This project is for a new Albert’s Restaurant, Bar and function venue on the site of a large Victorian villa set within spacious wooded grounds, which was previously a hotel and restaurant.

The design concept is based on recreating the existing Albert’s model of clean and contemporary styling, whilst respecting and responding to the character of the existing villa and so the new build element has been influenced by its relationship to, and materials of, the existing.

The strong horizontal stone string course is used to determine the height of the parapet to the new building, ensuring a street presence without competing with the existing building, and the relationship between the two is further enhanced by the use of a stone framework defining the bays of the new facade, with horizontal timber cladding within the bays at high level.

The new building is also visually detached from the existing by a glazed link, and this visual separation allows for a clear contrast and a harmonious relationship between the old and new.