Projects

Grantley Hall Hotel and Wellness Retreat – Ripon

The magnificent Grantley Hall opened in the summer of 2019 as one of the UK’s most luxurious hotels and spas in the UK.  This five-star country retreat is the only member of Relais & Châteaux in Yorkshire, was named ‘Best Newcomer 2020’ by Conde Nast and labelled the second-best new luxury hotel in the world by Luxury Travel Intelligence.

Bowman Riley delivered the transformation of the elegant Grade II* listed Grantley Hall into one of the UK’s finest country hotels and wellness retreats.

Surrounded by 30 acres of beautiful Yorkshire countryside, the magnificently imposing Grantley Hall is set on an artificial island created by the canalisation of the River Skell in Ripon.

The 17th century classically styled property was built as a private residence for the Grantley family. Extensions in the 18th and 19th centuries followed leaving a principally Georgian elevation. The building has enjoyed a colourful history which includes its use as a shooting lodge, convalescent home during the Second World War and an adult education college.

Inspired by its grandeur, the renovation of Grantley Hall accentuates the historic details of the imposing property featuring a magnificent dual height presidential suite, signature restaurant, brasserie and cocktail bar set in exquisite formal gardens.

To complement the historic Hall, a new spa building and bedroom wing have been created in a modern Georgian style.  Four months after opening,  the Three Graces Spa was awarded 5 Bubble Luxury status by the Good Spa Guide.

A new subterranean Garden Pavilion building featuring a bar, private lounge, an exclusive after-hours club and restaurant has been integrated within the 1910 listed Japanese garden restored to become one of the most important of its type in the country.

The renovation of the historic hall alongside the creation of two new bespoke buildings allows hotel guests to experience a five-star luxury getaway in opulent surroundings.

We worked with a Yorkshire based consultant team including project managers and surveyors, Lucas Lee, engineers GHD and the interiors were delivered in conjunction with JMDA.   The two main contractors were locally based, RN Wooler & Co and HACS. This team along with numerous other consultants and subcontractors made the Grantley Hall vision a reality.

Grantley Hall won the Heritage Award at the 2020 RICS Social Impact Awards Yorkshire and Humber and has reached the national finals.

RICS Head Judge Mark Rugg said:

“Grantley Hall oozes historic character and quality. After decades of inappropriate uses and vacancy the multi-phase Grade II* listed mansion dating back to the 17th century, has been lovingly transformed into a five-star hotel and wellness retreat. The painstaking restoration programme included extensions and new buildings designed to enhance the character and use of the site. The Japanese Garden is a jewel in the crown and was designated a Grade II Registered Park and Garden during the course of the project.”

View the website here

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Gridserve Electric Vehicle Forecourt – Gatwick, London

Gridserve

Gatwick, London

Bowman Riley designed and delivered an innovative electric vehicle charging forecourt and hub at London’s Gatwick Airport, our third completed major scheme for Gridserve.

We coordinated the design team and collaborated closely with Gridserve to introduce the most advanced electric vehicle charging facility at one of the UK’s busiest airports, showcasing a compact electric forecourt concept model.

Powered by net zero carbon energy encompassing homegrown energy generation from Gridserve’s solar farms, the project will help decarbonise travel to Gatwick, helping the 30 million annual visitors use electric vehicles.

For a reliable power supply, the project incorporates a 5mW battery storage system with diverse charging spaces, accommodating various electric vehicle models, along with 45kW photovoltaic roof panels for sustainable operations. These features aided in the achievement of an A EPC rating, reinforcing the sustainability credentials of the site.

At Gatwick, the hub building offers a range of amenities, making it a holistic space for electric vehicle users, including a Costa Coffee, a Simply Fresh convenience store, an electric vehicle showroom, a lounge area with Wi-Fi, a bookable meeting room, and washrooms.

Now open at the South Terminal of London Gatwick Airport, it’s the first of its kind at a European international airport.

Please click on our other Energy case studies.

Barrister’s Chambers – Newcastle

Parklane Plowden

Newcastle

Bowman Riley designed the interior fit-out of a barrister’s chambers in Newcastle for Parklane Plowden following our transformation of their headquarters in Leeds.

Parklane Plowden relocated their premises to the Grade II listed Portland House to be closer to the civil, family and tribunal courts.

Portland House was a 19th-century maternity hospital designed by famed architect John Dobson. The building was later the local headquarters of the BBC and was used during the filming of the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake.

The barrister’s chambers sought a fresh look for its office space to create a more inviting and functional environment for its team of barristers and clients. The chambers’ reputation for excellence and expertise demanded an interior space that reflected professionalism, sophistication, and functionality.

Our interior designers collaborated closely with Parklane Plowden to optimise the layout of the compact space and improve the client experience, creating areas that are welcoming, comfortable, and conducive to confidential consultations. We improved workflow, client interactions, and barrister productivity using the entire space available to create private meeting spaces, barristers chambers, offices and kitchen.

Our designs reflect our client’s brand identity, incorporating Park Lane Plowden’s logo and blue colour palette into the design while infusing a modern aesthetic.

High-performing acoustic treatments were incorporated into the design using acoustic ceilings and double-glazed partitions, bringing the added benefit of increasing natural light within the interior.

Now complete, we successfully transformed Parklane Plowden’s chambers into a sophisticated, functional, and inviting environment.

Cliffemount Hotel – Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire Coast

Bowman Riley is designing the Cliffemount, a unique new Passive House hotel on the stunning clifftop of Runswick Bay, capturing scenic views of the North Yorkshire coast.

In 2022, the Fojt family became the new owners of the existing property to rebuild the business into a 20-bedroom luxury boutique hotel, restaurant and bar within this popular summer holiday destination and part of the Cleveland Way National Trail.

The vision is to create a unique destination that enhances the coastal village’s community facilities and visitor offer by providing a luxury hotel with high-quality food and beverages to ensure a top-quality guest experience and provide local people with excellent career opportunities.

Our plans are to limit Cliffemount’s impact on the environment and the local community alike. As well as the exceptional sustainable targets, the building is designed to bring significant community benefits.

We are creating an exceptional-standard Passive House building that reflects the local history and character and aims to be a beacon for sustainable development and community benefit for years to come. The Passive House building will adhere to stringent energy efficiency standards while ensuring comfort, affordability, and ecological considerations.

We held a public consultation event to involve local people in the planning process. The project team received overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the design, the restaurant and the pub. Cliffemount has now achieved planning consent with the aim of opening its doors in Spring 2025.

Please see our other hotel projects.

The George Hotel Redevelopment – Huddersfield

Kirklees Council

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley has provided architecture, conservation architecture, interior design and the roles of lead consultant and principal designer on the George Hotel redevelopment for Kirklees Council.

The George is an elegant Grade II* listed 1851 landmark next to the railway station in Huddersfield to meet the needs of the Victorian traveller. In 2013, the 60-bed hotel closed due to competition from budget hotels.

Following our project to provide conservation architecture on the repair and conservation of the façade of the George, we prepared a feasibility study to consider the alterations necessary to create a 90+ bedroom hotel.  Development partner Queensberry undertook a preliminary assessment of the George. The findings were that the building would need substantial changes to attract a hotel chain to secure its long-term future. Our designs helped attract Radisson to operate the building as a Radisson Red Hotel.

Following a review of the heritage significance of the building, we identified the 1930s wing as having the most capacity for change, followed by the east wing. We developed plans to demolish the 1930s wing and substantially alter the east wing to achieve 90+ bedrooms. Historic England understands the need for change and is keen to see this heritage asset brought back into viable reuse, which supported the planning approval application.

We are leading a multi-disciplined team bringing external consultants and specialists for quantity surveying provided by Turner & Townsend, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering provided by Ramboll, and fire, BREEAM and acoustics by Mott MacDonald, combining expertise and resources to ensure a seamless project execution.

“We have been impressed with Bowman Riley’s pragmatic approach and knowledge to overcome some tricky issues, especially regarding planning/Listed Building Consent. We look forward to carrying the scheme forward with them.”

Jack Pasley, Queensberry

Sportsshoes.com Creative Hub – Bradford

Bowman Riley designed a creative hub for 100 people at Sportsshoes.com after they acquired an industrial unit adjacent to their headquarters in Shipley near Bradford.

Our brief was to create an agile and expressive workspace for their digital, marketing, and commercial teams while offering a much-needed space to hold events and brand showcases.

We reused as much of the existing frame and building as possible to reduce the need for additional building works. We used recycled and reclaimed materials and artefacts, minimising the embodied carbon. The exterior redesign gives the hub a new identity within the labyrinth of Sportshoes.com buildings. The new black finishes and stealth lighting enhance the curb appeal, and the new windows flood the internal mezzanine with natural light.

We designed the interiors to be a fully immersive brand experience referencing Sportshoes.com’s origin, ethos, people and products. The playful concept is based on Sportshoes.com’s brand featuring running tracks, climbing frames, graphics reminiscent of sporting accents, and gym horses for seating with oversized graphics throughout the spaces. The addition of a shipping container creates an unusual meeting room and a backdrop for the bleacher seating.

