The Guildhall

In 2003 Freeland Rees Roberts was commissioned to write a Conservation Plan for the Cambridge Guildhall. Following its completion, the City Council approached Freeland Rees Roberts to prepare a feasibility study for making use of the space vacated by the old Crown Court and for making better use of the splendid 1880s’ rotunda that housed the first City Library.

The complex relocation scheme was completed in 2010: the Tourist Information Centre and shop have been rehoused within the old Crown Court area together with a new coffee shop and new accessible entrance on Peas Hill; the City Box Office has moved to a refurbished shop unit on Wheeler Street; and the highly successful Jamie’s Italian restaurant occupies the rotunda space and old library offices. As a listed building the alterations had to be handled in an extremely sensitive way with specialist oak joinery made to match and bespoke counters built in both the Tourist Information Centre and the Box Office.