A £30 million restoration project for Doddington Hall and its surrounding buildings and park area has been approved, which will provide a five-star country house hotel and spa near Nantwich in Cheshire.
The site was designed in 1776 by Samuel Wyatt. (Image from thedoddingtonestate.co.uk)
Assael Architecture has been appointed to design the scheme, which will consist of a 120-room hotel, restaurant, bars, function rooms and the integration of the hall’s old stables. A modern three-storey extension will include additional rooms and a spa.
Assael’s design has been driven by the requirement to create an ‘elegant and sensitive addition’ to the 1770s-built site whilst enhancing the character of the hall and surrounding area. The brief maintained that minimal changes were to be imposed upon the internal layout of the hall. The Piano Noblie level, an area of high heritage sensitivity, retains function rooms with historic decorative finishes that will be restored to their former grandeur.
A rendering of how the new site will look
Conversion of the first floor into hotel suites requires some of the smaller family rooms to be combined, with en-suite layouts in a ‘pod’ format, to minimise the impact on the existing fabric. Rooms at the lower ground floor and basement level of the hall will be configured for ancillary and back of house functions for the hotel; typically in harmony with their original conception and use.
Niall Cairns, Director at Assael Architecture said: “We took a fresh approach to the design of the scheme to help bring the estate back to life, whilst protecting the future of Doddington Hall and its surroundings. We placed particular emphasis on sympathetically introducing new buildings into the historic setting, careful conversion of the heritage buildings and retention of the original features of the Grade l listed hall.”
The scheme also includes the sensitive restoration of the Grade ll park and garden by Barnes Walker Landscape Architects.
A rendering of how the new site will look
