Ram Brewery, Wandsworth

 

Ram Brewery, Wandsworth

Beer had been produced on this site since 1581, making it the oldest continuously operating brewery in Britain. The Ram Brewery was purchased by Charles Allen Young and Anthony Fothergill Bainbridge in 1831 and thereafter operated continuously by the Young family, supplying a large network of Young’s public houses until its closure in 2006.

The surviving, historic buildings comprised a collection of 18th, 19th, and early 20th century industrial buildings formed part of a wider site that was subject to a major residential development known as the ‘Ram Quarter’, which comrpised 713 apartments, 10,271m² retail space and which completed in 2019.

We were involved undertaking extensive borehole and trial pit investigations on the site along with materials testing within the buildings, including timber, concrete and cast iron as part of the physical investigations into the nature and condition of the various structures, including the stables. We also carried out a thorough appraisal of the Grade II and II* listed townhouses in Church Row and produced the reports for planning that helped to gain consent for their alteration and refurbishment as part of the wider scheme.

Set within the Grade II* listed brewery complex, the redeveloped site now includes a new craft brewery, heritage centre and accommodation for independent retailers, restaurants and exclusive loft-style apartments. The success of the scheme - which won a RIBA Award and a BALI National Landscape Award - has been its careful integration of listed buildings with interlinked public urban spaces and access to the previously inaccessible riverfront of the Wandle.

Client: Minerva PLC (2007-2013) and Greenland Holdings (2014-2019)
Architects: EPR