Bauman Lyons won a competitive tender to develop a new visitor centre for the Kiplin Hall CIO Trust in the grounds of their Grade I Listed Jacobean Hall in North Yorkshire. The brief required new cafe, kitchen, retail, exhibition and ticketing facilities to allow the Trust to expand their operations to cater for growing visitor numbers. Of equal importance was the strategic landscaping of the external spaces to guide visitor flows and reinforce a secure ticketing line.
The project brief originally required a contemporary new build scheme which Bauman Lyons developed and which was granted Planning and Listed Building Consent in 2022. This project followed an extensive and well received engagement process with Kiplin’s volunteers and established good relationships with Hambleton Council and Historic England.
A change in circumstances led Kiplin CIO to reconsider refurbishing a former Grade II Listed stable block, most recently used as a field studies centre, into the visitor centre. We supported the Client in evaluating their options through the completion of a feasibility study which tested different spatial arrangements reflecting the change in use.
We developed designs to open up the building’s dark sub-divided classrooms into a spacious and flexible cafe space with a modern kitchen and servery. The building’s high level windows had their sills lowered to conserve their historic character while creating important views between the café and courtyard.
The former workshop which was uninsulated and leaky has been transformed into a warm and welcoming retail space. Key to this was the introduction of a double glazed timber shopfront which signals a clear entry point and brings natural daylight into the space. Retail display was incorporated into the shopfront with adjustable shelving and low level storage to animate and frame visual connections to draw customers in from the courtyard. Collaborating with the Client’s retail team, we developed a family of bespoke retail shelving, mobile display tables and storage to attractively display goods produced by local makers.
The courtyard has been re-paved ensuring level access into and around the building and to create a multi-use outdoor seating area. Other improvements included thermal upgrades to walls, floors and windows, new services, lime mortar repointing and structural and drainage upgrades to protect and conserve the historic fabric. A carefully considered palette of contemporary finishes, materials and colours was employed to signify a new chapter in Kiplin’s story.
We continued to collaborate with the Local Authority, the Environment Agency and Natural England to achieve efficient turnarounds on statutory permissions. The project was traditionally procured and completed in November 2024 after an 8 month construction programme that accommodated complex ecological timescales. Since opening, Kiplin Hall has enjoyed a doubling of both commercial revenue and visitor numbers.