Pods and breakout areas provide a variety of spaces that can be easily reconfigured to work, collaborate, and relax, including an indoor garden, wellness space and area to watch sporting events. The layout, furniture, fabrics and lighting accommodate multiple working styles, from open, collaborative spaces with workbenches to quiet working pods for online meetings. The fabrics reflect the environment – in the open-plan areas, we used a brighter punchier palette; in the quiet, calming workspaces, we used shades of green and biophilia for tranquillity.

A mixture of meeting spaces has been incorporated, from a feature boardroom with graffiti-style fabrics on the chairs to agile meeting rooms with tall poseur-style tables to keep team catch-ups short and sweet.

Now complete, the hub helps Sportshoes.com with talent retention and recruitment in an environment that fosters community.

Read more about the project in the media in the Yorkshire Post and in Retail Gazette.

This project has been shortlisted for Insider Property Awards 2023 in the category of Fit-Out of the Year.

Dixon House Office Interior – London

Ben Johnson

London

Bowman Riley designed the fit-out of a premium office space in the heart of London, collaborating with fit-out contractor, Ben Johnson to create a plug-and-play office space.

The aim was to provide a ready-to-go office environment to attract potential tenants by offering enhanced features beyond the standard CAT A shell and core specifications. This plug-and-play concept offers immediate occupation of fully-equipped spaces proving to be a significant aspect of landlords’ strategies to engage with occupiers.

We designed a comprehensive fit-out that included meeting rooms, a kitchen, breakout spaces, and furnished areas. By offering a fully furnished and well-finished office space, incoming tenants save time and costs associated with the fit-out process. The focus was on creating a contemporary and desirable workspace to be occupied quickly on short-term leases.

We employed a meticulous approach to the design process at Dixon House. A highly detailed concept design was developed, using 3D visuals and walk-throughs to ensure the space had the desired look and feel.

Collaborating closely with local agents and the contractor, the team efficiently created a contemporary scheme that offered flexibility and options for personalisation. The result is an attractive and sought-after office space in a prime London location. The feedback from the client has been overwhelmingly positive, with the project achieving its intended goal. Soon after completion, a letting was secured, highlighting the success of the design and execution.

Please see our blog talking more about the CAT A+ concept.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service Reception – Wakefield

Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Wakefield

Bowman Riley delivered a comprehensive solution to the facilities management team at Yorkshire Ambulance Service by transforming their front-of-house and client-facing areas at the Wakefield headquarters.

Our client’s brief was to completely refurbish the ground-floor entrance area, including upgrading the reception counter, and renovating the first-floor meeting rooms and associated circulation spaces. They sought an inviting entrance area and desired meeting rooms that would facilitate effective communication and decision-making.

We created a modern, welcoming, and functional environment that aligns seamlessly with the vital work of the ambulance service. This encompassed a wide range of services, including interior design, project management, contract administration, and principal designer expertise.

The project resulted in a welcoming entrance to the building, with materials chosen for their acoustic properties to reduce reverberation and create a more conducive environment. Bespoke adjustments to meeting room storage and tables accommodated our client’s IT conferencing set-up, enhancing functionality.

The ground floor now boasts a modern, clean, and inviting space that uplifts the mood of staff working at the premises. The refurbished meeting rooms facilitate better communication, leading to more efficient decision-making processes. The feedback from Yorkshire Ambulance Service colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive.

To see more of Bowman Riley’s commercial projects click here

Harrogate Town Football Club Spectator Stand Bar

Harrogate Town Football Club commissioned Bowman Riley to transform an underused space within the ground into a vibrant and practical spectator stand bar for the home fans. The project aimed to enhance the match day experience, increase occupancy, and generate additional income for the club. The design focused on creating a brand-driven, industrial aesthetic while incorporating sustainable features and retaining existing elements of the space.

The client’s primary goal was to develop a bar design catering to home fans’ needs. Due to its narrow layout, the space required a decent-sized bar and social areas without fixed seating. Practicality and durability were crucial factors in ensuring the interiors could withstand the high footfall of enthusiastic spectators.

We opened and transformed the space into a long, narrow interior reflecting the club’s colours to achieve the desired atmosphere. The centrepiece of the design was a textured bar front made of corrugated steel, inspired by the corporate stand, designed by Bowman Riley, introduced in 2022. Our team incorporated an industrial mesh detail into the back bar, showcasing club signage and providing an Instagrammable backdrop.

The design also featured perimeter drink rests using OSB boards and exposed trunking, contributing to an attractive industrial aesthetic within the interior.The project yielded numerous benefits for Harrogate Town Football Club and its fans. The increased occupancy, with a capacity for 107 persons, allowed more fans to enjoy the bar facility. The bar’s authentic design resonated with supporters, enhancing their match-day experience. Additionally, the project enabled the sustainable reuse of an existing space within the ground, minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency. The creation of the spectator’s bar also served as an additional revenue stream for the club.

Bell Busk Barn Conversion

Bowman Riley created interior visualisations on a single-storey detached modern farm building with planning permission to be converted into a four-bedroom luxury home close to the village of Coniston Cold near Skipton.

Supporting Sutcliffe Residential, our brief was to produce designs to help market the property and adjacent land. Supported by our designs, the client’s marketing materials effectively sold the vision of the building and its interior potential to prospective buyers. Our brief was to produce interior visualisations for the key rooms, including the master bedroom, large kitchen, dining and living space flooded with natural light and stunning views.

Our team created spaces reflecting the rural location and a high-end luxury interior scheme. We achieved this by mixing classic English design elements with modern farmhouse touchpoints.

We fused the classic English design elements, such as a traditional shaker panel kitchen, with modern accents and feature colour palettes that tie in the rural landscapes. The addition of clean boucle creams and oatmeal add warmth and contemporary accents – while the timber slats break up the expansive space with something tactile and earthy.

We completed the visuals quickly. Our client was able to push the marketing and get the site on the market as soon as the planning permission was approved.

Sutcliffe Residential was overjoyed with the outcome stating:

“The team did not disappoint, they managed to create really exciting looking spaces both internally and externally by pulling on all of the buildings more redeeming features. The timescale was extremely tight, but the team were always on hand to talk through any tweaks and alterations in order to hit the deadline. We would highly recommend and look forwarding to working with them again in the near future.”

To see more of our bespoke home projects click here

Harrogate Town Football Club Hospitality Suite

Bowman Riley has been partnering with Harrogate Town Football Club for several years to support the upgrade and expansion of the facilities in line with their success on the pitch.

The Club needed additional space within their hospitality suite for an increased number of corporate sponsors for match day entertaining and an area for travelling clubs’ management teams. The initial brief was to deliver a simple extension to provide extra floor space for 40 more people. We identified the open balcony outside the facility as a good source of extra space to be infilled with a timber frame extension set below the existing canopy roof.

During the project, the Club requested a refresh of the existing area and a new interior design scheme to create cohesion between the current and the new space. We needed to understand the process of the corporate suite and the need for welcoming spaces with entrance impact and plenty of space near the bar to allow for meeting and greeting while ensuring that the design impact blended into the dining spaces. Key elements were to provide new bar proposals to allow service from both sides and create a welcoming focal point in the room.
We designed the interior to exude warmth and luxury achieved by feature flooring, feature lighting to draw attention to the bar space, alongside timber cladding details, which aid the acoustics, with the felt backing adding to the warmth of the interior.

Due to the nature of the football season, the Club had minimal gaps within their fixture list to carry out the developments. All work had to be completed in the off-season, a little over three months, requiring close coordination and cooperation with the Club and the main contractor. We provided the concept design, planning application, and detailed design through to monitoring works on site and giving construction details to the contractor within the strict timescales of the brief.

Now complete, the expanded and enhanced corporate hospitality suite generates more income by providing extra hospitality space and improving the match-day experience for visiting teams and a larger bar area to ease queuing by spectators.

Westcombe House Student Accommodation – Greenwich, London

Bowman Riley provided architecture and interior design on Westcombe House, a new student accommodation project in the Greenwich area of London for our existing client, Linden Hill in the Greenwich area of London.

When our team became involved, planning permission had already been obtained for a four-storey apartment building. Our brief was to ensure that the development achieved the best value for our client. We amended the designs to convert the scheme into a 61-bedroom premium student accommodation, maximising the building’s footprint.
We resubmitted the project for planning approval, and a student accommodation operator was brought on board.

After exploring traditional and modern construction methods, we proposed that the scheme be developed as a modular building to ensure speed of construction to enable it to be completed in time for the start of the new academic year. Our team was novated to the modular contractor, QB Technology to deliver the technical package.

Our interior designers created a home-away-from-home for the students providing welcoming, social and comfortable spaces. Student wellbeing was a key driver offering spaces out of their bedrooms to socialise, a meeting room for group work, a library zone and an area for quiet working.

