Rees Pryer Architects

RIBA Chartered Architects in Bury St Edmunds

Difficult Sites. Beautiful Buildings.

Listed, sloping, tight or simply tired: since 2004 our Bury St Edmunds studio has turned awkward sites across East Anglia into homes, schools and workplaces full of daylight and built to use less energy.

Start Your Project See the Work

Or call the studio on 01284 756166

  • RIBA Chartered Practice
  • Award-Winning Conversions
  • Designing in Suffolk Since 2004
A new low-energy family home in Babergh, Suffolk: two red brick gables with dark slate roofs, a full-height glazed gable and a timber pergola over the terrace
New Low-Energy Home, Babergh

Clients Include

  • Havebury Housing Partnership
  • Orwell Housing Association
  • Greenfields Community Housing
  • Woodbridge School
  • The Seckford Foundation
  • CLAAS UK
  • R G Carter
  • TROX UK
  • Whiting & Partners
  • Sealey
  • Africa Alive
  • Banham Zoo

Difficult Sites, Solved

What a Difficult Site Can Become.

Three projects, three very different problems and one way of working: understand the site first, then design the building it deserves.

Aldrich Place on Mill Street, Mildenhall: restored 16th-century buildings in flint, clunch and white brick, now affordable homes
The new mews at Aldrich Place, Mildenhall, leading to St Mary’s church tower

Listed Buildings, Mildenhall

Sixteenth-Century and Semi-Derelict. Now Twelve Affordable Homes.

Aldrich Place on Mill Street was a cluster of listed buildings, parts of them dating from the 16th century, on a tight town-centre site. We restored them the traditional way, with new oak frames, sheep’s wool insulation, lath and lime plaster and flint and clunch repairs, and uncovered the original local white bricks beneath generations of paint.

New houses and apartments complete twelve affordable homes for Havebury Housing Partnership, and a new mews links the high street to St Mary’s churchyard.

  • RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award, 2015
  • Shortlisted, UK Housing Awards 2015
  • Client: Havebury Housing Partnership. Contractor: SEH French
Station Yard, Thetford: the red brick former train shed beside the station, converted into apartments

Railway Conversion, Thetford

A Disused Train Shed on a Steep, Tight Site. Now Ten Homes.

Station Yard put a disused railway building beside a working station, on a steeply sloping site with very constrained boundaries. Working closely with Morrish Consulting Engineers, we converted the train shed into six apartments and added four new houses on Canterbury Way, all for Havebury Housing Partnership.

  • Breckland Council Award, 2016: Excellent Conversion, Adaptation and Extension of a Sensitive Building
  • Client: Havebury Housing Partnership
The TROX warehouse in Thetford: a tall grey clad building with employee parking tucked into the slope beneath it

Warehouse, Thetford

A Sloping Site? Park Underneath It.

TROX UK needed a new warehouse in Thetford without using up the land its factory will need to grow. We put the slope to work: staff parking sits in an undercroft beneath the warehouse, so the site works harder and space is kept free for future production.

  • Approved by Breckland Council’s planning committee, March 2018
  • Client: TROX UK

Your Site

What’s Tricky About Your Site?

Pick everything that applies. You’ll see what we would look at first and a Rees Pryer project that faced the same problem, then you can send us the lot in one go.

My Site Has…
Listed almshouses in red brick with an arched loggia, extended and refurbished

What We Look at First

Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas

Listed building consent covers changes inside as well as out, and conservation areas bring extra planning controls. We start with what makes the building special, then design changes the conservation officer can support, built with the right traditional materials and methods.

From Our ProjectsListed almshouses extended and refurbished, and 16th-century buildings at Aldrich Place, Mildenhall, restored as affordable homes (RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award).

A redundant farm building converted to a coffee shop and offices: dark timber cladding, tall glazing and a slate roof

What We Look at First

Barns and Farm Buildings

Some farm buildings can become homes through Class Q prior approval, and a full planning application can sometimes achieve more. We weigh up both routes, and the state of the building, before you spend on detailed drawings.

From Our ProjectsOn one rural site we persuaded the planners that a Class Q approval established the principle for a brand-new family home. We have also turned redundant farm buildings into offices and a coffee shop.

Visualisation of a single-storey timber and metal-clad home on a tight infill plot, replacing a garage and workshopDesign Visualisation

What We Look at First

Tight Plots and Infill Sites

On a small plot, overlooking, daylight, parking and the neighbours usually decide the planning outcome. We test the options in 3D early, so you can see what fits before an application goes in.

