Donald Insall Associates

Chartered Architects and Historic Building Consultants
Practice information
Key architects	Sir Donald Insall
Founded	1958
Location	London, Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Chester, Conwy, Manchester, Trinidad and Tobago
Significant works and honors
Buildings	Windsor Castle post-fire restoration Palace of Westminster Westminster Hall Chester Cathedral Cardiff Castle Hotel Café Royal Regent Street Conservation Plan Trinity College, Cambridge Hampton Court Palace
Awards	Over 200, notably: The RIBA Building of the Year, Wales (2014) The RIBA Award for Architecture for Windsor Castle (1998) Europa Nostra Medals of Honour (in 1983, 1989, 1999, 2000 and 2006)
Website
www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk

Donald Insall Associates is a firm of architects, designers and historic building consultants.

They have worked on contemporary and historic listed buildings, monuments and sites throughout Britain, and at UNESCO World Heritage Sites including The Palace of Westminster, Cross Bath,^[1] the Tower of London, Kew Gardens and Caernarfon Castle.^[2] They were involved in the restoration of Windsor Castle following the 1993 fire.^[3] They have worked extensively in the adaptive re-use of historic buildings, contemporary interventions and new design. Examples include the Copper Kingdom Visitor Centre at Amlwch, Anglesey.

Sir Donald Insall founded the company during 1958 and was chairman until 1998.^[4] He continues to act as a consultant. They continue to operate according to the methodology and philosophy established by Insall, as outlined in his 2008 book, Living Buildings.^[5]

They have won over 200 awards^[6] for their work, including twice-winning the Europa Nostra UK Medal of Honour, and recently the RIBA Building of the Year, Wales, for the Amlwch Copper Kingdom project.^[7]

Donald Insall Associates are now majority employee-owned^[8] and work from seven UK locations, as well as working internationally as both architects and consultants. Their principal office is at 12 Devonshire Street, London. They currently have branches in Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Chester, Manchester and Conwy, and an office in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2015 they were ranked number 39 in the Architects' Journal AJ120 list of largest practices in the UK.^[9]

Major projects

Major projects include:

Public and Institutional

• The Palace of Westminster, London
  • Westminster Hall
  • House of Lords Chamber
  • Cloister Court and the Pugin-designed Courtyards
  • The Encaustic tile floors
  • Sovereign's Robing Room
  • The Pugin Room
• The Tower of London, London
• Hampton Court Palace, London
• Goldsmiths' Hall, London
• The Banqueting House, Whitehall:
• Cross Bath Spa, Bath:
• Lincoln’s Inn Great Hall:
• Mansion House, London
• Liverpool Town Hall:
• Lord's Cricket Ground, London
• Cardiff Castle, South Wales
• Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd, North Wales
• Hotel Café Royal, Regent Street, London
• The former Regent Palace Hotel, Regent Street, London

Arts: Museums, Galleries and Libraries

• Somerset House, London
  • The major refurbishment of the South Building, incorporating a new gallery and restored Seamen's Hall. Repaving and fountains to the courtyard.
• Staircase House, Stockport
• Battle Abbey Gatehouse, Kent
• The Kew Pagoda, Temperate House and the Marianne North Gallery, Kew Gardens, London
• Kew Palace, Kew, London

Religious Buildings and Sites

• Chester Cathedral, Cheshire
  • Tony Barton (Chairman) is the Cathedral Architect
• Bangor Cathedral, Bangor, North Wales
  • Simon Malam is Cathedral Architect
• Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge University, Cambridge

Educational

• The Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge:
• The Stephen Hawking Building, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
• Woldingham School
  • They prepared a masterplan and designed and built a new Performing Arts Centre.
• Codrington Library, New College, Oxford
• Cockerell Building, Cambridge:
• Bangor University Arts Building, North Wales

Research and Education

Publications

Donald Insall Associates’ members publish regularly. Major publications by the firm include:

• The Care of Old Buildings Today
• Living Buildings - Architectural Conservation: Philosophy, Principles and Practice.^[5]
• Chester: A Study in Conservation^[10]

Academic Activities

Donald Insall Associates lecture at specialist conferences in Europe, the Americas and Far East. They have lectured regularly at^[11]

• Royal College of Arts
• International Centre for Conservation, Rome University
• Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
• College d'Europe in Bruges.
• Canterbury University

References