Cobham Dairy Building, Kent Architecture, Best New Southern English Property Project
Cobham Dairy Building in Kent
4 May 2022
Seven projects have been awarded Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) South East Awards.
Cobham Dairy, Cobham Park, Kent, south east England, UK
Design: Purcell Architecture Ltd.

photo : John Miller
Cobham Dairy, Kent
Jury Report
James Wyatt?s Cobham Dairy had sat derelict in Humphrey Repton’s Cobham Park landscape for over a century before the Landmark Trust stepped in to save it. Their brief to transform this Georgian ?Gothick? building into a one-bedroom holiday let was straightforward, but the complexity lay in adapting a Grade II* listed building to provide modern levels of comfort whilst being sensitive to the original design; and complying with ecological, archaeological, and planning requirements.
photo : John Miller
Following an extensive campaign of historical research and conceptual design between 2015 and 2018, Purcell produced a restoration that provided the building with a new kitchen, WC, bedroom/bathroom and boiler room ? but the star of the show is the restored double-height dairy space. Now a sitting room and dining room, this space is enlivened by the play of light through the stained glass windows of the clerestory, and by views through the colonnade towards the buildings of Cobham Park ? now a school.

photo : John Miller
Great care has been taken, including a new copper roof for out-of-sight areas, and the res...