Having recognised our approach to the creative re-use of historic buildings Burrell Foley Fischer were commissioned by Porthleven Harbour and Dock Company to submit a planning application to refurbish and convert the former Fish Warehouse and Lime Kiln (both Listed Grade II) on Porthleven’s highly sensitive harbourside into an ‘Arts Hotel’.

The new boutique hotel, will blend new and existing structures seamlessly to create, 14 bedrooms, plus a roof level suite. There will be new gallery spaces, a restaurant and conference facilities, linked by generous public spaces, which connect to lead visitors up to a new public viewing area on the upper level of the lime kiln offering panoramic views over the harbour.

As always our approach was based on a thorough analysis of the heritage assets at the heart of the site, appraising their significance and ensuring our design response aligned with Historic England’s Conservation Principles, to ensure the deliverability of the project and that our client’s business model was based on a realistic expectation of a successful outcome.

Our scheme ensures that the former Warehouse building will remain relatively unchanged in its external appearance but will provide the entrance to the Hotel with public spaces on the ground floor, clearly differentiated from the bedrooms on the two upper floors.

A new building will be created, connecting the Warehouse to the restored and adapted Lime Kiln, will contain a restaurant, and further bedrooms. This series of linked blocks will form a new space between their landward elevations and the adjacent cliff face, which will form a new gallery running alongside the natural stone edge, offering an exhibition space for the local artistic community to display their work in a unique and high-quality environment.

The Kiln itself will include within its restored semi-circular walls, a unique picture hanging space publicly entered from the Quayside. This will be under a mono pitch lean-to roof, which our archival research has shown was once in existence in this location.