We produced designs for the communal areas with spatial plans, high-quality CGIs and photo-realistic renders for a gym, gaming room, cinema, working area, living area and dining room. The spaces were designed to be practical and flexible and able to be reconfigured. We separated the main library and living area into two rooms with a retractable wall to allow the hiring of the two private spaces.

If you are interested in renting this property, visit the CRM Student Accommodation website.

Click here to view more interior design projects

Circus PPC – Leeds City Centre

Ben Johnson commissioned bowman Riley to undertake an interior layout and concept design project for digital marketing company Circus PPC. The company is a modern, dynamic and
agile group that needs a workspace to reflect these attributes.

The brief includes a layout that maximises their interior spaces with room for expansion and a feature kitchen area that can be used for hosting events.

Despite a small footprint, the space has been maximised to include a large boardroom, small meeting room, a quiet room for video calls and focused work, and snug space for informal meetings and relaxation. This was achieved while retaining a substantial footprint for an open plan desk area.

The Bowman Riley design team presented initial concept designs and visuals for the client to sign off and provided a detailed drawing package and specification for the proposed spaces
to help Ben Johnson bring the concept designs to life.

The design and colour palette tie in with the name Circus, bringing colour and brightness into the space whilst emphasising scale. From the wallpaper to the oversized pendants, each item
has been chosen to make the overall look more eye-catching and unexpected.

The space is flooded with natural light. We have enhanced this by including crittall style glazing in the meeting rooms, ensuring the lighting filters throughout the interior.

View the 3D walkthrough here

Barristers Chambers – Leeds

Parklane Plowden Chambers

Leeds

Bowman Riley designed the complete refurbishment of a barristers’ chambers in Leeds city centre to create a high-quality environment for its clients, members and staff.

Parklane Plowden Chambers invested in the complete reorganisation of the four-storey premises to create a contemporary working environment that supports flexible working patterns and an increasing number of remote hearings.

The new layout features a barristers’ lounge and studies with new furniture and lighting to support agile working, dedicated case rooms and phone booths for remote conferences and hearings. Eight flexible meeting rooms and two board rooms will also be introduced alongside a south-facing roof terrace and bar.

To resolve the need for more storage, we introduced an innovative mobile shelving system that holds the maximum amount of storage within a small space.

The refurbishment has resulted in a fresh new look for the chambers in line with their aspirations and supports their strategy for continued expansion.

James Murphy, head of chambers, Parklane Plowden said:

“This investment demonstrates our commitment to further enhancing our reputation as vibrant, progressive chambers alive to the evolving needs of clients, members and colleagues.”

Read about this project in the media in the Business Insider, Business Desk and BD Daily News.

Please see our other Commercial projects.

Oakgate House Alterations – Harrogate

Bowman Riley designed the extensive alterations to Oakgate House, a detached Edwardian villa in the highly sought-after Duchy Estate to create a desirable five-bedroom family home.

In the early 20th century when lifestyles were different, the main family rooms were intended to be at the southern side enjoying the sunlight and views of the garden with the kitchen as a functional place where a housekeeper prepared food.

Modern single-storey extensions had created more space on the ground floor but non above. They had also left the house with no clear front door and had hidden the building’s character. We designed a new two-storey extension to replace the modern extensions and the remainder of the house will be stripped back to the brickwork and timber and rebuilt.

The alterations replicate the original Edwardian facade featuring a new visible front door and entrance hall with an additional side muddy boots entrance and cloakroom. The extensive remodelling included relocating the kitchen and dining room to the southern side of the house with patio doors to directly access the garden. Additionally, the original drawing room has been converted into a new large lounge with a south-facing garden room and study. All of the bedrooms have good-sized en-suites, the master bedroom has a new balcony overlooking the garden and the attic bedroom would be an ideal home office.

To help prospective buyers to see the potential of this exclusive family home, the client asked us to provide some interior visualisations for the sales particulars. The colour palette and textures were chosen to reflect the quality and aesthetic that is popular within this style of a young family home. Resulting in a look that feels contemporary, high-end but also welcoming and perfect for a family.

The final result is a beautifully appointed home designed for contemporary family life.

Explore our other bespoke homes.

New Hampton by Hilton – Ashford Kent

Rees Mellish
Ashford, Kent

Bowman Riley developed the design of a new Hampton by Hilton hotel in Ashford, Kent. The six-storey building forms part of the town’s key area of urban regeneration located in a central location close to the domestic and international railway stations.

We became involved in the project to amend the approved planning application following confirmation of Hampton by Hilton as the hotel operator. We have increased the overall building footprint, introduced an additional storey and redesigned the interiors to meet Hilton’s brand standards.

We considered using modern methods of construction for the building, which led to the decision to use volumetric modular units. Designed using BIM, the project team worked collaboratively to achieve efficient project delivery.  The result is 140 modern and spacious bedrooms for a comfortable stay with lounges, a bar, a gym and a restaurant.

We designed the interior public spaces featuring a spacious six-storey entrance and atrium on a prominent corner of the building. We interpreted the Hilton brand whilst ensuring the hotel retained a local identity. We achieved this through the layout, materials, lighting and textures.

A crucial part of the interior design was introducing zoning to create separate areas within the open-plan public spaces. The reception and bar areas have luxe materials and soft furnishings to create a welcoming entrance. The living zone is a cosy corner screened off from the rest of the open-plan space with coffee tables and soft furnishings to create a relaxing environment. The breakfast area has a fresh colour palette and rich textures using lighting to create intimate dining spaces.

Now open, the three-star hotel brings a new landmark to the town and provides a great addition to the town’s visitor economy.

View more of our Hotel Experience

Sandy Lane Primary School Refurbishment – Bradford

Sandy Lane Primary School needed to refurbish its early year’s spaces to create a new nursery and to accommodate two reception classes. Their vision is for their early years’ provision to work cohesively together within the space with joint resources.

Bowman Riley provided contract administration to help procure the project, draft the specification and tender process and a full interior design service from concept design, layouts, and visualisations to the construction of the tender package for the appointment of the contractor, Construction North Group to undertake the works.

Working closely with the teaching staff, we created initial layouts for the spaces based on their practical needs and requirements. Building upon this, we then generated high-quality visuals to help the school community envision how the layout would work. Specifically, we demonstrated how the interior choices and materials shape the spaces, including paint details, rafts and lighting to enhance the children’s experience.

The result of our design is three spaces with toilets and a one-to-one reading area that work seamlessly together whilst retaining a private feature for each space. The redesign opens up the spaces for better visibility of the children and a greatly enhanced aesthetic, inviting imaginative play.

Each space is decorated with fun accents along with cork walls designed for children’s artwork displays. The spaces include cloud rafts and suspended garland wreaths, as well as a feature grass carpet in each reading area and new kitchenettes for messy play.

“We have been really happy with the service we have been provided. The team has been great to work with, and it’s been exciting seeing the plan for our new early year’s provision come to life over the past few months. I have found Bowman Riley to be very professional and easy to work with. This is the first time I have had to develop a project like this and the team helped make the project simple and manageable”.

Fiona Newsome, Sandy Lane Primary School

Student Experience Hub – York College

Bowman Riley designed a bespoke new reception, student services zone with an integrated waiting area and new learning resources space for York College under our current framework agreement.

Our brief was to create a welcoming and efficient space for students, staff and visitors on arrival at the college uniting the reception area with the student services information centre.

We created a more open plan and welcoming layout that feels modern and conveys the college’s branding.  The bright colours within the design enhance mood and wellbeing as well as tie through the colleges branding to ensure continuity throughout the spaces

The project involved refurbishing and remodelling the existing space, removing the finance area to make way for a new reception pod, new waiting area, informal meeting spaces and private booths with interactive screens and tablets with course, application and enrolment information.

We also refurbished and re-configured the learning resource centres for students creating more spaces for students to work and collaborate with access to power and PCs. The furniture selected was designed to enable quiet working, group working and encourage collaboration and socialising amongst the students.

The spaces enhance the students’ experience by offering them options depending on their tasks and working preferences. We have also designed showcase areas for displaying student work to increase course visibility across the college.

Please see our other projects for York College; the Atrium Roof Repair and Institute of Technology projects.

Mamba Exclusive City Centre Restaurant and Bar – Leeds

Bowman Riley was approached by Night Owl Capital to create an exclusive high-end restaurant bar design for Mamba, a restaurant serving exceptional food within an existing commercial office building in the heart of a central business quarter.

Our client wanted to create a new elite restaurant called Mamba with valet parking and a theatre style kitchen, providing all the drama of fine dining with an elegant and casual vibe and aesthetic.

We provided an interior layout to allow our client to understand the potential restaurant covers within the space and a visualisation of the interior. The visualisation illustrated how the concept would translate as well as the look and feel of feature areas such as the sommelier lounge, bar and theatre kitchen.

The building is an unusual shape and is glazed to almost every elevation, which is beautiful but also presents a design challenge. We chose to make the angular nature of the building a feature in the design of the bar shape as well as putting in an island bar to ensure that customers could enjoy as much of the views as possible!

Our proposal includes utilising sustainable materials and utilising some of our supply chain with carbon zero initiatives.

