An interview with Geoff Rich, Lowther Castle's architect
Geoff Rich heads the Creative Re-use studio at Feilden Clegg Bradley, the architectural practice that won the UK Sustainable Designer of the Year 2009. Geoff has been involved with Lowther Castle since the beginning of the project. With colleague Miriam Kelly, he heads the Lowther Gardens and Castle Design team. We asked him about the project's progress.
Where do you start on a project like this?
The first job is to make the structure safe, to provide safe access for surveyors and all the craftspeople who will be working on the structure. At the same time, we need to arrest the decay including preventing any more of the structure falling off or collapsing. As soon as that's done, we can design the palette of repairs for the castle and stables. We want to make a start on the restoration of the stables. These are the last remaining buildings still roofed, and they will become visitor facilities. But before we do that, we have to put in the necessary works for access and services such as water, power, drains and all the infrastructure the site will need.
When will all this happen?
Soon! Outline planning permission for the use of Lowther Castle, gardens and grounds as a heritage and interpretation visitor attraction was granted by the Lake District National Park's planning authority in February 2010. This clears the way for applying for full planning permission. The funding agreement has been signed to detail the budget and how it will be spent, and over what period. That clears the way for the detailed design work. And the lease between the Lowther Estate Trust and the Castle and Gardens Trust has been signed and exchanged. A huge amount of work has gone into all of those and it's taken a long time and, now they are finished, this project will move onto its next phase.
What is your approach to the repair of the Castle?
All of the team are international experts in sustainability and we'll be focussing on low-energy methods and materials. We see funding as a precious resource so we'll be looking to spend money as wisely as possible. We'll be drawing on the work of many who we hold in great regard. Ken Gribben and the Lowther maintenance team are completing works supported by English Heritage and the Lowther Estate to re-point the top of the staircase tower and remove a key stone that is threatening to fall from one of the major arches. The Scottish Lime Centre gave three days of training on a special method of lime mortaring, a traditional mortar that allows the castle stonework to 'breathe'. It's a credit to the Lowther team that they have learnt all about the mortar, stone and quarrying to make these essential repairs. And last but not least, we'll be drawing on earlier work in the project's development: David Horton Fawkes (now at Holkham Estate, Norfolk) who masterplanned the successful bid, garden designer Dan Pearson, Patrick James (Landscape Agency) and the Lowther family. Their work and that of many others has been of enormous value and their designs and ideas form part of how the project will be shaped over the next few years.
Finally, if you could travel like Dr Who to a day in the history of Lowther Castle and Gaden, when would that be?
I would have liked to have been there to witness the preparations for the Kaiser’s visit in 1895. The 5th Earl, the Yellow Earl, built new gate lodges, a five-mile long new drive, flattened several farms to expand the estate, remodelled the stables for an extra 50 horses and refaced the columns inside the castle with stone. I would have loved to have seen all of that.
Going back further in time, I would have liked to be there to meet Knyff and Kip, planning the original gardens in the 17th century. These gardens were so large that Lowther became known as the 'Chatsworth of the North'. What was behind the vision, I wonder?
