Empathise and engage

If there’s one thing we’ve learned makes better buildings, it’s empathy. Architecture never happens in isolation—and simply by being interested and engaged, we’ve found it’s possible to open up the conversations that connect a scheme to its clients and community.

Weconstraints

We believe that the more constraints there are, the better the architecture. If there aren’t any constraints, we create them. Challenging sites, existing buildings and complex briefs almost always present incredible opportunities for great design.

Passive future

To limit our environmental impact, we start with what is already there. By manipulating the form and fabric of a building—whether new or existing—we can work with the existing conditions of topography, light and orientation, and harness the natural energy sources offered by air, ground and water.

Social detail

If a site’s constraints guide the bigger design decisions, then it’s empathy that informs the smaller, social details. These details frame the human narratives that aren’t included in the brief, anticipating specific moments in the users’ lives.

Mud on our boots

Good architecture is as much about what happens on the building site as it is about what’s on the drawing board. By working alongside contractors as well as clients we can ring-fence the ideas and details that matter, championing quality and sustainability throughout construction.

The Clock House Ramsgate
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Curl la Tourelle Head
Work
  • The Clock House

  • Grade II* Listed

  • Ramsgate, Kent

  • Museum & Exhibition

Client
  • Thanet District Council

We have been working closing with Thanet District Council (TDC) on the restoration and regeneration of The Clock House in Ramsgate, Kent. TDC were Awarded Levelling up funding in 2021, to be utilised on 6 regeneration projects which include The Clock House, Pier Yard and The Sailor’s Church & Former Home for Smack boys, all of which will be developed together with CLTH.

The harbour-wide revitalisation will culminate in a joint community and commercial effort to restore and celebrate several of Ramsgate’s historical buildings. At the heart of this regeneration sits the Grade II* Listed Ramsgate Harbour Clock House, set as the anchoring point of the harbour and onward to the main sands within Pier Yard. Drawing on a rich and multi-faceted maritime history, the scheme will transform the Harbour, whilst broadening and diversifying participation with local history and the local community.

Early design appraisals seek to return the heritage building into active and accessible use, with comprehensive repair and conservation works, whilst bringing the 19th Century building into the 21st century with ambitious sustainability standards including low energy use, waste minimisation, low carb emissions and green energy generation. The future ‘Heritage Hub’ will become the central focus of the Harbour’s storytelling, of its past and to its future. Carefully considered volumetric extensions will allow additional space for the Maritime Museum’s vast historic collection, which largely exists in external storage at present awaiting, it’s homeward bound journey to the Clock House. Along the harbour the Heritage Hub will offer a quiet moment for respite with a freshly brewed cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake, whilst visitors reflect on extraordinary 360 vistas towards Ramsgate’s townscape, archways, the newly revived public realm space Pier Yard, and Ramsgate Harbour.

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