We worked with a fit-out contractor to provide cost consultancy to enable out client to secure the unit and progress with the scheme. Due to the scale of the project and the results the client wants to achieve, we would plan cost saving finishes such as wallpapers that mimic stone to the ceilings and back of house areas and LVT flooring instead of timber. These finishes will help reduce costs but will not impact the overall aesthetic.

Contact us to discuss your project.

Office Breakout Area and Coffee Bar – Harrogate

Ultimate

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley designed a staff breakout area within the UK head office of a global designer and manufacturer of repair composite materials and industrial protective coatings in Harrogate.

Working in collaboration with Ultimate, we were tasked with transforming an unused mixture of offices, meeting rooms and a small breakout area into a space that would enhance staff wellbeing by encouraging regular breaks during the working day and facilitate collaborative working.

Our design proposal involved the removal of walls to create a large open plan breakout space that suits the needs of the company and its team.  Steel bar partitions were used to break up the space and offer some visual height to the scheme.  The breakout space comprises a large kitchen, various seating designs including cafe-style seating, high benches, a lounge area, a games room, a pool table and an area to work on personal projects.

Subsequently, the client identified an under stairs area of the building for transformation into space for informal meetings and refreshment breaks. The under-stairs area was designed as a coffee bar with a mixture of seating for a contemporary coffee shop vibe.

Our design needed to be cohesive to the main breakout space using a similar palette of colours, materials and textures. The addition of soft seating and cosy areas makes the stairwell space feel more intimate using rugs, lounge seating and patterned fabric to add warmth.

The layout of the space allows for quiet working along the workbench with task lighting using table lamps. A soft seating area in the centre creates a warm and inviting ambience designed to encourage communication between colleagues and informal meetings. Acoustic fins under the stairs and an abundance of soft furnishings help with the acoustic absorption in this area creating a relaxing and quiet space.

“We were approached by our client to turn two previously unused areas within their existing buildings, into social zones that promote employee collaboration. With this in mind, and
having worked with Bowman Riley on previous schemes, they were the obvious fit to bring this scheme to life”.

Mark Hickey, Ultimate

Please see more of our commercial office projects.

North Brewing Taproom – Birmingham

Bowman Riley designed the interiors for a new bar and taproom for the independent craft brewer, North Brewing Co in the Colmore business district in central Birmingham.

We have been working with Leeds-based North Brewing Co for the past few years, supporting their expansion plans, including Springwell, their new multi-million-pound brewery and taproom located in a former tannery in Leeds.

North Brewing Co chose Birmingham as their first venue outside their home county of Yorkshire and their ninth bar in total.

We initially accompanied the client on a site visit to No1 Snowhill, a large commercial office building in the centre of the buzzing Birmingham metropolis. A small commercial unit had become available, which met the client’s brief in terms of location, size and appearance for their taproom concept.

Working closely with the client team, we provided a full concept design for the unit, taking the essence of their first taproom bar in Leeds and applying it to the new space. The scheme consists of an open-plan bar with a street food kiosk and an external terrace. The taproom needed to accommodate 24 draught lines, including 18 lines of keg beer, showcasing North’s ever-evolving range of core brews and specials.

Once agreed, we developed the scheme into a full detailed construction package. We managed a competitive tender to provide our client with the recommendation of contractors to deliver the project.

SH Projects delivered the project on time, and the taproom opened to great fanfare in the city.

Images credit Alex Millhouse-Smith, North Brewing Co

National Highways Office – Leeds

Bowman Riley designed the interior of the National Highways Leeds city centre office. This followed our involvement in the successful fit-out of their Wakefield creative hub, a working environment designed to stimulate creativity and collaboration.

In line with our client’s post-pandemic requirements, we created an agile working environment providing a flexible townhall space with moveable walls to offer different configurations.

National Highways was keen for a workspace that gives consideration to the location and staff who work there, explicitly focusing on accessibility and inclusivity. We worked closely with our client to ensure the designs, colours, materials, and graphic details were inclusive from conception. We brought continuity between the Wakefield and Leeds offices by carrying through some of the same palettes of fabrics, and textures, along with the brick effect walls and planting, but in a softer, more trellis aesthetic that compliments the interior scheme.

Our designs ensured that the interior scheme has a mid-20th century retro feel which works well in the space. However, we have still allowed for modernity through innovative black architectural details, a mixture of textures, and rattan details to ensure it feels warm and inviting. We also incorporated a colour palette to reflect the National Highways brand colours whilst still leaving the space to incorporate new colours to soften the branding and fashion a welcoming environment.

The design team worked closely with the mechanical and electrical engineer to ensure a sustainable project approach. This was achieved by re-using existing flooring in the main office areas, sourcing fabrics and materials made from recycled plastic and using carbon-zero companies and manufacturers.

Now complete, National Highways Leeds has 120 workspaces within a modern, agile city centre office with an interior that reflects their brand and core values.

Taylor’s on the Green Refurbishment – Keighley

Bowman Riley created an interior design for the refurbishment of the Lord Rodney pub in the West Yorkshire town of Keighley into Taylor’s on the Green, a new tap room and kitchen from Timothy Taylor’s brewery.

The world-famous brewery has been operating in Keighley since 1858 using the spring water that wells up from deep under the Pennines. Originally, called Ye Olde Red Lion, the pub was renamed the Lord Rodney in the late 1700s in honour of a leading 18th-century British Admiral. Its new name of Taylor’s on the Green will reflect the hostelry’s position on Church Green in the centre of the town.

Our brief was to enhance the appeal and increase the footfall of the pub creating a leisure destination connected to Timothy Taylor’s brewery tour to be enjoyed by the whole community. We designed a friendlier and more family-orientated feel incorporating a wide variety of seating styles.  The design encompasses elements of the brewery tour and process. The revamp included a new bar, toilets, branding and decoration. Externally, the pub was repainted, new signage installed and a heated seating area provided.

We presented designs that are in keeping with Timothy Taylor’s unique brewing process. Encapsulating the aesthetic features of the brewery tour, we selected materials such as reclaimed timber, industrial details, and corrugated steel. These are enhanced by subtle accents such as amber-toned glass in the light fittings. This represented the quality assurance process when checking the colour of the beer.

We incorporated Timothy Taylor’s branding into the design with a dedicated display case for merchandise made from reclaimed crates sourced from the brewery.

Following the concept design, we provided a technical package for costing and on-site construction by local Keighley-based contractor RN Wooler. This included the specification of all finishes, materials, styling items, graphical designs and furniture.

Paul Turner, Timothy Taylor’s Estate Operations Director

For more information on the Taylor’s on the Green refurbishment please see here.

See another project we have completed for Timothy Taylor’s.

Harrison Bathrooms Showroom – Leeds

Harrison Bathrooms, Leeds

Bowman Riley was commissioned by Harrison Bathrooms to create an aspirational interior showroom to display and demonstrate their product ranges to clients within the new warehouse and office premises in Leeds.

Harrison Bathrooms is a family-run business that has been creating bespoke bathroom products for 100 years, producing everything from sanitaryware to shower enclosures, and bathroom furniture to brassware. The ability to show product finishes, options and set combinations within a high-end showroom environment will facilitate the sales process and create a brand experience for the client.

The showroom has been created within a previously unused area of the warehouse with a first floor being added to ensure the showroom takes full advantage of the space.

The warehouse setting inspired the design aesthetic leading to an industrial theme with luxe elements to create a real show-stopper.

We provided concept designs for the project with initial layout options to show the use of the space and the integration of the bathroom showroom sets. We also produced a virtual model of the space and graphics to help the client visualise the space.

The plan of the showroom space is very long and narrow. This has led to a decision to break up the space and the journey a little more to ensure that the space does not feel like a corridor. Creating tighter areas that open up into something larger offers a more interesting customer journey through the showroom.

Please see more of our retail projects.

BJSS Office Refurbishment – Glasgow

Bowman Riley created a bespoke and tailored office refurbishment for BJSS, a business technology consultancy, in Glasgow following our highly valued upgrade of their Leeds and Manchester offices.

We provided building consultancy and interior design services through RIBA stages 1-6 which included contract administration, project management and principal designer duties.

The brief was to fashion the office to better suit their remote Scotland team.  We achieved this by providing space suitable for individual task working as well as team collaboration. In addition, BJSS needed a space to facilitate the hosting of events and meetings.  In line with the previous BJSS office refurbishments, we retained a sense of locality in the design whilst incorporating their strong brand identity.

Our interior design concept was inspired by the rich industrial history of Glasgow.  We reflected this heritage within the interior through the choice of materials, finishes, and colours, whilst encompassing the brand colours in a subtle way to ensure it has a base brand feel.

Our office layout reflects the modern agile way of working with less of a focus on traditional desking spaces and more of a hybrid, social working environment to enhance collaboration.

We developed the technical package of works and specifications to ensure a comprehensive costing from the contractor through to construction.  This included the specification of all finishes, decorative lighting, graphics and marketing proposals, and the specification of all furniture and fittings.

