Luxury hotel, spa and golf club with a bold and sustainable vision.

Bespoke refurbishment of the Grade II* Listed Matfen Hall Hotel to become a five-star destination including kitchen relocation, fire and life safety upgrades, plant room modifications, and most notably enclosing the open courtyards into an event space at the heart of the hotel.  Highlights include the well-coordinated, hidden services throughout. 

Following new ownership in 2020, Matfen Hall underwent a major refurbishment. The initial masterplan covered the hotel, golf course, and spa ensuring power, heat, and water supply, along with the integration of suitable technologies. 

The project’s timeline was accelerated due to the COVID-19 closure, requiring efficiency and coordination across overlapping planning and execution stages. The refurbishment then unfolded in four phases to keep the hotel operational. This included upgrading the fire safety systems, the complex relocation of a commercial kitchen to the basement, appropriate control of the heating system, full refurbishment of bedrooms and bathrooms and the enclosure of the upper and lower courtyards.

The newly developed courtyard features a bar, dining space, and breakout areas, designed to maintain an outdoor feel with natural ventilation achieved through passive vents with temp and CO2 sensors. Careful specification of the glass roof and the thermal mass of the building prevent overheating. A nearby stone stairwell, with high-level openings, serves as a thermal store that pre-cools the air before it enters the courtyard, ensuring a comfortable environment during the summer months.

Enclosing the courtyard made the existing basement oil boilers unusable. They were replaced with heat exchangers connected to an energy center via district heating pipes routed under the building, which provide renewable heat sources.

Hidden services were seamlessly integrated throughout, including underfloor heating, embedded lighting, and concealed plumbing, accentuating the elegance of the spaces. 

Matfen Hall’s refurbishment successfully integrates sustainable practices and cutting-edge technologies, revitalising its luxury offerings and enhancing operational efficiency while preserving its historic charm.

An Exceptional Theatre Transformation for Multi-award-winning Production.

London’s Grade II-listed Playhouse Theatre was reconfigured from a proscenium-arch auditorium into a spectacular in-the-round venue, with additional rooms in the upper circle level. Completed in record time for the multi-award-winning Cabaret, it recreated the Kit Kat Club's intimate atmosphere, transporting audiences to 1930s Berlin.

The project involved securing listed building consent, obtaining planning approval, and reconfiguring the entire auditorium—all within 9 months. Navigating the existing services and live safety systems within the limited timeframe was challenging. Engineering judgement was crucial for discerning and prioritising key requirements, addressing critical issues, and ensuring successful project completion while meeting regulatory compliance.

Listed original ductwork, a rare feature, required detailed surveying to effectively reuse it. All other services were adapted or renewed and located in the basement.

In a theatre-in-the-round, the audience surrounds the stage, creating an immersive and dynamic experience. This configuration demands inventive staging for clear views from all seats, impacting infrastructure and service distribution. New raked seating led to changes in the lighting and validation of the existing ventilation and smoke ventilation systems.

LED lighting replaced halogen bulbs throughout. Ventilation and cooling in the basement dressing rooms and bar were upgraded to a new MVHR system with occupancy controls, replacing a continuously operational system. These interventions significantly reduced energy consumption.

A new entrance corridor, designed to evoke a night club atmosphere, required attention to health and safety, including concealing valves and pipework.

The transformation and exceptional turnaround at the Playhouse Theatre, stands as a testament to the team's dedication and spirit. This effort culminated in the production of Cabaret, winning no fewer than seven Olivier Awards in 2022.

‘Eddie Redmayne may be the star — and he’s mesmerisingly good too — but he really shares top billing with the venue itself.’
Clive Davis, The Times

Nominated for Theatre Building of the Year in The Stage Awards 2023. 

2023 Civic Trust Award Winner (Pro-Tem Award).* Civic Trust Pro-Tem Awards recognise temporary structures and installations that make an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the built environment.

2023 RIBA London Architecture Award Winner. The RIBA judges commented: "The Kit Kat Club is a great example of how critical, light-touch interventions can transform an existing building. The key aspect of sustainability was in relation to the consideration given to the demountability of the new interventions. In addition, materials were salvaged and reused where possible, including the timber for the main set from original flooring, as well as some of the loose furniture." See the full citation: https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/regional-awards-2023-london-north-carmody-groarke-kit-kat-club-playhouse-theatre-culture-entertainment

2023 RIBA National Award Winner.

A new annex for Grade II*-listed theatre and the redevelopment of its back of house

A new-build six-storey extension and major reworking of the back of house to the world-famous Grade II*-listed theatre in London’s Waterloo. Highlights include an innovative natural ventilation system facilitated by thermal modelling. Rated BREEAM Excellent.

The Old Vic Theatre is located on Waterloo Road in London. New back-of-house facilities situated next to the theatre, now replace a former commercial restaurant. The project aimed to meet the client’s budget while delivering a bespoke, highly sustainable solution through excellent design and construction standards. The new annex features a triple-height street café, script library, writers' room, learning centre, green room, and rooftop event space.

