Winner of the New Building in a Georgian Context Award in the Georgian Group Awards 2025

Hardwicke Court is a Grade II*-listed country house by Sir Robert Smirke, built 1818-20 (contemporary with his designs for the British Museum) for the same family who continue to live there. The front rooms of the house were restored in the 2010s and our work covered the family and back of house areas of the house and the rear estate yard, all of which were tired and in degrees of disrepair.

At the rear of the main house, two rooms were opened up to form family kitchen and eating rooms, with joinery designed by us. These open into a new garden room at the side of the house, built in local Bath stone, and taking its scale from the house and design cues from Smirke’s spare detailing. Full height glazing sits independently behind the stone façade. A long glazed rooflight slot stretches the length of the ceiling.

Behind, the former bakehouse has been reconnected and converted as a boot room and playroom around the central bread oven chimney.

To the rear of the house, a new estate office building has replaced a collapsed corrugated asbestos store on the same site forming one side of the estate yard. The simple building is clad in black corrugated metal with full height glazing to the front and rear, offset to provide public and private aspects to the interior space.

The adjoining former cow shed has been converted as a pool house. The space was opened up on the pool side, and the courtyard openings infilled with layered in-situ mass concrete. Its roof structure was repaired, with the sound reclaimed clay roof tiles re-used on the side facing the pool and meadow beyond, and corrugated metal on the opposite side to unify the estate yard.

The corner dairy has been converted as a pool house with kitchen, shower room and a guest room above.

The new works are intended to be modern and contemporary while remaining true to the spirit of the place, and have given new energy to the house, gardens and estate.

Associate in charge  Liam Andrews

Photography  Ollie Bingham