Watermen’s Hall is one of the very few surviving examples of a City company hall actually built in the Georgian period. Most of the other Georgian company halls were rebuilt during the nineteenth century, or after bomb damage in the Second World War. The original hall was the first building designed by William Blackburn, who later became a distinguished prison architect.
Working in close liaison with English Heritage and the Corporation of London planning department, Tuke Manton was invited to provide architectural advice and supervision for the installation of a new air conditioning system to this Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Following completion of this project in 2003, we were then appointed to carry out a more radical appraisal of the fabric and layout of the building. This included co-ordinating the work of others to produce a Conservation Statement, a Health and Safety audit, a detailed survey of the condition of the fabric, and the development of our own proposals for the re-organisation of the spatial use of the building.
Preliminary proposals have been produced for each existing floor of the building and for the addition of a new fourth floor. These proposals are currently being considered by the Court of the Company.
