Sheppard Architects

The Royal Ocean Racing Club, London

The renovation of the club’s bedroom accommodation on the second and third floors of a pair of Grade II listed Georgian town houses in the heart of London's club-land.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club have occupied these houses in St James's since 1942. The buildings house the Headquarter offices with dining and meeting rooms at first floor level. On the second and third floors a series of small rooms previously provided poor quality bedroom accommodation for members, mostly without en-suite facilities.

With intelligent space planning the floor layouts were re-configured to provide all bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and integrated storage. High quality finishes were used throughout including bespoke oak joinery units, painted timber panelling with oak detailing and Cumbrian slate floors.

The opening up of the building revealed major issues with the historic floor and wall structures that had been seriously undermined by previous alteration work. These were all successfully resolved in an efficient and pragmatic manner as work progressed.

The new rooms carefully retain the character and important features of the original building and provide high quality and contemporary facilities.