Wiston Estate
Wiston
Transforming a historic estate into a world-class winery and visitor destination, balancing heritage conservation with commercial growth.
Client:
The Wiston Estate
Architect:
ECE
Contractor:
Cheesmur, Manorwood, Landbuild & AJ Taylors
Size:
4,000m²
Sector:
Heritage, Fit-Out, Landscaping, Civils, Steel Structures
Services:
Project Management
Cost Management
Contract Administration
Tags:
Conservation
Historic Refurbishment
Winery
Overview
The Wiston Estate Winery Redevelopment transformed a historic estate into a state-of-the-art winery, hospitality venue, and visitor centre. The project reimagined a former turkey farm while preserving its heritage, expanding production, and enhancing the guest experience.
Works included restoring historic barns into a fine dining restaurant and courtyard, constructing a new winery facility, and upgrading the cellar door, tasting room, and event spaces. Public realm improvements, including landscaping, access roads, and parking, ensured seamless integration within the protected South Downs National Park.
Our role
We provided Project Management, Cost Management, and Contract Administration to transform North Farm into a high-performing winery and hospitality venue.
Managing eight subcontractors across demolition, structural works, M&E, and fit-out, we maintained strict contract administration to control scope, cost, and risk. With a tight deadline to open before Christmas trading, we structured procurement sequencing for phased handovers, ensuring critical areas were operational on time.
Restoring heritage barns required careful material selection and craftsmanship to preserve their historic character. Midway through construction, a record-breaking harvest required urgent additional storage. We swiftly re-sequenced works, allowing the client to store 250,000 bottles without disrupting progress.
Challenges and solutions
Multi-Contractor Coordination & Risk Management
With multiple contractors working concurrently across demolition, civils, structural works, and heritage refurbishment, tight contract administration was critical. We structured daily coordination meetings to ensure alignment across all trades, avoiding programme clashes and cost overruns.
Strict Programme & Seasonal Deadline
The estate required the project to be completed in time for Christmas trading. Through strategic procurement sequencing and phased delivery, we met critical milestones while ensuring the operational areas remained unaffected.
Heritage Restoration & Material Sensitivity
Restoring the historic barns required meticulous craftsmanship to maintain authenticity. We worked closely with the architect and contractors to source materials and techniques that aligned with conservation best practices.
Outcome
The Wiston Estate redevelopment successfully created a world-class winery and hospitality venue, blending heritage restoration with modern production facilities. Now a flagship destination in the South Downs, it enhances tourism and supports local economic growth. The project has earned industry recognition, winning the 2024 South Downs National Park Design Award for Conservation and the 2023 Constructing Excellence SECBE Award for Conservation & Regeneration.
This project was completed by members of Cove Consulting during previous employment, bringing valuable experience to our practice.
“Lloyd has been an engaged and excellently thorough QS and CA for the development we are undertaking. As someone new to this area, I have been pleased to have Lloyd on our team and have been impressed with his pragmatic approach and ability to proactively manage the contractors. Lloyd’s attention to detail has given me the confidence that the project is safe in their hands and he has been very clear in explaining what is going on and how the building process is going to work. I can wholeheartedly recommend Lloyd”
Richard Goring - Owner Wiston Estate
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