The site remains comfortable in summer due to passive strategies such as thermal mass, secure nighttime cooling, shading, and natural ventilation.

Key project features include a natural ventilation system that mitigates noise and pollution from the busy road, using a fully sealed front façade. To compensate for the timber structure’s limited thermal mass, the system draws air from the top of the stairwell, cooling it via the staircase's thermal mass. In warm weather, the cooled air flows into lower areas and rises to exit through a solar chimney. The process is driven by heat from occupants and solar gain through the glazed front façade as well as carefully detailed roof cowls to maximise the cooling benefit of the prevailing wind. Stairwell glazing at each floor enhances daylight and visual connectivity.

A low-temperature hot water system, including domestic hot water, is powered by rooftop air-source heat pumps.

The project has also remodelled the existing back-of-house areas with a relocation of the stage door, improved dressing room and office facilities and a rooftop air handling unit (AHU) supplying fresh, tempered air to the rehearsal room, supplied via an air source heat pump.

The Old Vic Theatre sets a new standard for sustainable design in historic buildings by implementing innovative passive strategies along with energy-efficient systems, creating an enhanced environment for performers and visitors alike and securing its legacy for generations to come.

Visuals by Haworth Tompkins

Skelly & Couch are part of the winning multidisciplinary team led by Hopkins Architects which has beaten four other contenders in a RIBA competition to develop Twickenham Riverside. 

The Grade I-listed Theatre Royal Drury Lane, owned and managed by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres and built originally in 1812, is set to regain its status as the prime venue for musical theatre in London. 

Heritage-led refurbishment and replacement of services in this iconic Grade II-listed office block.

Founded in 1975 inside a former Wesleyan Methodist church, Grade II-listed Jacksons Lane Arts Centre has played a key role in the development of London’s fringe and community theatre. The latest project upgrades technical and visitor facilities within the complex, which features a 166-capacity theatre, large-scale studio and café-bar, all of which were in need of repair.

A modern Almshouse for a more connected community.

Older persons’ social housing initiative comprising of 57 extra-care homes with shared facilities like a cookery school kitchen, communal dining spaces, meeting rooms, craft areas, and communal gardens with raised beds for allotment style food production. 2025 Stirling Prize Winner.

Appleby Blue, founded and overseen by the United St Saviour’s Charity in Southwark, is a modern almshouse, a testament to community-focused architecture. Its design targeted a 35% reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2013 Building Regulations.

The building’s fabric was optimised for thermal performance. The layout centres on a communal courtyard garden. Facing the busy A2206, a five-storey northern block houses communal and shared spaces. This positioning makes them visible and easily accessible to the broader community, while also forming a visual and acoustic shield for the garden. A lower two-storey southern block ensures year-round sunlight for the garden and main block. South-facing façades maximise daylight with solar shading to prevent overheating, and thermal mass for passive cooling in warmer weather and at night, helping regulate indoor temperatures. 

The building promotes natural ventilation. Double-height communal areas enhance cross-flow, while glazed corridors function as tempered winter gardens, opening in summer to form comfortable spaces to sit and chat.

Below ground, heating, water, and electrical systems run along corridor routes into each flat, with central plantrooms supplying water and heating to local heat interface units for added efficiency. Ventilation is provided by partially centralised roof extract fans serving clusters of flats with automatically controlled airflow. Communal areas feature smart lighting responsive to occupancy and daylight. The building also includes infrastructure for a telecare nurse call system and dual integrated fire systems for residential and commercial zones. Originally designed with CHP, the project evolved over 10 years, transitioning to PV panels that would account for 20% of the building’s carbon reduction through renewable energy.

Appleby Blue reflects a decade-long commitment to sustainable living and community connection, creating a nurturing setting where residents can age gracefully and remain integral to their community.

Awards

2025 RIBA Stirling Prize Winner
2025 RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing - Winner
2025 RIBA Client of the Year Winner
2025 RIBA National Award Winner
2025 RIBA London Award Winner
2025 Pineapples Award Healthy Homes - Winner
2024 Housing Design Award - Winners of Winners

“We are honoured to receive the RIBA Client of the Year Award for Appleby Blue Almshouse. This project embodies our ambition to support inclusive communities in Southwark through thoughtful, innovative design, and our belief that good design should be available to all. Working closely with Witherford Watson Mann, we’ve shown that historic organisations can be bold and forward-thinking, and that social housing can and should be well-designed and A aspirational.  
The building’s design enables joyful living in the heart of the city, supports our team to deliver high-quality services, and fosters belonging across generations through the shared community centre and kitchen. This award is down to the strength and belief in of our shared vision, our very close working relationship with the architects, as well as our joint long-term commitment to the design principles that shaped every decision. We hope Appleby Blue inspires others to reimagine what growing older in our cities can look like — and to create more places like it across the country.”
Martyn Craddock, Chief Executive, United St Saviour’s Charity

An outstanding new public space for London run by a community enterprise.

Skelly & Couch was appointed for Phase 2 of the ongoing renewal of the Gascoigne East estate in Barking, East London.