built spa ‘barn’ and its unique outside spaces, even in the heart of winter for those who wish to embrace the location.
Food and beverage will be at the heart of the hotel offering relaxed as well as formal dining experiences.
The events venue will be capable of hosting around 200 people for receptions or 150 people for weddings, conferences and other celebratory events.
The scheme received officer support, but was withdrawn prior to formal delegation by the client during the uncertainty surrounding the Scottish independence vote and has yet to have taken off again.
Holiday Inn Express, Bath and Swindon
Dan has been involved with IHG hotel work for a number of years and has a working knowledge of brand compliance and hotel logistics that are required to successfully design public fronting hospitality venues.
Dan has been involved with the successful design and delivery of Bath and Swindon Holiday in Express hotels and a new IBIS in Swindon.
Robert Locke
Bsc (Hons) BARcH (Hons) RIBA, RMAPs
Partner
Robert studied at Bath University before registering as an Architect in 1988, joining Nash Partnership in 1999 and became an equity partner in 2010. Robert brings extensive knowledge and experience to the practice in both historic building works and new build construction projects. Having worked as a retained consultant for English Heritage for a number of years, he has been responsible for co-coordinating repair and conservation programmes and carrying out condition surveys on key and highly sensitive historic sites throughout the South-West region.
As Partner and Technical Director Robert is responsible for developing the skills and knowledge of the practice that are required to create projects that meet the very highest standards of design and production quality at all stages of development and delivery.
He is able to call upon 30 years of experience in the Construction industry and always applies the practical
considerations of buildability to his schemes whilst delivering quality and award-winning projects. In addition to the design management of projects Robert also offers our clients specialised services covering contractual advice, principal designer and party wall surveyor services.
Relevant Project Experience
Monkey Island, Bray Grade I
This extraordinary Island site, set in the middle of the Thames near Windsor was purchased by the YTL group in 2015. The buildings were in a dreadful condition however YTL could see that with investment there was potential for a unique and exclusive hotel experience sat on the banks of the river Thames. In 2016 we were invited along with a select group of architects to submit ideas and a vision for the site. Nash Partnership caught the imagination of YTL and were successfully commissioned to carry this project forward. The location presented many constraints such as flooding, green belt and grade I Listing status. It also required some delicate handling of some high profile and well mobilised local neighbourhood groups. The scheme successfully negotiated the planning process adding significant footprint to the site and breathed new life into this fantastic building. The final scheme, completed in 2019, included in new bridge onto the Island, a new landing station for a ‘barge spa’ experience, fully restored 18th century frescos within the ‘monkey room’ and a new self-contained energy centre on the island powered by river source heat pumps. This was an amazing project, certainly unique and has proved to be a hugely popular since it’s opening in 2019 and was recently featured in the Guardian as one of Britain’s top ten Island retreat destinations.
Gotham Hotel, Guidhall, Bristol, Grade II*
This project came to Nash in mid-2020, Covid had gripped the country and the implementation of a consent for a large hotel conversion set within the old lawcourts the grade I listed Bank of England building had stalled on viability. The developer for the site, Trevor Osborne Group, approached us to help them de-risk the scheme by splitting the development into a smaller boutique hotel set wholly with in the Guildhall and then separately look at a residential conversion and commercial use for the remainder of the site. The key to this was that a new operator, Gotham Hotels, had identified this as an ideal building to expand their brand and operation into the South-West. Our challenge was to negotiate the complex planning & LBC history for the site to help the team re-design the front of house and bedroom layouts to align with the distinctive fresh approach of the Gotham Brand.
The collaboration with the client and their interior designers, squid.inc help us shape a much more efficient layout for the boutique operation whilst still maintaining heritage fabric integrity. The final scheme managed to deliver 80 keys wholly contained within the Guildhall and still present characterful f&b spaces within the original law court rooms and vaulted basements. The consented scheme is planned to start on site in early 2022 and looks set to become another excellent additional to the Gotham portfolio.