By working collaboratively together with the entire project team and with team members at BJSS, the works were coordinated and managed from project inception to a successful conclusion.

Please see our other commercial projects.

East Barn Private House – Malham, North Yorkshire

Private client
Malham, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley provided interior design and decoration on East Barn, a converted barn into a high-end residential property. To create a modern family home, we worked closely with our client to deliver the brief from initial concept proposals to final site completion and styling.

The interior spaces were reviewed and an internal re-configuration was required to open up the kitchen area and living space to create an open plan form of living. This then allowed us to re-evaluate each floor’s layout to better suit the client’s requirements. This included the reconfiguration of all bathrooms, the addition of a dressing room, new layouts of internal spaces to create a games room and a cloakroom WC.

We created detailed demolition and construction plans for each floor, including the removal of an existing chimney, an internal extension of the kitchen and subsequent layout for the family room. We provided interior design for all rooms, including general arrangement plans showing furniture placements, detailed lighting and electrical designs with specifications of decorative light fittings and joinery proposals for each room. This facilitated a detailed pack provided for the contractor to deliver on site.

The interior renovation and fitted joinery needed to be sympathetic to the style of the building as well as feel modern to suit the young family’s aesthetics and requirements. Each room was reviewed with regard to the client’s requirements for storage and use of space to ensure the best layout and overall design.

In addition to the interior design on East Barn, we also provided thorough interior decoration proposals for each room, specifying furniture and fittings, window treatment specifications, cushion and trim detailing, artwork proposals down to the frame specifications. This process was worked up alongside the build on site to ensure the client received a turnkey solution.

Our client said:

“It was a pleasure working with Laura on the interiors for our home renovation project. She took the time to understand our style and expertly guided us through the whole process, advising us on everything from paint colours and lighting design to furniture and soft furnishings. We couldn’t be happier with the end result, which is a home where the interiors are tailored perfectly to our needs and tastes.”

View our other bespoke homes.

Cafe del Mar Yacht Refurbishment – Cannes, France

Bowman Riley provided interior design services on Cafe del Mar, a private yacht moored in Cannes, France.

Cafe del Mar is an 88.58ft/27m Leopard 27 open yacht built in 1998 and last refitted in 2011. Our brief was to refresh the interior space to reflect our client’s personality, personal aesthetics and aspirations for his yacht.

Cafe del Mar sleeps up to seven guests in three rooms, including a master suite, two double cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to three crew members on board.

We reconfigured the internal areas to create better spaces for our client to entertain and designed the re-decoration to incorporate the client’s vibrant colour palette of black and hot pink.

Our interior visualisations for the yacht allowed the client, who was in Dubai for the duration of the project, to visualise the space and agree on the concept and the designs. Subsequently, we selected all of the finishes and materials for the wrapping of the interior cabinetry. We also chose all materials and fabric finishes for both the upper and lower salons.

The client’s iconic hot pink colour was integrated into the design with accents of black and gold to add a luxe feel to the aesthetic.

Now complete, our client is delighted with the end result.

See our other Gre Mat Yacht project.

Great Annual Savings Head Office – County Durham

Great Annual Savings

Seaham, County Durham

Bowman Riley designed the interior fit-out of a 57,000ft2 CAT B office for Great Annual Savings (GAS) located at Spectrum Business Park in Seaham, County Durham.

Working in collaboration with a commercial fit-out contractor, we have created a contemporary interior design concept for our client, GAS, a fast-growing commercial utility comparison company. GAS has experienced tremendous growth and their current office space on the same business park was full to capacity.

The brief was to create a dynamic forward-thinking office space for the company’s young sales team with a focus on wellbeing and staff retention. The business is a major employer in the local area and strives to create superb career opportunities to its existing workforce whilst also attracting a high calibre new staff.

To enable the client to understand what could be achieved, the design process involved full concept modelling of the existing three-storey office building including detailed space planning, computer-generated visualisations and walk-throughs.

The spaces within the office accommodation will include 315 fixed workstations supported by quiet rooms, coffee bars and meeting spaces. A large ground floor bistro and breakout areas will feature off the central reception with a varied selection of flexible meeting and training rooms for staff, clients and visitors. Half of the second floor has been designed as a wellbeing suite with a large multi-functional space including changing room facilities, a canteen for
over 150 people, a multi-purpose gym and a wellbeing suite for treatments.

The project is currently on-site and due for handover this summer.

National Highways Office – Wakefield

National Highways

Wakefield

Bowman Riley provided a full interior design service and construction package for National Highways on their new two-storey office building in Calder Park, Wakefield.

Positioned close to the motorway network, the new offices were created to provide their team with an exceptional environment that will support wellbeing and ultimately be a great place to work.

Calder Park is set across 240 acres of land and has detailed planning consent for 1.5 million sq ft of business space.

Conceived as a creative hub for National Highways colleagues, our brief was to create a working environment to stimulate creativity and collaboration.

A key aspiration was for the office to achieve WELL standards focusing on the health and wellbeing of the building users. We employed the key WELL elements of air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal control, sound, materials, mind and community from the very early stages of the project to achieve the best results.

We introduced Biophilic elements as part of the aspirations around WELL standards and people-centred design philosophy. We included cost-effective wall-mounted frames filled with faux ivy and trailing plants combined with real planting.

The office features a dramatic double-height reception space leading to a social space for colleagues and visitors. It also contains a dedicated media room, bleacher presentation space, breakout spaces, an innovation project hub, and meeting rooms. The office space has a central spine that includes quiet working rooms, small meeting spaces, acoustic booths, a soft seating area and collaborative working zones.

Using the signage and colours associated with National Highways and the roads that they build as inspiration for the interior, we introduced a chevron pattern as the base of the design for the office areas. The colour palette is bright to create an exciting and energetic workplace.

Click here to view the Matterport 3D Model

See our other commercial office projects.

Private House Interior Layout and Decoration – Ilkley

Bowman Riley provided architectural and interior layout and design services for this beautiful 1920s house in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. The house was in need of considerable renovation in order to make the interior spaces conducive to modern living and suit the clients lifestyle.

We provided architectural designs for the extension to the rear of the property that facilitated the clients lifestyle and love of entertaining providing them with a lovely open plan living space.

The client wanted to ensure that the essence and character of the period property was retained whilst allowing them to inject the home with their personality and style. We also had the added challenge of integrating their existing furniture, extensive artwork collections and travel mementos within the spaces that they were bringing from their current home. These pieces often created the foundation colour palettes for some of the rooms schemes and have blended beautifully with the new pieces to create a mid-century modern eclectic style.

We worked closely with the client to build the schemes from the spatial layouts, bathroom designs and finishes down to the trim detailing on the cushions.

The end result is a true reflection of the clients bright, welcoming and playful characters. The client took our specifications, drawings and design proposals to source and implement the designs on site, perfectly interpreting the schemes to create a cohesive and beautiful home.

Contact us to discuss your dream home. 

BJSS Head Office – Leeds

BJSS

Leeds

Bowman Riley was appointed by BJSS, a business and IT consultancy with offices across the UK and in New York, to provide project management and interior design services in support of the relocation of their head office in Leeds.

The client’s existing space was tired and uninspiring. Insufficient meeting space, inadequate staff welfare facilities and poor natural lighting led to the need for BJSS to relocate. BJSS compete for staff in the highly competitive IT sector with numerous technology companies operating from and moving into the north of England. State-of-the-art office spaces are crucial to the recruitment and retention of staff whilst also providing an attractive client interface space.

Having identified No 1 Whitehall Quay as their new office location for a growing team of over 350 staff, BJSS approached a number of fit-out contractors and received variable costs and designs. BJSS identified the need for professional support to manage the fit-out process and brought Bowman Riley on board. We provided an appraisal of the four design schemes and took our client on a journey from brief to tender stage.

We took BJSS to Clerkenwell Design Week to show them the latest trends in contemporary office interiors. We then led 3D design workshops, created a concept design responding client’s detailed and intricate brief. We provided extensive 3D modelling to ensure every detail and space was designed to maximise efficiency and functionality.

A big driver was to create a flexible, reconfigurable social hub for staff, clients and guests on the ground floor overlooking the river. This space was designed to host large-scale events, forums and TED Talks and provide a staff training area.

See our other Commercial projects.

Gremat Yacht – Cannes, France

Maplecrest Yachts
Cannes, France

Bowman Riley designed the interiors of a private motor yacht, the Gremat moored in Cannes on the French Riviera.

The Gremat is a 27-metre luxury vessel with sophisticated exterior design and engineering by Paolo Caliari.  Gremat’s interior layout sleeps up to seven guests in three bedrooms and is capable of carrying three crew on board.

Built in 1999 and last refitted in 2017, the yacht needed an interior refresh to update the style for use by the owner as a private yacht and as a charter yacht.  Our aim was to create a modern stylish aesthetic to suit the needs of the yacht owner and to create a relaxed luxury experience for guests with contemporary styling, beautiful furnishings and sumptuous seating.

