The project is being delivered for the Titch Hill Winery, which operates a vineyard in the South Downs National Park, producing its own wine.
The existing barn’s concrete frame and columns will be kept intact, internal concrete wall panels will be reused as floor slabs and tasting tables, and demolition waste from the site will be made into a lime rubble render to be applied to the external walls. Agricultural by-products such as straw and clay will be used to create components of the new facility.
Landscaping around the site, by Tom Massey Studio, will add ‘productive gardens’ and picnic spaces to connect the winery to the surrounding vineyards.
Sketch of approved development of a new wineryAn internal structure made out of ‘strocks’ (straw blocks), created by brick manufacturer HG Mathews, will house Titch Hill’s wine labs and cellars.
There are no planned heating or cooling systems; instead, passive low-tech strategies will regulate the building’s internal temperature all year round.
The Titch Hill Winery has been making wine for the last four years, and says the new site will ‘provide a home for the produce from the maturing vines’.
Concrete frame barn to be renovated into a winery