Burwalls House, Bristol
Burwalls comprises a substantial and historic Grade II Listed main house, stable block annex and lodge set in mature landscape gardens and grounds extending to 4.89 acres (1.98ha). The house is situated in an area designated as green belt and is within the Leigh Woods Conservation Area. It has magnificent views over the Avon Gorge and to Clifton Suspension Bridge. Its grounds lie adjacent to the
Leigh Woods an area of National Trust woodland with public access, designated as a National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
10-11 Great Pulteney Street, Bath
This fine Georgian terrace was designed at the end of the `18th century by the architects Thomas Baldwin and is listed Grade I. The six-storey property was for many years used as hotels, nursing homes, offices and surgeries and we were commissioned to investigate converting two of these terraces into contemporary homes. Our work included a detailed survey and analysis of the floor plans with care being taken to produce designs that enabled residential use suitable for modern day family living in a historic six-storey town house. Nash also secured listed building consent and planning approvals, overseeing construction to completion. We established where repairs were required including cleaning ornamental plasterwork and implementing a new entrance from Great Pulteney Street and staircases ensuring both houses had generous accommodation over six floors, and private rear gardens.
Kevin Balch
BA
(Hons) DIPARcH RIBA
Associate, Heritage Studio Director
Kevin joined Nash Partnership from Sophie Hicks in London, becoming an Associate and then Project Design Director. His area of expertise is managing complex design and heritage briefs for clients helping to steer them through complex planning and listed building applications, including changes of use and alterations within the protected greenbelt zones or major alterations to Grade 2* and Grade 1 listed structures.
Acting as project lead on a range of projects from small design led listed building extensions to large multi-consultant teams on projects with a build cost ranging from £70k to £12m. Design work has encompassed items as small as door handles to large purpose built factory’s and everything in between.
As Project Design Director Kevin heads up a small team of architects and technologists that specialises in contextual, well crafted & environmentally responsible architecture within historic environments; his knowledge of these areas of professional interest are put to use in the increasingly specialist tasks of formulating client’s agreements documents and coordinating the necessary broad range of consultant skills for developing complex sites with a heritage focus.
Relevant Project Experience
James Purdey and Sons, London Design of Bespoke Gun Works in Hammersmith for one of the flagship brands of the International Richemont Luxury Goods Group. This project has required exceptional attention to both operation and design and branding detail. On a tight urban
site, it has high servicing, ventilation and acoustic demands and includes a 70 metre underground gun testing range.
Blists Hill Victorian Town, Telford
The project involved the design of a new visitor’s centre and installation of a new steam railway, a funicular railway, the design of a whole new street of Victorian buildings including new car parking and access facilities. The project was funded by both regional and central government and was completed in under a design & build contract managed by Turner Townsend.
Centre for American Studies
Working on various projects since 1986 for The American Museum in Britain, Kevin secured Listed Building consent for phases of work including bringing the facilities up to full DDA compliance, remodelling basement galleries, enlarging and upgrading its catering offer, creating conference and performance facilities, and creating an on-site entertainment suite through the conversion of the Listed stables and coach house to create a new cultural centre for the museum. The £1 million development provides new multi-purpose performance space with adjoining lecture spaces and accommodation for museum staff within the stable yard of the Grade 1 building.
It was completed in 2011. Their facility has greatly benefitted the commercial and cultural offer of the museum.
Key skills:
Feasibility and Appraisal
Design & Risk Management
Conservation Management
Heritage & Listed Building alterations & change of use
Greenbelt and Planning advice
Bespoke Design, Construction & Site Delivery
Specialisms:
Working with historic structures, including bespoke design led commissions and complex briefs with multiple clients.
Bruce Clark
Bsc BARcH RIBA (SCA) AABC Associate, Heritage Specialist
Bruce is an experienced Conservation Architect with a practice career that began in 1986. His knowledge of historic building is extensive and has included career phases in East Anglia, London and the South West He is on both the AABC and RIBA Conservation registers, and has joined the the Bristol, Bath and Wells, Salisbury DAC lists.