From Our ProjectsDesigned for a tight infill plot in a residential street: a single-storey, low-energy home in place of a garage and workshop.

The undercroft car park beneath the TROX warehouse, built into the sloping site

What We Look at First

Slopes and Awkward Shapes

A slope can be an asset. It can hide parking, add a lower floor or step a building down to its neighbours. We design with the levels, not against them.

From Our ProjectsTROX UK, Thetford: staff parking tucked into an undercroft beneath a new warehouse on a sloping site.

A former seed warehouse in Bury St Edmunds converted to apartments, its timber lucam rebuilt and clad in dark metal

What We Look at First

Old Industrial and Brownfield Sites

Old industrial sites bring contamination, tired structures and difficult access, but often character worth keeping. We work closely with structural engineers to save what is worth saving and build new where it is not.

From Our ProjectsFormer seed warehouses by Bury St Edmunds station: stabilised and converted into thirteen apartments, the old lucam restored, with a new block of apartments alongside.

Visualisation of a 1960s family house remodelled with crisp white render and gables; inset, the house beforeDesign Visualisation

What We Look at First

Tired and Piecemeal Houses

Decades of add-ons can leave a house dark, cold and awkward to live in. We rethink the whole plan so it is light, warm and efficient, rather than adding another box to the back.

From Our ProjectsA 1960s Suffolk family home, extended piecemeal over the years, redesigned as a modern, spacious and energy-efficient home.

Visualisation of Lode House, Cambridgeshire: a single-storey low-energy home in pale brick with a solar roof and wildflower gardenDesign Visualisation

What We Look at First

Low-Energy and Passivhaus Homes

Fabric first: orientation, airtightness, insulation and daylight do the heavy lifting before any technology is added, following Passivhaus principles.

From Our ProjectsNew homes planned around controlled solar gain and natural daylight, and thermal upgrades to 26 existing homes for Havebury Housing Partnership.

Send us your site with these notes attached, and we’ll come back to you.

Send Us Your Site

What We Stand For

Sustainable. Inspirational. Enjoyable. Useable.

Four words, and the four tests every design has to pass, whatever the scale or purpose of the building.

The exemplar exhibition building near Cambridge: a green roof edged with solar panels over a timber colonnade

Sustainable

Fabric first, low-carbon materials and daylight by design. Our exhibition building near Cambridge was built as an exemplar of low-carbon construction and achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating.

The Sixth Form Centre at Woodbridge School at dusk: a glazed stair tower and lit study rooms beside the Victorian school building

Inspirational

Buildings that lift the people who use them, like the award-winning Sixth Form Centre at Woodbridge School, part of a relationship with the school that continues today.

Two giraffes grazing in front of the giraffe house and its raised timber walkway

Enjoyable

Places people love spending time in, from homes and pubs to visitor attractions. We have even designed for giraffes, rhino and zebra.

A new warehouse in West Suffolk: white cladding with bands of green panels and a loading door

Useable

Buildings that work hard every day: offices, warehouses, workshops and food production facilities, designed around how they are really used.

Selected Work

Homes, Housing, Schools and Workplaces.

A small selection of our work across East Anglia and beyond: private homes, conversions, housing for housing associations, schools and workplaces.

Fox House: a white-rendered home with a full-height glazed gable over a garden pond

New Home

Fox House

A full-height glazed gable opens the house to its garden and pond.

Visualisation of Lode House, Cambridgeshire: a single-storey low-energy home in pale brick with a solar roof and wildflower gardenDesign Visualisation

New Home, East Cambridgeshire

Lode House

A single-storey, low-energy home under a solar roof.

Visualisation of a daylit open-plan kitchen and living extension under a large roof lanternDesign Visualisation

Extension

Kitchen and Living Extension

Open-plan family space lit by a large roof lantern.

A listed building in Bury St Edmunds, refurbished and converted, with a new glazed link and timber-clad extension

Listed Building, Bury St Edmunds

Listed Building Conversion

Refurbishment and conversion of a listed building in the town.

Single-storey farm buildings at Moseleys Farm, Fornham, converted into offices with dark weatherboarding and red-framed glazing

Farm Buildings to Offices, Fornham

Moseleys Farm

Redundant farm buildings converted into offices.

Affordable homes on Bland Road, Norwich: a terrace of red brick houses with gabled fronts on a former garage site

Affordable Homes, Norwich

Bland Road

Family houses on a former garage site, built to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4.

