Discovery House | Residential | c. £2.5 million

At Sutton Cox, we always love breathing new life into existing buildings.

As well as the obvious environmental benefits of renovating rather than starting all over again, buildings are often key landmarks in their communities, and are steeped in stories from the area.

This was why working on Discovery House in Gloucester was so satisfying.

Built in the 1980s, the four-storey office building has been home to a variety of local businesses over its 40-year history. And in 2023, we were invited to help write the new chapter for the building.

One of our long standing commercial clients, JHL Developments, asked us to provide design to transform the building into residential flats. We then progressed to planning, technical and construction.

We relish a challenge, as it always inspires creativity and innovation. A key challenge here were the constraints of Discovery House’s courtyard setting and an existing undercroft parking space. We took the decision to fill in the parking space so as to create three of the flats and storage. The constrained nature of the site also had a significant impact on the fire strategy. This was achieved by providing access to the building for the Fire Service via a dry mains route from the main road entrance.

The client wanted to take charge of the construction and development of the building. As this was their first project in this role, we undertook additional supporting with what was, quite literally, a voyage of discovery. This meant helping to create a clear pathway for the client through all aspects of the construction process.

Two of our values are Passion and Collaboration. As such, we were by the client’s side to assist, no matter when issues arose, day or night

Completed in May 2026, the outcome is a new lease of life for Discovery House. The 21 flats (two one-bed and 19 two-bed) all come with a high-quality finish and provide new accommodation for up to 73 people.