Martello Tower, Suffolk

Our proposals for this Martello Tower on the Suffolk Coast have received scheduled monument consent and planning permission, but have not yet been implemeted. 103 Martello Towers were built on the east and south coast between 1805 and 1812 to defend Britain against Napoleonic invasion. Many were reused in WW2 to protect the country again. But since then they have fallen into various states of disrepair, suffering demolition, dereliction and in some cases insensitive conversion.

This tower is a scheduled monument and a listed building which was protected in the 1980s by conversion to residential use but suffered from major water ingress and damage. It is under severe threat of coastal erosion and included on Historic England’s Buildings at Risk Register.

We have worked with our clients and Historic England for several years to take the building in hand, carrying out repair work to keep out water, removing later additions and returning the building to its original form internally.

The consent will breathe new life into the building, with new staircases, new floors and a new defensive look out room on top of the gun deck roof. The design proposals reference the building’s defensive past while imagining an inspirational future as a home and artist’s studio.