Regeneration leads the way at prestigious Sussex heritage awards
August 8, 2022
A garden restoration project, regenerated farm buildings and a winery with visitor attractions were announced as the winners of the South Downs Award at the 2022 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.
Vanessa Rowlands, Chair of the National Park Authority, presented the South Downs Award at a glittering ceremony at Pangdean Old Barn last month.
The prestigious accolade is sponsored by the Authority and aims to promote outstanding design in a nationally-designated landscape.
One Garden Brighton in Stanmer Park was announced as the overall winner of the South Downs Award. The new facility is a partnership between Brighton and Hove City Council and Plumpton College to restore Stanmer Park. An amazing walled garden and community space has been created, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, in 20 hectares of the park with the aim to also deliver training, education and outreach opportunities. The South Downs National Park judging team said of the project: “A much-needed, accessible space for everyone, which connects the South Downs National Park with Brighton and Hove.”
Two highly commended projects were also announced: Southview Farm in Pulborough (submitted by Nicholls Countryside Construction), a new family home created from a series of redundant farm buildings, collectively know as ‘Bone Barn’ arranged around a courtyard and 17th century barn.
Wiston Estate Winery, Washington (submitted by ECE Architecture) was also commended for the creation of a new restaurant, shop and tasting room from redundant agricultural barns.
Chairman Simon Knight, Chairman of Sussex Heritage Trust, said: “The Sussex Heritage Trust Awards celebrates a wide variety of excellent restoration, conservation and new design architectural and landscape projects. It is fantastic to see such a worthy winner and highly commended projects in the South Downs Award, which has done much to set the standard for outstanding design within the National Park.”
The Sussex Heritage Trust Awards are an annual Awards designed to recognise and reward high-quality conservation, restoration and the good design of newly built projects and encourage the use of traditional skills and crafts.
For a full list of all the Award winners and highly commended projects please go to www.sussexheritagetrust.org.uk
