Pre-Planning
The practice was asked by a collective of Whitby fisherman to help them develop initial, outline, proposals for the design of a new lobster hatchery facility and Marine Discovery Centre, within the existing Whitby Fish Market building along Pier Road in Whitby Harbour.
The project was to be funded by charitable donations and by seeking grants from relevant available funding partners. We worked closely with the fishermen to develop initial proposals and to help them generate sufficient funds to get the project started.
To cater for the early installation of the hatchery, and the staged timescales by which funding would be available, the project was split into phases. Phase 1 of the project related to the construction of the new hatchery facility, along with the public Marine Discovery Centre, and was completed in 2023. For further information on Phase 1 of the project, visit the Project Page.
Phase 2 of the project is then concerned with the broader regeneration and extension of the Fish Market building more generally. The space available at Ground Floor level of the Fish Market is very limited, since the building is still a vital part of the functioning fishing industry in Whitby. As such, additional space is needed to provide the modest office, research, and welfare spaces that support the primary spaces of the hatchery and the Marine Discovery Centre.
The functional space along the quayside has already been allocated and, given the unusual typology of the existing Fish Market, creating a new second storey above it would be difficult to resolve in terms of architectural design. A new second storey would also sit at odds with the existing watchtower, which is in need of maintenance and repair. As such the proposal to provide the required additional space is based around re-conceiving the existing plant space on the roof of the existing two storey watchtower element of the building. This approach also creates the opportunity to renovate the existing brick watchtower building at the same time.
The primary focus of Phase 2 of the project is then the design and installation of a new lightweight roof structure that allows the existing roof level of the watchtower to be converted into habitable accommodation, whilst renovating the exterior of the building, and announcing the Lobster Hatchery project within the broader harbour setting. Further repairs and renovations are then proposed along the 80m length of the Fish Market building to help regenerate and improve the experience of the public realm and the harbour along Pier Road.
