Clore Learning Centre

Working together with English Heritage from an early stage in the project enabled us to produce a sensitively designed new building which makes a positive contribution to the setting. Adrian Phillips, Surveyor of the Fabric, Historic Royal Palaces

It’s not often that a new building is proposed within the heart of a historic royal palace, but that was the case with the Clore Learning Centre at Hampton Court. The Palace has a high demand for educational visits, yet there was poor accommodation for school groups.

The site for this £2.4 million project, made possible thanks to a £1 million grant from the Clore Duffield Foundation, lay in full view of the Palace. Next door stood the Barrack Block, a 17th-century structure and the oldest surviving purpose-built barracks in the country, as well as the newer Guard House including the remains of a small prison. Both were to be incorporated into the new facility. English Heritage advice was sought from the outset of this sensitive project.

The project aimed to work with the grain of this historic landscape: for example, the Barrack Block and adjacent buildings created a linear view of the Palace. Early designs for the education centre’s new main block situated it at right angles to this axis. Part of our contribution in helping Historic Royal Palaces and FCB Studios with their scheme included a suggestion to turn the building so that it reinforced the historic view: the full length of the impressive Barracks would remain visible. Such simple interventions, based on understanding of a place, can turn a development that conceals historic significance into one that reinforces it.

The Barrack Block and the new Learning Centre building are provided with natural ventilation. English Heritage research uncovered historic photographs showing that the Barrack Block once had roof vents. The design of these was used as the inspiration for new vents on both buildings and the complex has since won a Sustainable Building Award for its natural ventilation system. It is a sensitively-detailed development, incorporating traditional handmade bricks and roof tiles in a contemporary design. The new facilities have enabled Historic Royal Palaces to broaden its educational programmes.