A new lease of life for the Connaught Drill Hall in Portsmouth

Snug Architects have developed proposals for a new Cultural Centre in Portsmouth that will safeguard the future of the Grade 2 Listed Connaught Drill Hall. Two alternative proposals have been designed including a new 83,000sqft 90 bed boutique hotel and a significant 70,000sqft mixed use cultural centre. The goal is to transform this substantial city centre heritage asset, celebrating the buildings unique heritage and delivering a viable long term use for the building.

The new cultural centre will contain the Conan Doyle Museum and Archive, a 1000 seater auditorium and exhibition space. The existing masonry fabric is retained externally and new volumes emerge from the retained Drill Hall. The historic structure is exposed and new galleries are created within the retained volume, elevated above a large open plan exhibition space. Above these volumes 'floats' a new auditorium with circulation cores rising at each end of the hall to serve this space. These celebrate the retained Diocletian windows which flood light into the buildings interior.

The Hotel adds new floors of accommodation within the retained volume of the Drill Hall. This forms two full height atriums that celebrate the retained steel structure and provide borrowed light for the new bedrooms. A new more generous and legible entrance is created on the prominent corner facing the train station and an additional storey of accommodation serves to better define the corner. This will contain a new bar.

Snug are beginning discussions with stakeholders and a number potential operators and hope to be in a position to submit a planning application in 2025.