Roger Mears Architects

Converting a Grade II listed derelict watertower into a family home

At a high point in the Dorset countryside, this disused reinforced concrete water tower was a forbidding Grade II listed building. The interior was largely water tanks and the belvedere was previously only accessible by an external staircase which had largely rotted away. It was bought by a structural engineer who specialised in concrete, and who came to us to help give this building a new lease of life. We inserted new floors and an internal staircase, working around the intermediate tank floor construction, to transform the building into a family holiday home. The external staircase was rebuilt in oak.

Awards

Winner: Concrete Society Award 2002

Mature Structures Category. For outstanding merit in the use of concrete

Judge’s comments

‘This is an impressive structure that has undergone a very sympathetic restoration. The original design of the tower gave it the appearance of a ‘folly’, making it an attractive structure even when a functional water tower… During transformation, new floors have been constructed from in-situ concrete. There is much exposed concrete throughout, and the board-marked finishes on the ceilings have been completed in an expert manner’.

 

• Category
  Conservation, Conversion, House, Listed Building, Refurbishment, Residential