We provided concept ideas for the interior space, exploring various options and layouts for both the upper deck and galley for discussion with the yacht owner.  The designs were developed alongside our client and a final set of visuals accompany the specification for the soft furnishing and decorative accents to enable the Gremat captain and project manager to implement the designs on-site in France.

A key driver was to maximise the Gremat’s leisure and entertainment facilities to enhance her appeal as a charter yacht for socialising and entertaining.  The galley was reconfigured to offer greater flexibility as the main entertaining space for parties and larger groups to gather.

To create an elegant and contemporary interior, our proposals included lightening the dated mahogany timber to soften the overall interior. This is achieved by wrapping the cabinetry, work surfaces and carcass details, completely transforming the space.

New upholstery fabrics were selected to bring texture whilst ensuring suitability for marine use and commercial entertaining. Contrast piping details compliment the wrapping finishes and bring the scheme together. In addition to this, we selected decorative cushions with a bespoke trim detail to the interior seating and bathing areas to add colour and texture.

Foodology at One Angel Square – Manchester

The Co-op

Manchester City Centre

Bowman Riley designed an exciting new concept for the Co-op called Foodology at their Manchester head office following our involvement with their boardroom refurbishments.

Behind the scenes of their head office, the Co-op’s in-house chefs create their own-brand food lines in test kitchens. With a mission to excite, innovate and educate, the Co-op decided to open up the food creation side of their operations showcasing the work undertaken to develop and test their products.

Working collaboratively with the Co-op, we designed the project through to completion. Our involvement spanned from initial concept designs to support their business case, through to design reviews and development including the final procurement of the furniture, fit-out and equipment.

We transformed a business lounge into a flexible, contemporary space with an urban market aesthetic that provides vibrant and dynamic areas to test and showcase the Co-op’s food offering.

The heart of the Foodology area is The Kitchen, a large demonstration zone where chefs showcase the latest products, offer cooking lessons and deliver food presentations with perfectly positioned cameras and AV technology for this to be live-streamed into meeting rooms.

The Square is a food-focused event and presentation space set up with market stalls, pop-up food offerings and a fair-trade coffee bar. This area also doubles as an agile working area when needed. Expanding off from the Square are meeting rooms flooded with natural light, perfect for the innovation of new ideas and concepts. The third zone is The Library, which builds on the food-related side of Co-op as well as feeding into the innovation meeting rooms to allow staff to review cookery books, conduct research and generate new ideas.

See our other commercial projects.

Nilorn UK Head Office and Factory – North Yorkshire

Nilorn

Cononley, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley designed a contemporary commercial unit for developer Candelisa, The Motor Works, as part of a wider mixed-use development to renovate a historic mill complex and six-acre brownfield site in the village of Cononley, North Yorkshire.  Our journey on the project then extended to working for Sutcliffe Construction to build the unit’s shell.

The commercial unit was purchased by, Nilorn, a leading fashion label specialist, who had been leasing office and factory space in the neighbouring town of Keighley.  Our interior design team was commissioned by Nilorn to create a unique contemporary office space and bespoke facilities for the production side of their business.

A Scandinavian-inspired interior concept was partnered with a Yorkshire industrial aesthetic to reflect the company’s Swedish roots and the site’s Yorkshire heritage.

With staff wellbeing and increased efficiency are at the heart of Nilorn’s aspirations, the designs provide spacious, flexible open-plan office space with a layout that has been carefully coordinated to ensure the wellbeing of their staff.  Facilities include high-quality showers and washrooms, cloakrooms, ample storage, an open plan coffee bar and catering standard kitchen for events.

Following an analysis of their existing factory facilities, the new production space was carefully laid out to increase efficiency.  Working closely with our client, we examined the work-flow of the production from printing and packaging to distribution and devised the most efficient layout to reduce distances between tasks.

Now complete, the project was a real collaboration between our architects, interior designers and principal designers, who provided health and safety advice on the interior fit-out.  In addition, we worked closely with the interior fit-out contractor, Ultimate, the quantity surveyor, Shelby and the mechanical and electrical consultants, Novo.

Images courtesy of Ultimate.

Cellar Trust Multi-Functional Space – Shipley, West Yorkshire

Cellar Trust
Shipley, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley was approached by the Cellar Trust, a mental health charity, to design the interiors for a multi-functional space within their existing premises located in the West Yorkshire town of Shipley on a pro-bono basis.

The Cellar Trust provides mental health support to adults in Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven.  Our brief was to create a versatile multi-functional area for staff and clients.  It was critical that this space was designed to be people-centred to encourage clients to visit and engage in activities.  With full wifi and AV functionality, the space will be used as a training facility and may also be used for external hire to community groups.

To keep costs to a minimum for the charity, we created our designs around the existing wooden floor. We retained the radiator position and used OSB, inexpensive plywood, for bleacher seating to deliver a considered design that meets the charity’s needs.

Designed to enhance people’s wellbeing, the entire space was carefully thought-out with the use of the colour orange, the charity’s brand colour, which is also associated with positivity.  A living plant wall and additional planting features will be fitted into the space to incorporate biophilic design, which will be used to increase connectivity to the natural environment bringing added health benefits.  We also introduced soft fabrics and soft seating to improve the acoustics in the space, responding to the Cellar Trust’s need for sympathetic acoustics and environment.

The result will be a contemporary, welcoming multi-functional space with quirky storage solutions and a small modernised kitchenette.

See our other community projects.

Evolve New Business Community – Colchester, Essex

Evolve Colchester – A Galliard Group Company

Colchester, Essex

Bowman Riley was the project architect and interior designer on the creation of Evolve, a vibrant new business community complete with lifestyle facilities on the outskirts of Colchester town centre.

Evolve Colchester offers 90 small business units and five standalone offices designed with start-up businesses in mind. This project forms part of London developer, Galliard Group’s overall plan to build affordable workspace schemes in London and the South East to meet the demand caused by a significant increase in small and medium-sized firms across London and the South East choosing to locate to community-style workspace schemes.

The development has been designed to create a business environment that can accommodate various uses, from start-up businesses to storage and manufacturing. This flexible accommodation allows for the changing property needs of small companies and meets differing demands in the commercial office market.

The accommodation is divided into two different types of units. The western half of the site is occupied by five 95m2 two-storey office buildings with a central atrium. Each unit can accommodate eight office units.

The eastern half of the site is occupied by 90 smaller business units designed to appeal to start-up companies. These are split into two standard sizes (with type variations) ranging from 37.8m2 to 90m2. The units are supported by a central hub comprising a gym, cafe, meeting spaces and a hot desk zone.

To learn more about this development and what it offers, visit the website.

View more of our commercial experience

Middletons Hotel – York City Centre

The House of Daniel Thwaites
York, Inside York City Walls

Centred around a picturesque courtyard garden within York’s historic city walls and dating back to 1700s, Middletons Hotel comprises 56 bedrooms spread across eight different buildings – six of which are Grade II and Grade II* listed – together with restaurant and leisure facilities.

Middletons has been operating as a hotel since the 1970s. Daniel Thwaites acquired the property in 2017 and appointed Bowman Riley to support the phased redevelopment of the site. An initial review of the hotel revealed that many of the bedrooms were tired and in need of refurbishment, with aspects of acoustics and fire protection between bedrooms in need of updating.

The design concept at the Middletons Hotel is to celebrate the history of each building whilst adding elements of modern guest experience that people expect from a city centre hotel.  This design plays on the unique characteristics related to the heritage of each part of the site.

The first phase of works started on site in January 2019 following lengthy negotiations with York City Council. It involved the refurbishment of 18 bedrooms within Cromwell House and Sir Joseph Terry Cottages, which comprises two guest suites.  The Grade II 19th Century Cromwell House was originally a sawmill complex, and one of the walls at the far end of The Sawmill restaurant is actually part of an old city jail.  Designed by the architect Walter G. Pentry in 1899, the Grade II Listed Sir Joseph Terry Cottages were former almshouses funded by public subscription in memory of Sir Joseph Terry, former mayor.

The hotel remained in operation throughout the works, but careful coordination between the hotel manager, client and contractor ensured that disruption to guests was kept to a minimum. The bedrooms and guest suites were handed over in April 2019 to the delight of the guests. Bowman Riley also acted as the principal designer during the works to ensure health and safety compliance.

In 2022, we returned to the project to begin designing the second phase of works involving the refurbishment of the Grade II* listed Lady Anne House over two floors with 19 rooms.  This listed building takes its name from Dame Anne Middleton, who was the wife of the Sheriff of York in 1659 and funded the hospital. In 1829, the property was rebuilt and extended.  By 1972 it was nearly derelict when it was purchased and incorporated into the hotel. In the centre of the front is a statue of a woman, which is believed to survive from the original building.  At Lady Anne House, we are designing the refurbishment of the bedrooms, replacing ensuites and adding new secondary glazing and air conditioning along with external works involving resurfacing of footpaths including ramped access and railings .

Further phases at Middletons Hotel will comprise the conversion of function rooms within the Organ Factory into two guest suites, works to Chaplin House, no. 56 Skeldergate and Staff House.

