Hickstead Hotel
Sussex
2025
The renovation and extension of a country hotel in Sussex
Our client wanted to transform their 50 bed hotel into a much larger offering - creating more and better quality facilities including an additional 60 rooms, an increased conference offering, a larger reception lounge bar area, an apart hotel and a rooftop wedding venue. This will all be tied together with new landscape creating a new setting for the building which is much more in keeping with it’s place in the Sussex countryside and proximity to the South Downs.
Improved accessibility and ground level facilities
To improve accessibility to the hotel a link building is proposed, which will house two lifts and connect each level of the eastern wing to the original building.
At ground level will be a glazed reception area of circa. 85m2 and an extension to the conference facilities to the north of 195m2, which will be formed by enclosing an existing courtyard.
A naturalistic landscape inspired by the South Downs
The current landscape design is a sea of tarmac. The proposed landscape will create a permeable parking surface combining gravels and grasscrete and use wildflower meadow planting edges.
Throughout the grounds will be a suite of ecology features and tree planting to make an interesting place for guests to explore. Including edible landscape.
An array of different room types for a variety of guests
Twenty six rooms will be created in the roof extension to the eastern wing of the building by removing the existing roof and replacing it (without increasing the overall height of the building). Twelve rooms will be created by renovating spaces within the original building and a further twenty apart hotel rooms will be created in a new building annex.