Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire

2025 RIBA West Midlands Award 

Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire
Howells for National Trust

Contract value: £1.9m
GIA: 247.4m²
Cost per m²: £7,680

The new Courtyard Kitchen for the National Trust is a wonderful addition to the Grade I-listed Hanbury Hall, an early 18th-century country house retreat, garden and park in Worcestershire. Providing much-needed additional space for visitors, the new café and kitchen is a material delight and brings the previously drab courtyard to life.

The Courtyard Kitchen comprises three volumes: a red-tile hipped roof housing the kitchen and servery, a flat-roofed oak portico containing café seating, and a glazed link to Hanbury Hall. Positioned against the existing wall that separates the garden from the courtyard, the new café completes the plan of the courtyard. There was no demolition other than the removal of a small, relatively recent entrance porch and ramp. Fully accessible, with a new ramped entrance framing a landscaped outdoor seating area and planting, this project is to be enjoyed by all.

Beautiful and historically appropriate materials are detailed exceedingly well. The walls and roof of the principal hipped-roofed volume are clad in handmade British clay tiles, and special handmade tiles lining the back of the concealed gutter are detailed and executed with care and precision. The portico is made of green oak – wonderfully splitting, twisting and materially alive – sourced from Brockhampton Estate, a National Trust property in neighbouring Herefordshire. Left visible in the ceiling, the oak structure enlivens the interior.

A compelling tension between traditional crafted materials and contemporary detailing gives this project a special quality. The tiles are textured, rough, uneven, unpredictable and imprecise; they don’t sit flush. The hipped roof form is reminiscent of the adjacent stable and outbuildings and local vernacular barns, but details such as a concealed gutter, single material from wall to roof and flush eaves are abstract and contemporary. Through architect Howells’ sensitively judged design, the contextual new building becomes part of a family of outbuildings whose roof forms and materials unite old and new.

The jury enjoyed glimpsed views of the new Courtyard Kitchen through gaps between buildings, over walls and through doorway openings. They particularly appreciated the view from the adjacent parterre gardens, with the new roof visible above the existing garden wall – together it forms a seamless whole. The arched opening in the adjacent stable block was reinstated to frame a lovely view of the new Courtyard Kitchen and provide a new entrance, enabling visitors to explore the courtyard, café, gardens and park without entering the hall.

The client enthusiastically described to the jury how much value the project has brought. Where they previously struggled for space and had to turn people away, they now accommodate and welcome significantly increased visitor numbers and a wider range of activities. The jury found this to be an extremely well-executed project, with a rich and sustainable material language that enlivens and rejuvenates the rear courtyard. It enables the National Trust to do so much more with Hanbury Hall than before – as well as being a wonderful place to have tea and cake.

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RIBA Regional Awards 2025 sponsored by Autodesk, EH Smith, Equitone and Velux