Transforming spaces - The Bodmin Jail Hotel

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[edit] VELUX Glazing Panels help transform Victorian Jail into hotel

Commercial building refurbishment projects present architects with design challenges. Transforming 18th century Bodmin Jail into a modern hotel meant an acknowledgement of restrictions in relation to the building’s infrastructure. Listed buildings often have construction regulations to preserve historic and architectural interests, impacting thermal comfort and how daylight is introduced to transform building spaces.

These design challenges can make architectural planning appear more complex, particularly when a building is being repurposed. Common challenges include sourcing materials to replicate or meet existing infrastructures. The adaption of floor plans, consideration of user comfort and introduction of technology in planning phases, also influence contemporary design. The Bodmin Jail Hotel required skylight installations that could work within an existing and iconic sloping roof.

All that was left of the powerful-looking Victorian Bodmin Jail in Cornwall, was a ruin without a roof, with vegetation slowly taking over.

In 2015, Mallino Development appointed the services of Twelve Architects to undertake an impressive redevelopment project of the jail and turn it into a modern and aesthetically quite different hotel. To deliver the modern comforts hotel guests expect during their stay and the thermal efficiency required for sustainable operation of the hotel, a holistic system using VELUX Glazing Panels was designed.

It took 214 VELUX Glazing Panels, formerly known as Vitral A98 Glazing, to recapture the original rooflighting sitting above the two historic wings.

For further information on this project, please visit the case study here