Cardigan Castle

New life for a Welsh landmark

Introduction

Our multiple award-winning project to regenerate and add a new extension to Cardigan Castle represents over a decade of work, culminating with being named Channel 4’s Restoration of the Year in 2017.

In 2006 Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust appointed Purcell to help realise this vision, with funding support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Welsh European Funding Office, Cadw, Community Asset Transfer, Community Arts & Facilities Grant. Over the following decade, we led the regeneration of the site into a vibrant heritage destination, combining conservation expertise, contemporary design and deep community engagement.

A layered site

On the site of the first recorded National Eisteddfod, this project completes the latest chapter in an 840-year long story that repositions Cardigan Castle at the heart of Welsh national life.

In 2006, the castle – a Scheduled Ancient Monument with six Grade II*-listed buildings – was a crumbling relic hidden behind steel supports. Its 12th-century walls had seen centuries of decline and reinvention. Yet within this layered history was the potential for something transformative – not just for the building, but for the community around it.

Our first priority was stabilisation. We repaired the curtain walls and removed unsightly steel shoring, reclaiming the castle’s presence at the heart of the town. We then conserved and upgraded six historic buildings within the grounds, restoring their architectural features using traditional methods, materials and local craftsmanship.

Conservation highlights included careful reproduction of 19th-century wallpapers, restoration of joinery such as an 18^th-century mahogany staircase, and delicate repairs to Regency plasterwork. All decisions were informed by detailed research and on-site investigation, ensuring authenticity and craftsmanship remained at the forefront.

A bold new addition

A defining moment of the £10.5m project was the introduction of a contemporary new-build restaurant, cantilevered above the historic walls. Positioned on a previously demolished section of the curtain wall, the design frames views across the Teifi River and back towards the restored gardens.

Clad in local slate and featuring large, glazed elevations, the new building is modern and confident, yet sensitive to its surroundings. It signals to visitors that the site is alive again – historic, but also forward-looking.

Design with purpose

From the start, this was more than a conservation project. The brief was to create a regional heritage visitor centre supported by diverse uses, including eight holiday apartments and six B&B rooms, a heritage exhibition and meeting spaces, a destination restaurant and café, and a studio workspace and retail.

Sustainability was embedded across the site. We integrated energy-efficient boilers, insulating lime renders, LED lighting and photovoltaics on hidden roof planes. Many interventions were subtle but impactful, designed to enhance the site’s environmental performance without compromising its character.

A focus on like-for-like traditional interventions helped sustain local suppliers through the decision to source materials and labour from within a 50-mile radius. And through our extensive experience of working with end-user, owner-occupier clients, we helped the project steering group write a robust business strategy that was based on the best possible approach to space utilisation.

'Purcell opened our eyes to the possibilities and gave us confidence to refuse to take no for an answer.'

– Joff Timms, Treasurer and Company Secretary, Cadwgan Trust

Community at the core

Cardigan Castle’s revival is a story of people as much as place. We worked closely with the Trust and local stakeholders to build consensus around a shared vision, long before designs were drawn up.

A range of inclusive programmes invited the public into the process. Open days featured craftspeople demonstrating their work and sharing stories. Volunteers played a vital role: restoring gardens under a head gardener, supporting exhibitions, and participating in a three-year community archaeology project that uncovered new layers of the castle’s history.

This not only helped the trust financially, but it played an important role in directly engaging the local community in the project.

Through this work, a previously closed-off space became a place of pride and connection. During construction more than 80 local workers were employed, many in heritage trades: a strong sense of ownership has been fostered, rooted in place, history and shared effort.

A flexible future

Cardigan Castle is now a living asset. Every space was designed to be used in multiple ways, from ceremonial gatherings to everyday meetings. Exhibition rooms double as event spaces, holiday lets accommodate conference guests, and even the most significant interiors were carefully adapted for flexible use.

This strategic adaptability is part of what makes the project sustainable – not just environmentally or economically, but socially. Cardigan Castle has become a place to gather, learn, celebrate and reflect. A source of local pride, and a beacon of how design and heritage can come together to shape meaningful places.

As well as the Channel 4 award, the project has won RIBA and RICS awards, a Civic Trust AABC Conservation Award and an RSAW Conservation Award.