Cobham Dairy

by Purcell Architecture Ltd

Client The Landmark Trust

Awards RIBA South East Award 2022 and RIBA South East Conservation Award 2022

James Wyatt’s Cobham Dairy had sat derelict in Humphrey Repton's Cobham Park landscape for over a century before the Landmark Trust stepped in to save it. Their brief to transform this Georgian ‘Gothick’ building into a one-bedroom holiday let was straightforward, but the complexity lay in adapting a Grade II* listed building to provide modern levels of comfort while being sensitive to the original design and complying with ecological, archaeological, and planning requirements.

Following an extensive campaign of historical research and conceptual design between 2015 and 2018, Purcell produced a restoration that provided the building with a new kitchen, WC, bedroom/bathroom and boiler room – but the star of the show is the restored double-height dairy space. Now a sitting room and dining room, this space is enlivened by the play of light through the stained glass windows of the clerestory, and by views through the colonnade towards the buildings of Cobham Park – now a school.

Great care has been taken, including a new copper roof for out-of-sight areas, and the restoration of the building’s unusual painted slate cladding – thought to have been designed originally to keep the dairy cool. Such commitment is rare and to be celebrated, especially as it has resulted in a building that can now be enjoyed by a wider public.

Internal area 81.00 m²

Contractor Colman Contractors

Structural Engineers The Morton Partnership

Quantity Surveyor / Cost Consultant Huntley Cartwright

Project Management Huntley Cartwright

Archaeologist Archaeology South East