Bruce has practical skills in researching and evaluating the history of buildings from an environmental, construction and design perspective and uses his knowledge to frame the case for change with optimum specifcation of repairs and construction skills derived from an understanding of buildings fabric.
His experience has included hands on feld survey work, measured surveys, schedules of condition and repair of listed structures for timber framed barns and cottages, brickwork maltings, mills and houses and stonework repairs to mill buildings, town houses, stables and cottages.
His understanding of history from the social, economic and environmental perspective means he is well versed in resolving the conservation criteria with conficting needs of the brief, legislation and fnancial reality, taking his cues from the building.
Bruce leads our Conservation Team and is particularly interested in the environmental issues that come from with retaining existing buildings in use; in the framework of current and developing patterns of use and legislation. In particular he is a strong advocate of learning from the millennia’s worth of building experience that history provides. This is refected in his work with re-using historic buildings and developing new sustainable uses for existing structures whether Grade 1 listed, or of more modest stock.
Bruce guides the practices development and understanding of sustainable issues, looking beyond the immediate impacts into how buildings work with communities. He is a strong advocate of addressing and using inherent passive sustainable qualities of both existing and new buildings above an over reliance on technocratic solutions as being inherently more robust and sustainable.
Relevant Project Experience
Hartlebury Castle Grade I
Heading the team working appointed in August 2010 by Hartlebury Castle Trust to help develop a scheme for re-using the former Bishops Palace with an internationally recognised Georgian library. The current buildings are mostly of C17th construction with the remains of the moat and the original parkland setting with gate lodges, former carriage housing and stables blocks all within a protected landscape. Part of the main house and some of the out buildings are occupied by the
County Museum with whom we have been developing a comprehensive plan for the whole site, where different activities support each other. The project focus was to identify uses that minimise any intervention within the building. The scheme has obtained HLF Phase One funding.
Didmarton Manor Grade II
A Grade 2 listed Manor House built around the remains of a once grand Tudor manor, substantially extended and modernised in the Restoration Period, with large areas of early Georgian panelling intact which had been neglected for many decades with whole room areas being effectively abandoned. We were appointed to advise on the repair and restoration of the 17 and 18 century wings, together with re-ordering and extending a late 19 century service wing and demolishing 20th century outbuildings. First phase of work is due to complete later this month.
Blists Hill Museum, Ironbridge
Bruce was responsible for the scheme to recreate Victorian shops, houses and workshops to form a new Upper Town area at Blists Hill Museum, the setting for ‘Antiques Roadshow’ including feld surveys work with museum staff, that provided the basis for the detailing of the buildings, and the later working drawings programme. This was carried out against a very tight programme required to meet funding commitments.
The scheme with the new street, and rear yard areas has live retail and traditional manufacturing processes on site. It is constructed with period details and interiors using original techniques. The project recently opened to the public and has received critical acclaim within the museum press and Planning Awards.
The Detail Matters
We care about the macro and the micro scale.
Holistically, the project needs to have a strong strategy, concept and delivery of the detail to strengthen the overall sense of purpose and place the building and its spaces presents.
Nash Partnership is a leading and award-winning consultancy in Planning, Architecture, Heritage and Placemaking. We blend our skills to create positive change for people, places and buildings.
With over 30 years in business, we operate from offices in Bath and Bristol and extend our services nationally. Our team-focused, creative culture is geared to working with both small and large projects alike – from individual homes to large-scale urban regeneration projects. Working together, our teams share a comprehensive understanding of the built environment, with each project bringing knowledge to the next.
As consultants who help shape the world around us, we take the issues of climate change, biodiversity, equality, social value and wellbeing seriously. This is why we have placed the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the heart of our approach. We always consider the effect our work can have and use our skills for positive change.
Bath Office
23a Sydney Buildings, Bath, BA2 6BZ 01225 442424
Bristol Office
The Generator, Counterslip, Bristol, BS1 6BX 0117 332 7560
London Office
Two Kingdom Street, Paddington, Lodon W2 6BD 0203 7648777
www.nashpartnership.com
mail@nashpartnership.com