Location: Skegness, Lincolnshire
Client: Butlin's
Other Constraints: Strict timeline, Flood Zone 3
RIBA Plan of Work stages: 0-7
Butlin’s holiday camps have a long-standing history in the UK, beginning in 1936 when Billy Butlin opened the very first holiday resort in Skegness. Since its beginnings, this and subsequent resorts have continued to provide families with year-round entertainment, relaxation, accommodation and dining.
In 2013, PWP Architects was asked to design a new restaurant on the site of a covered fairground on the main route from guest accommodation to the entertainment venues.
The Fire House restaurant has two public faces and presents a high-quality sustainable design of the interior by incorporating timber cladding and brick, ensuring the external face echoes the concept of rustic farmhouse imagery. This has been further accentuated with aluminium windows and aluminium flashings which provide continuity with the modern sinusoidal metal cladding on the rear elevations.
Internally, framework has been left exposed, whilst playful lighting features are set into the stained shiplap timber façade, bringing the building to life at night, and large opening windows reveal a continuation of the rustic theme inside.
Daylighting was maximised using large rooflights, sun tunnels and a ribbon of windows on the public faces. Underfloor heating, LED lighting, windcatchers and heat recovery on kitchen extracts help to reduce the carbon footprint. Acoustic panels were built into the interior to improve the sound absorption of the barn like space. The building also employs natural ventilation systems to achieve satisfactory sustainability goals.