See more of our hotel experience here or contact us to talk about your development ideas.

CGG New Office Hub and Reception Refurbishment – Wales

CGG

Conway, Wales

Bowman Riley was commissioned by our existing client, geoscience company CGG, to support their move from two premises into one centralised campus bringing all their team together under one roof in north Wales.

Initially, we redesigned the reception space of their existing office and laboratory building focusing on the welcome experience. We provided layout options for CGG to select their preferred design and then produced a model to help them visualise how this would be executed including materials and finishes that represent the local vernacular using welsh slate.

Subsequently, we provided concepts and layouts for their new standalone staff hub building adjacent to their existing building.

The brief for the hub building was to provide a facility to increase productivity and efficiency by giving staff places to escape their desks and take breaks centred around a large new staff canteen with meeting rooms and studios for fitness classes. The interiors were designed to allow the spaces to also be used by the local community with independent access.

Our approach was to look at the building layout working from the inside-out to understand CGG’s spatial requirements to enable CGG to move forward with its plans.

We proposed Welsh slate to be used for the cladding of the building with the aim of using as many local materials as possible to support the local economy.

Click here to see our other commercial projects.

Ponderosa Office Fit-Out – Leeds

Ponderosa

Leeds

Bowman Riley was approached by marketing agency, Ponderosa to provide interior design services in support of their relocation from Wharfebank Mills in Otley to Leeds city centre.

Relocating to Leeds, Ponderosa’s objective was to attract and retain high calibre staff with the buzz and convenience of the city. Following our successful completion of the refurbishment of Wharfebank Mills, we were recommended to Ponderosa as best placed to help them create cool and contemporary office interiors.

Built as an Edwardian Sunday school, the building was converted into an assembly hall before becoming a nightclub in the early 21st century. Now a serviced office space with exposed brickwork, we assisted Ponderosa with space planning, office layout and design.

As part of the interior design service, we created an asset library of existing furniture to enable us to accurately and efficiently space plan the new offices. Working closely with the client, we developed the ancillary spaces including meeting, breakout and kitchen spaces.

We developed a detailed design for a multi-purpose space to enable them to host events, hold presentations and create an improved area for breakout activities. Inspired the building’s former function as a nightclub, we created a VIP area vibe with bleacher seating, booths, high-level benches and cafe style seating with a sumptuous feel.

Subsequently, we provided concept design ideas for a breakout area, an informal meeting space and relax zone with a secret crawl reading space.  Space could also double up as an evening networking events space. We demonstrated the multi-functional areas and how the space could be used efficiently to make the most of the available area.

Waddington Turner Wall Office Refurbishment – Keighley, West Yorkshire

Waddington Turner Wall

Keighley, West Yorkshire

Bowman Riley Interiors provided space planning and interior design on the offices of Waddington Turner Wall, a firm of solicitors based in Keighley.

Waddington Turner Wall purchased a series of 19th century terrace properties as their new 350m2 offices close to their existing premises to increase their office space to give the company the scope to continue to grow.

Bowman Riley has created an appealing workspace in line with their aspirations of continuing to attract and retain the best staff. The overall design is modern, fresh and inviting. We have specified a pallet of blues to match the solicitors’ brand with greys and white to compliment. Bespoke wallpaper has been used in specific areas to reflect the brand.

The original Victorian elements have been exposed where possible with ceiling roses and original fireplaces.

The reception area will be on two levels furnished with Hygge style chairs and fully accessible to those with limited mobility. A playful mix of three shades of carpet styles with light wood oak on reception will welcome staff and clients. To give a local feel, we have used a historic map of the town as a backdrop in the waiting area.

The whole of the ground floor will be dedicated to meeting facilities with nine meeting rooms including a mediation suite. The mediation suite includes the provision of two large meeting rooms that will have state of the art ‘click & view’ facilities as well as access to additional breakout rooms.

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West Park Hotel Courtyard Conversion – Harrogate

West Park Hotel approached Bowman Riley to convert an underused courtyard into a covered area for al fresco dining and drinking seven years after we originally designed the hotel refurbishment on the Stray in Harrogate’s Conservation Area.

Alfresco dining in the UK has soared in popularity over the past few years, with restaurants and bars opening outdoor spaces to meet demand. West Park decided to enhance their alfresco dining with an improved courtyard space that can be adapted if further Covid related restrictions are introduced.

We created an appealing courtyard garden using natural materials to create trellising that conceal the surrounding walls. Decorative accents like mirrors and lighting enhance the scheme and make the space feel larger. The lighting was designed to create a twinkly garden effect with backlit mirrors that light up the trailing greenery and planter lighting to uplight the topiary planting installed.

The courtyard features fresh teal shades, bespoke heated seating, and a living wall. A retractable roof allows guests to enjoy the sunshine and provides shelter in inclement weather.

We created an exterior space that is an extension of the interior and offers flexibility using a modular system with each unit on castors and weighted using sand to allow for different configurations without compromising on the look and feel of the space.

The courtyard opened in August 2021 with an official launch party.

Ultimate Interiors Showroom and Offices – North Yorkshire

Ultimate Commercial Office Interiors

Crosshills, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley provided advice on the interior design and fit-out of this purpose-built head office and furniture showroom for fit-out contractor, Ultimate based in the North Yorkshire village of Crosshills.

Collaborating with three other leading interior design companies, our brief was to create a show-piece to demonstrate the products and services Ultimate provide. The concept behind the furniture showroom is to provide a facility for interior designers in the north of England reducing the need to travel to London.

The interior spaces need to be continually reconfigured and plenty of agile space is a must with maximum flexibility to all areas. This will enable Ultimate to showcase as many design ideas and finish options as possible to maximise the opportunity to present Ultimate’s service packages.

We designed flexible meeting spaces suitable for product demonstrations that can be divided into two meeting rooms as required with design details and brand integration across the meeting spaces.

Areas of focus include the entrance lobby to create an impressive first impression with a living or moss wall and the first floor WC to show the design options and fit-out detailing that Ultimate can provide with each WC stall a different design.

Images courtesy of Ultimate.

See our other commercial office projects here.

Riviera Restaurant – Skipton, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley was commissioned to design a stylish concept and interior scheme for the Riviera restaurant, bar and outdoor terrace on the canal side in the picturesque Yorkshire
market town of Skipton.

The brief was to provide a design proposal for the interiors and terrace that feels both contemporary and welcoming.

Our proposal features a central island bar that provides a focal point for the space. The design includes casual bar seating, formal restaurant and high seating. The large terrace features
both soft and dining seating to appeal to all customers.

The blues and pinks create a contemporary yet retro colour palette with the lighting accents adding to the elegant detailing of the space. The interior has been designed for both the
daytime and evening trade with a light and bright colour palette, that will translate into the evening with the addition of lighting accents bringing the scheme to life.

By providing visualisations for both the interior spaces and the terrace, the client was able to visualise the interior and move forward with the selected aesthetic.

“WOW. Perfect, just what the chef and I are looking for to make our restaurant dreams a reality… great job. Thank you.” Ben Hodgkinson, Riviera Restaurant

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The Graceful Swan – Skipton

Skipton, North Yorkshire

Completed

Bowman Riley designed the interiors of the Graceful Swan, the first electric canal boat in Skipton to be used for dining experiences.

The Rendezvous Hotel is located alongside the famous Leeds Liverpool Canal less than a mile from the centre of Skipton, the Gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. The hotel owner wanted to make the most of the beautiful canal-side location and expand their offering through the use of a canal boat to be moored up outside their property offering canal cruises during the day and evening.

Taking inspiration from the iconic Orient Express train, we created an interior environment that celebrates vintage opulence. We reworked this interior concept with a contemporary edge to suit the environment and purpose of the Graceful Swan as well as the boat itself.

We looked critically at the space to ensure the client’s aspirations are achieved and to ensure a realistic amount of tables and chairs are accommodated to ensure an enjoyable experience and repeat business. The restaurant can cater for up to 44 guests with a bar area and will be accessible for all via a lift.

It is unique, as the first electrically-powered restaurant barge on the canals of Great Britain.   The boat will run for a maximum of six hours in any 24 hours before needing to be recharged.  The environmental benefits also include no engine noise, no fumes and no vibration.

Opened in Spring 2020, the Graceful Swan is a unique visitor attraction in this picturesque part of Yorkshire enhancing the Rendezvous’ offer for guests and boosting the local visitor economy.

CGG Office Refurbishment – West Sussex

Fredrick Sage

Crawley, London

Bowman Riley was commissioned by geoscience company, CGG based in Crawley to refresh four wings of office accommodation and design the extension to the existing mezzanine level for up to 430 staff.

CGG needed their existing office space to be re-designed to accommodate the additional staff that had moved to this office from a separate building.   The company also wanted their existing traditional call centre style of office layout improving and updating with a more contemporary style to reflect their business model.

A key driver was to improve staff interaction between the teams with as many communal spaces as possible and fewer offices for managers.

