Civic Trust Commendation for Discover Greenwich

Sidell Gibson with John Miller + Partners' Discover Greenwich Project for the Old Royal Naval College received a Civic Trust Commendation award at the official ceremony held at the People's History Museum Manchester on Friday 4th March 2011. Representing Sidell Gibson was partner Richard Brearley (2nd from right) who picked up the certificate and plaque on stage together with Neil Coe (2nd from left) of the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College.

Partner Richard Brearley (2nd from right) with client's representative Neil Coe (2nd from left).

The Civic Trust Award judges said the following about this project:

'The re-planning and refurbishment of the old Pepys building has been beautifully crafted and inserted sensitively into the renovated existing building fabric. The scheme is simply laid out and accessible physically and intellectually at many different levels, targeting all ages and abilities very successfully. Bright, airy spaces and a successful mezzanine level providing an exciting flexible area have been created. Discover Greenwich has delivered a radical improvement to interpretation and visitor access for the Old Royal Naval College and the wider Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.'

BBC One London Inside Out visits Old Brewery Greenwich

BBC London's Inside Out programme went to Sidell Gibson's Discover Greenwich and had a look behind the scenes of Greenwich Meantime's micro brewery and investigated the history of brewing beer on this site.

Numerous shots of Sidell Gibson's three-storey high brewing tower and the re-furbished, re-waterproofed historic basement vaults including the old well head rediscovered during the project.

Watch it here

Discover Greenwich nominated for Civic Trust Award

John Miller + Partners with Sidell Gibson's Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre has been shortlisted for a Civic Trust Award. Click here to read the press release on the Civic Trust's website.

Discover Greenwich - New Images & Video

Architectural Photographer Paul Riddle sent us his images of Sidell Gibson Architects' newly opened Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre.

The Guardian's website features a new video of the visitor centre's microbrewery and Cafe/Restaurant.

Discover Greenwich in Building Design Review

Sidell Gibson with John Miller + Partners Architects' recently openened Discover Greenwich project at the Old Royal Naval College is featured in Building Design Magazine's BD Reviews Refurbishment supplement:

New brew for John Miller in Greenwich

John Miller & Partners has transformed a collection of grade II listed buildings within the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich to house a visitor centre and microbrewery.

As part of the £6 million project, the architects refurbished the Pepys Building, which once contained racquet courts and has more recently served as a naval engineering workshop. The main space houses Discover Greenwich, which will function as a visitor centre for the history of maritime Greenwich.

The refurbishment included the conversion of a service entrance into a new public entrance adjacent to the Cutty Sark.

The building envelope has been insulated and reglazed and a rear mezzanine has been added to the Pepys Building to link into an adjacent building, which has been refurbished as an education centre.

A passive ventilation system has been introduced with underfloor heating and communications servicing beneath a new terrazzo resin floor.

The east wing has been refurbished as a dining and refreshment area. During the project the architects discovered the remains of a brewery in a derelict adjacent building which has now been refurbished and fitted out with a new brewing tower to continue the historic brewing tradition on the site.

The Discover Greenwich exhibition, designed by Real Studios, includes an overview of the architectural pedigree of the site, including its origins as the site of Henry VIII’s palace and its naval past as the Royal Hospital for Seamen.
(BD Review Refurbishments April 2010)

Discover Greenwich Opening

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson formally opened the new Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre this week.

The new £6million pounds interpretation and education centre is within the converted Listed Grade II Pepys Building and environs, which is ideally sited at the threshold of the World Heritage Site, being located immediately opposite the Cutty Sark visitor attraction and adjacent to the main points of public arrival to Greenwich.

The project has three distinct elements: the Interpretative exhibition and Clore learning centre, the Greenwich Tourist Information Centre and a new Microbrewery with restaurant and café. Each function is required to operate both discretely but also as a whole. The adjacent newly landscaped courtyard and external approaches are also integrated into the proposals all of which are fully accessible. The project is supported with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund together with the Clore Duffield Foundation funding.

The design proposals have created a unified and coherent whole, which draws together the different parts in continuous space, unified by use of consistent materials, architectural detailing and colour themes. Similarly the design combines careful removal of extraneous building fabric such as the defunct switch rooms in the Brewery to expose historic brick vaulted structures and complimentary new interventions such as the new steel framed mezzanine space and staircase and sensitive restoration of spaces as for example the continuous roof light lantern and windows in the education room.

The result is architecture that provides seamless integration of new and existing fabric and direct, simple patterns of public circulation and flexible operational modes. Go to Sidell Gibson website.

Discover Greenwich
The Pepys Building, King William Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9LW
Tel: +44 (0)20 8269 479