This picturesque boathouse at Gunton Park in Norfolk has won the RIBA East 'Spirit of Ingenuity' Heritage Award (New Build in an Historic Context) and has been short-listed for a RIBA Conservation Award. It has also been highly commended in North Norfolk 's Heritage Award scheme.
A project designed to provide an art studio using the arched brick foundations of an early 19th Century boathouse on the banks of Great Water has led to the creation of an elegant and award-winning building.
In designing the new boathouse, the sensitivity of the setting was particularly acute as Great Water (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) lies in an historic 18th Century park. The new structure would also be situated on the banks of the Broad, mirroring a 19th Century thatched saw mill on an adjacent pond. The extensive parkland estate of Gunton Park was originally landscaped by Humphrey Repton.
A new green oak frame was erected on top of the surviving vaulted brick base. The building was given a pyramid-shaped thatched roof incorporating dragon ties on each corner to support the green oak hips. All further brickwork, thatch with sarking boards, windows and doors were specially designed by ourselves. The design allows light to pour into the interior ' essential for the building to function as an artist's studio.
'Great Water Boathouse has been a truly collaborative project', according to architect Matthew Hollingsworth . The new boathouse was developed from a design concept by Kit Martin, who has been largely responsible for revitalising the park and its buildings. The outcome would not have been possible without the vision and skills also of the owner, of the Green Oak Carpentry Ltd, the local contractor Ian Roberts and A E Farman & Son, suppliers of the Norfolk reed thatch roof'.
