Walworth Town Hall: A Revival Rooted in Innovation, Creativity, and Social Impact.

Walworth Town Hall was added to Historic England’s Heritage At Risk Register following a fire that significantly destroyed the building in 2013. The refurbishment reimagined the building as a vibrant cultural and workspace hub, a bold fusion of heritage and future-facing design. Our approach was not to restore the past, but to transform it: retaining the building’s soul while enabling new uses rooted in community and sustainability.

The key innovation lies in the seamless integration of contemporary materials and modern construction methods within a historic setting. The use of mass timber, rare in a Grade II listed civic building, demonstrates a forward-thinking approach to heritage adaptation, balancing carbon-consciousness with sensitivity. Prefabricated elements, including the new council chamber roof trusses, reduced site waste and disruption. This is not a restoration that freezes time but one that embraces adaptive reuse as a model for long-term viability.

Functionality is central. The building now hosts co-working studios, cultural spaces, community rooms, and social enterprise offices, accessible and reconfigurable. New services infrastructure improves energy performance without disrupting the original structure.

Creatively, the design celebrates contrast. Historic fabric was carefully restored in some spaces, where the surviving heritage features were of a high value, in teh majority pf spaces the damage caused by the more recent history of the building was left visible, an approach that values authenticity over erasure. New interventions stand apart but respect the building’s language, creating a visible dialogue between old and new.

Sustainability is embedded through a circular design ethos: retention over replacement, reuse of salvaged materials. Walworth Town Hall is not just restored, it is redefined. This project sets a precedent for adaptive use that is historically grounded, socially engaged and environmentally responsible.