Decontamination and repair of listed Georgian naval dockyard buildings includes studio lets and new circulation cores
RIBA South East Award winner 2021
RIBA South East Sustainability Award sponsored by Michelmersh, RIBA South East Client of the Year
Baynes and Mitchell Architects for Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust
Contract value: £8.2m
GIA: 6,000m2
Cost per m2: £1,367
The Fitted Rigging House is one of a series of listed Georgian naval dockyard buildings and its upper floors were largely unusable. The project included the decontamination and repair of the entire building, and the sympathetic creation of quality lettable studio spaces on the upper floors. Identifying and carefully inserting the necessary infrastructure for the building involved the creation of three new circulation cores (each with their own distinct tectonic expression) alongside the upgrade of the thermal envelope, acoustic separation between floors, and the careful threading through of modern services accommodating a natural ventilation strategy.