An affordable housing scheme in West Suffolk: brick and timber-clad apartments with a round corner tower

Affordable Homes, West Suffolk

New-Build Affordable Housing

Brick and timber apartments around a round corner tower.

Sealey’s offices in Bury St Edmunds: a long two-storey glazed curtain wall under a deep roof overhang

Offices, Bury St Edmunds

Sealey

A two-storey glazed office building.

New offices in Bury St Edmunds in red brick and knapped flint with stone-framed windows

Offices, Bury St Edmunds

R G Carter

New offices in red brick and flint.

The sports pavilion at Cedars Upper School: timber-clad walls under a standing-seam roof with a clock gable

School Sports Pavilion

Cedars Upper School

A timber-clad sports pavilion for the school.

The rhino house at Africa Alive, Kessingland: a long sloping green roof over timber walls, with visitors at the viewing rail

Visitor Attraction, Kessingland

Rhino House, Africa Alive

A low green-roofed house for the rhino, with a public viewing area.

The giraffe house at Banham Zoo: a tall timber and glass building with a raised viewing walkway

Visitor Attraction

Giraffe House, Banham Zoo

A tall house for the giraffes, with a raised walkway for visitors.

Have a project like one of these?

Tell Us About It

How We Work

How a Project Comes Together.

From the first look at a site to handover, every project is considered on its own merits and a site-specific solution developed.

  1. Site and Brief

    Every project starts with the site: its context, its light, its levels and its history, and what you need the building to do.

  2. Design Options

    Sketches and 3D views test what the site can take, making the best use of daylight, materials and energy.

  3. Planning

    Applications prepared and negotiated with the planning authority, with ecologists, engineers and other specialists brought in where the site needs them.

  4. Technical Design

    Detailed drawings and specifications for building regulations and for contractors to price.

  5. On Site to Handover

    Working with the contractor and the consultant team through construction to completion.

The Studio

The Practice Behind the Work.

Rees Pryer Architects has designed from Bury St Edmunds since 2004. Ian Pryer was a founding partner, and today the practice is led by its directors, Jane Wilkie and Chris Wilkie.

Our aim is a level of service and trust that sets us apart: understanding what each client needs, making the best of every opportunity and always looking to improve. We work closely with engineers, ecologists and contractors, including Morrish Consulting Engineers, Mixbrow Construction and SEH French.

Our studio is at Drinkstone Office Park on Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds.

  • RIBA Chartered PracticeListed in the RIBA’s directory of Chartered Practices. See Our Listing (opens in a new tab)
  • RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award, 2015Aldrich Place, Mill Street, Mildenhall, for Havebury Housing Partnership.
  • Breckland Council Award, 2016Station Yard, Thetford: Excellent Conversion, Adaptation and Extension of a Sensitive Building.
  • UK Housing Awards, 2015 ShortlistOutstanding Development of the Year, up to 24 homes, for Aldrich Place.

Questions

Questions We Are Often Asked.

Anything else, call the studio on 01284 756166.

Do I Need Planning Permission?

Often, but not always. Many extensions can go ahead under permitted development, while listed buildings, flats and homes in conservation areas have tighter rules. Which route applies depends on the site, and it is one of the first things we look at.

Can You Help With a Listed Building or Conservation Area?

Yes. Our work on listed and historic buildings includes almshouses, a chapel and the 16th-century buildings at Aldrich Place in Mildenhall, which won a RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award.

Do You Design Low-Energy and Passivhaus Homes?

Yes. Our recent homes follow Passivhaus principles, with a fabric-first approach to cutting energy demand, and we apply the same thinking to existing homes, including thermal upgrades to 26 homes for Havebury Housing Partnership in Bury St Edmunds.

What Areas Do You Cover?

Our projects range from Bury St Edmunds, Mildenhall and Woodbridge to Thetford, Norwich, Ipswich, Kelvedon and Cambridge. If your site is further afield, ask us.

Do You Work With Housing Associations and Developers?

Yes. We have designed affordable, sheltered and supported housing for Havebury Housing Partnership, Orwell Housing Association and Greenfields Community Housing, including a programme of sixty-four affordable homes across four sites in Kelvedon.

What Does an Architect Cost?

Fees depend on the size and complexity of the project and on how much of the work you would like us to do, from planning drawings to a full service through to completion. Tell us about your project and we can talk through the options.

What Happens After I Get in Touch?

Your enquiry comes straight to the studio in Bury St Edmunds. The more you can tell us about the site and what you would like to do, the more useful our first conversation will be.

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Tell Us About Your Site.

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