Project
Warwick Castle
Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd
Warwick Castle is the most visited stately home in the country, attracting annually over 750,000 visitors. The Castle is a Grade I listed building and is, in part, a Scheduled Monument and the ‘Capability’ Brown landscape is a Registered Park and Garden. Lichfields has advised Warwick Castle since the 1980s on a number of developments at this sensitive site. Recent projects include securing planning permission for a temporary glamping site – a medieval glamourous camping site within the Castle grounds – and 16 permanent semi-detached lodges with associated reception and restaurant to provide visitor accommodation. Lichfields’ heritage team prepared a Heritage and Landscape Assessment to demonstrate that the lodges had sensitively considered the significance and setting of the Castle and its wider heritage assets. Lichfields’ advice includes economics analysis to help justify development in the grounds of the Castle which ultimately enables the restoration of the listed building and secures its future.
Warwick Castle is an exciting project which requires us to balance the sensitive heritage asset against the benefits of new development to secure a viable future for the building. Lichfields continues to advise the Castle on a long term plan to ensure the continued success of this attraction.
Nick Thompson, Senior Director, Lichfields
Image credit: Stuart Crump Visuals