Redevelopment of a historic former coaching inn site in the heart of Ringwood’s Conservation area.
Brief
The conclusion of this project marks the end of over 12 years involvement on the site. Initially, a hard won planning consent was achieved for the initial project brief – a comprehensive extension and refurbishment of a failing pub business. This was never built out, as a result of the steady decline in the fortunes of town centre pubs.
The client brief then pivoted to the redevelopment and conversion of the listed pub buildings to commercial and residential use, with a more comprehensive urban housing scheme at the rear, optimising the unsightly, overgrown pub car park
Residential proposals were designed with appropriate regard for the setting of the listed building.
Project Challenges
The duration of the project reflected the extent and depth of challenges that the site presented. The heritage status of the building, being Grade II listed, presented considerable constraints in terms of the retention and works to historic fabric. This was further complicated by the very poor structural condition of the property, which only became fully apparent during the course of the works.
Major elements such as the roof structure, parts of the street frontage and the chimneys all had to be carefully deconstructed and rebuilt, using like for like materials. This necessitated multiple listed building consent applications and detailed negotiations with the local planning authority’s Conservation department. Having suffered from close to 250 years of neglect, a substantial level of the building fabric required replacement or stabilisation. front Complex and discrete structural intervention to the building’s front façade was required to prevent collapse into the Market Place.
To the rear of the original pub, the residential proposals for the pub car park had to be designed with appropriate regard for the setting of the listed building. This required the scale, massing, articulation, materiality and detailing of the 8no. new dwellings to be respectful and sensitive as possible, reflecting the local vernacular of Ringwood town centre.
High quality red brickwork, under natural slate steeply pitched roofs, with well detailed timber joinery.
The homes are built in high quality red brickwork, under natural slate steeply pitched roofs, with well detailed timber joinery. Every house is heated by an air source heat pumps, and equipped with its own charging point and dedicated off street parking, ensuring the development meets current standards of sustainability.
Views through the development towards the rear of the listed building were regarded as important, to ensure the rich and incidental character typically found behind the High Street frontages was reinforced.
The overall architectural quality of the scheme, which comprises 8 much-needed 2 and 3-bed homes has won many local plaudits and was completed in summer 2025.
