This exciting project involved considerate remodelling of the East Courtyard to Blenheim Palace to provide a larger retail space and facilities for visitors, the largest project on the estate for 200 years.

The architecture, structure and engineering services all have been carefully designed together to satisfy the stringent requirement of Historic England, and maintain the history and grandeur visitors have come to see. It was a challenging prospect for the engineering services, to blend existing building fabrics, structures and scale with a focus on energy reduction and efficiency.

To achieve this, the existing heating services were replaced with new energy efficient boilers and the ventilation strategy composed of a mixed mode scheme to recover heating energy in winter and take advantage of natural ventilation in summer via automatic opening roof windows. The new building fabric and windows are also specified to high thermal and solar values. These ideas combine carefully with the architectural scope to maintain the maximum available space for the visitor while also providing a cost effective and efficient package for the client.

Oxford Preservation Trust Award 2014 – Winner
ACE Engineering Awards 2013 – Highly Commended

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