Reed Watts, in collaboration with landscape architects Colvin & Moggridge, has completed a series of improvements at the National Trust’s Ightham Mote, a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument in Kent, England.
The project combines landscape interventions, sustainable drainage systems, and new parking with the introduction of a visitor reception and shop.
Arrival and site strategy
The new entrance building provides a flexible space for visitors to orient themselves before approaching the historic 700-year-old manor house and wider estate. Positioned at the southern edge of the reinstated walled garden, it encourages visitors to explore more of the site while supporting the management of visitor flows during peak periods.
The proposals were developed over several years through collaboration between the Ightham Mote estate team, Colvin & Moggridge, and a wider group of engineers and heritage advisors. Multiple locations and forms were tested, considering the impact on the historic setting alongside accessibility, legibility, flooding, and archaeology. Locating the building at the edge of the walled garden, in a central position, established a balance between functional requirements and the sequence of arrival, allowing the manor house to gradually reveal itself along the approach.
“One important aim of the project was to relocate parking further away from the heritage asset, freeing up space that was previously part of a walled garden,” said Bernadette Gillow, General Manager for Ightham Mote and North Kent Portfolio. “This has allowed the new building and restored garden to sit alongside one another, forming part of a reconfigured visitor arrival sequence and supporting retail and catering facilities. This aspect of the project exceeded our expectations and reflects the architects’ understanding of our needs and their ability to implement them.”
Architectural approach
The new structure is conceived as a contemporary intervention that sits in contrast to, while referencing, the existing manor. The approach reflects the ongoing evolution of the site and establishes a relationship between new and existing elements. The visitor reception replaces a temporary structure that had reached the end of its lifespan and relocates the shop from within the historic coach house, allowing that space to be used for alternative purposes.
Material choices and construction methods were developed to complement the historic context, establishing a dialogue between the two that unfolds as visitors move through the landscape.
“I remember coming to Ightham Mote as a teenager with my parents, so it’s a real privilege to work here and to build something that combines traditional and modern materials and construction techniques with contemporary design,” said Matt Watts, Director at Reed Watts Architects. “We have worked to reduce the embodied carbon in the building’s fabric through the exposed internal timber structure, hempcrete blocks, and locally sourced timber cladding. The result is a building that reflects our shared commitment to future generations.”
Materials and construction
The material palette includes locally coppiced sweet chestnut, an exposed timber frame, and lime render. Central to the construction are 400-millimetre-thick hempcrete blocks, supplied by The Hemp Block Company, which form the external walls. Produced from a by-product of the hemp cloth industry, the blocks offer a low-carbon solution while contributing to the passive regulation of acoustics, temperature, and humidity within the building.
What is hempcrete?
Hempcrete, or hemp-lime construction, is a low-carbon building material developed in France in the 1990s and introduced to the UK in the early 2000s. It combines hemp shiv — the inner core of the hemp plant — with a lime-based binder to form a lightweight, insulating material that can be cast in situ or produced as blocks or panels.
In this project, prefabricated hempcrete blocks have been used to form the external walls, laid with insulating lime mortar. The material offers thermal performance comparable to insulated cavity wall construction while also contributing to the regulation of internal temperature, humidity, and acoustics.
Hemp shiv is a renewable by-product of industrial hemp farming, and the material stores carbon absorbed during plant growth. As a result, hempcrete can achieve significantly lower embodied carbon than conventional masonry, with the wall build-up in this project sequestering more carbon than it emits over its lifecycle.
Environmental performance
Renewable materials are complemented by an air-source heat pump, natural ventilation, and high levels of insulation. Together, these measures reduce both embodied and operational emissions.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) indicates embodied carbon emissions of under 500 kgCO2e/m², exceeding the RIBA 2025 Sustainable Outcomes guidance by over 25 percent.