Appointed on a design and build basis, Bowman Riley has been providing all the designs and construction drawings working closely with the client and staff to create a working environment that all the stakeholders will be happy with.

A young, fresh environment has been created with significant breakout spaces and quirky features such as table tennis meeting rooms have been introduced. We have specified sit-stand desks for the benefit of staff health and wellbeing.

The layout has been designed to maximise all available space whilst introducing an interesting flow through the building. Arched walkways through the spaces and angled desks have broken up the room for different teams of staff. Space has been divided into communal informal meeting areas and booths.

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The Dockyard Leisure Hub – Sunderland

AEW Europe

Sunderland

Bowman Riley was appointed to repurpose a redundant leisure centre and ice skating rink into The Dockyard, a new leisure destination working for The Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland.

This project is a joint venture between The Bridges and Sunderland City Council. The Council own a former leisure centre and derelict ice skating rink that is directly linked to the shopping centre. Bowman Riley was appointed to redevelop the space into a modern leisure hub and streetfood style food court.

The project aims to capitalise on the recent leisure and casual dining boom, whilst increasing the time spent on the premises. The introduction of a new dimension to the shopping centre will enhance the city’s evening entertainment offer.

Our role was to produce a concept design for the repurposing of the space creating a dockyard aesthetic for the casual dining area inspired by the nautical heritage of the city using shipping containers and pop-up food stalls.

The central food court will be enhanced by family-friendly leisure facilities, leased to various operators, including a trampoline park, ten-pin bowling alley, soft play area, climbing wall, go-karting and a cinema.

Bowman Riley has been working at The Bridges shopping centre for the past decade providing architectural and interior design services to respond to market trends and continuously improve this retail destination.

Bowman Riley has been working at The Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland for the past decade providing architectural and interior design services to respond to market trends and continuously improve this retail destination.

See more of our retail schemes.

Explore our leisure experience.

Skipton Building Society Atrium – North Yorkshire

Skipton Building Society

Skipton, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley designed a spectacular double-height Atrium for Skipton Building Society; an imaginative reinterpretation of an underused outdoor courtyard surrounded by 13 new meeting rooms, hot desk/breakout zones and gallery zones. The programme also took in existing ground and first-floor corridors together with ancillary areas.

Bowman Riley has been working with Skipton Building Society for 17 years to support the rapid growth of their business to enable them to remain operating in their hometown of Skipton, crucial for jobs and the local economy.

The Society’s headquarters opened in 1991 with a £10 million 97,000 ft² extension designed by Bowman Riley in 2000 in a conservation area close to the town centre.  Today, the building today provides office space for 2,000 staff.

In recent years, extra space was needed as a result of changes to office environments, working patterns, legislation and IT. The need for a greater provision of meeting, breakout and collaborative spaces was identified to create a dynamic environment.

Our team was faced with the challenge of finding additional space within the existing site.  A number of locations were considered following assessment of the site; the best was the underused external courtyard within the centre of the building. This offered advantages over other parts of the site: including containment within the building’s footprint and no visual impact on the conservation area.

The courtyard was enclosed with a lightweight aluminium roof, raised above the existing roof line on a series of pre-fabricated long span exposed steel trusses that expressed the architectonic nature of the structure while expressing the double height volume of the space below.  A clerestory band of high-level curtain wall glazing and a series of large roof lights allowed the continued entry of natural light while simultaneously providing an innovate solution to the natural ventilation strategy of the newly created Atrium.

The project was delivered ahead of the pre-planned launch significantly under the £2 million budget at £1.6 million.

In 2017, Skipton Building Society officially launched The Atrium.  It has now been transformed into an indoor multi-functional space to promote staff collaboration and enhanced working practices.

Skipton Building Society’s Atrium was a finalist at the Mixology North 2017 awards.

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Christians Against Poverty Office Hub – Bradford

Christians Against Poverty

Bradford

Bowman Riley supported the charity, Christian’s Against Poverty to redesign and refurbish the lower ground floor into flexible staff accommodation within their Bradford head office.

Home to over 300 staff, Jubilee Mill is a large Victorian mill building. Accommodating over 120 people, the current break-out space had become tired, uninspiring and inefficient. Our role was to evaluate the current space and develop a brief with the client to give the break-out space a complete facelift.

We created a flexible multi-functional space that could be used for collaborative working, socialising, seminars and events. Using 3D modelling, we presented a live walk-through presentation showing the redesign concept to engage with staff representatives.

The scheme breaks up the open plan space into distinct zones through the use of colour and furniture. We introduced features such as a focal bar area, picnic area and large flexible auditorium. All of the furniture except the bar is removable to offer maximum flexibility.

Our design involved the removal of the suspended ceiling to lift the room height and offer a vastly improved appearance with modern LED lighting to illuminate the space. The building’s features and exposed brickwork continue through in the new design to create an industrial aesthetic referencing the building’s history.

“I just wanted to express my personal thanks and also that of all our staff, who are now using the new breakout space. It really is a great addition to our offices, the staff love it and it has already changed the culture here with breakfast clubs and meetings, as well as both buildings combining as one to meet, socialise and discuss work.  Thanks for the vision and for making it a reality.”

Simon Clarke, Christians Against Poverty

View more of our community experience here

New hotel and residential development – India

Private Client

Guwahati, Assam, India

Bowman Riley designed a new hotel and residential development with 18 hotel rooms and 142 residential apartments in the largest city of Assam in India, the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India.

The clubhouse and apartments development sits within the tea growing capital of India and the design draws inspiration from its mountainous location.

This 200,000ft² luxury residential development is comprised of five high specification apartment towers and a private members club.

The 50,000ft² Clubhouse has been designed to the highest specification to give guests the ultimate luxury experience. The facilities includes a health and fitness suite, spa, 5 star hotel, banqueting facilities, roof top pool and revolving restaurant.

Bowman Riley also designed the interiors for the clubhouse, using the best local materials to provide a truly memorable experience.

Design Office Refurbishment – Leeds

Abraham Moon & Sons Ltd

Guiseley, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Abraham Moon & Sons is a weaving manufacturer located in Yorkshire, the traditional home of the English cloth mills. The manufacturer had outgrown their premises and needed to expand to retain their location and modernise working methods. Bowman Riley was commissioned to provide architecture, interior design, contract administration and CDMC to extend the factory by 45,000 ft2 bringing all machinery into one location in an open plan space.

Considering the site’s adjacency to a railway line, we communicated with Network Rail to ensure the factory and railway line were kept safe throughout construction.

Following the successful completion of the extension, we designed the refurbishment of a redundant first floor space within the mill into a dynamic design office and showroom.

Over 70% of the cloth produced by the factory is exported to America and Asia with clients visiting the factory from overseas to source traditional tweeds and cloths. The existing design studio was unable to handle large client meetings with no facility to display the fabrics.

The brief involved forming a new entrance with vertical circulation providing direct access to staff and visitors. A state-of-the-art heating and cooling system was required to convert the factory space into a comfortable office and showroom. Historic features were retained and the whole space was sandblasted exposing the original brickwork and stone details.

Located within a conservation area, the mill was fully operational during the construction. The design pays respect to the local vernacular and the site planning and logistics were carefully considered to deliver a traditional appearance with modern facilities.

Abov Spa – India

Akshaya

Chennai, India

Abov Spa, currently under construction, will be the tallest building in Southern India at 38 storeys. It was designed to set new benchmarks in opulent living, with each floor dedicated to a 6,500ft² apartment complete with terraces, swimming pool, four bedrooms and servant quarters.

Bowman Riley designed a 5,700ft2 spa level around the proposed service and access cores of the building. The spa provides a reception area, treatment rooms, changing rooms and segregated spa pools.

The aim is to provide a calm and relaxing environment through the use of quality materials, sophisticated lighting and elegant detailing.

The building will achieve the sustainability accreditation LEED.

To register your interest in the project please visit the retail website here

Rounders Restaurant – Manchester

Private client

Manchester

Bowman Riley has created an interior concept for Rounders, a new fast-food-style restaurant and takeaway brand. Our brief was to create a strong interior style that works cohesively with the branding and customer experience for a chicken-themed restaurant.

We brought an external graphic design company, Oakfold, into the project to develop the branding and visual identity to enhance the interior style.

We provided three spatial layout options resulting in one plan selected to be developed further. We then created visuals to demonstrate how the interior of the restaurant might look. The visuals have been developed in collaboration with our client and the graphic designer to ensure an interior style suited to the target market of young people and families and also represents their business model and price point.

The interior scheme has been designed to offer a farm-fresh aesthetic using upcycled wooden pallets, oil drums, and natural reclaimed timbers to bring texture and theme into the space. All materials and finishes have been selected to create a strong brand foundation. Feature interior elements add to the aesthetic, such as seating booths designed to resemble chicken coops with faux chickens sitting on top and an Instagramable wall as a brand touchpoint to appeal to the target market.

We enhanced the Rounders brand’s strong colour palette with tongue-in-cheek neon graphics and artwork.

See more of our restaurant projects here.