Overview

In the winter of 2013, while undergoing some minor repair works, the Walworth Town Hall suffered from a devastating fire. Originating in the council’s debating chamber, the fire ravaged most of the town hall, rendering the building unoccupiable ever since and leaving it in a dire state of disrepair.

Since 2018, developer General Projects, alongside architects Feix & Merlin and a full team of heritage experts, have worked tirelessly to put forward a proposal that safeguards and
celebrates the buildings’ rich heritage and intricate architectural features. The proposal has carefully restored the buildings through a light-touch approach while bringing the building up to modern standards and substantially improving accessibility. The result offers a unique and striking architecture, offering architectural and design enthusiasts the opportunity to become the sole custodian of the complex.

Materials

The project adopts the design principle of utilising and celebrating the existing fabric, carefully restoring and celebrating the rich and beautiful features. Our ideology is rooted in the revitalisation and celebration of heritage architecture rather than altering it. We found inspiration in the features of the original building, carefully salvaging and restoring materials where possible and replacing with matching materials and quality when not possible.

All the original oak floors have been restored and refinished with new matching herringbone parquet introduced where required. Walls have been carefully sanded, cleaned, re-rendered and re-painted below the dado-line, and left exposed above the dadoline, conveying the building’s rich history. Existing cornicing has been carefully cleaned and repaired while leaving exposed some of the stress it has endured throughout the years. Any new interventions, such as the new cross laminated structure, have been added sensitively, creating a beautiful juxtaposition of the old and the new.