Castle Howard
Castle Howard
At Castle Howard - one of the finest and most admired country houses in the UK - we co-authored and edited a strategic plan and our engineers worked on the repair and refurbishment of the west wing.
Our Conservation team first helped the Estate’s senior management team to analyse the challenges faced by the Estate and define and articulate a comprehensive strategy for addressing them. At stake was the future of a site of exceptional significance and world renown: the Estate must overcome a conservation deficit of more than £40m to prevent irrecoverable damage to historic buildings and landscapes.
The document, titled One Estate, One Vision, set our four ‘pillars’ of action to improve the visitor offer, maximise sympathetic use of buildings and development opportunities, manage the land sustainably and strengthen the Estate’s role as a provider and catalyst for employment and training. This engaging and accessible report formed the basis for future planning of the Estate and its partnerships with stakeholders.
Our structural engineers then worked with Ptolemy Dean Architects to implement internal improvements to the house, including repairs to the existing timber floors. As part of this initial phase of work, the existing eighteenth century house was also re-serviced to better meet modern environmental targets and repairs. We also designed works which allowed for the introduction of a new lift into the House, in readiness for a future phase of work. To mitigate the impact of the lift works on the existing fabric, we located the lift within an existing disused lightwell.
Client Castle Howard