The Old Post Office

The refurbishment of a Grade II listed structure on Lewes High Street into offices for a progressive software development company. Completed 2019. RIBA Stages 3-7.

The Old Post Office is formed of two separate buildings: a principal element that occupies the greater part of the site and a smaller structure that had been added to its southern end. Situated just south-east of Lewes Castle, the property is within the Lewes Conservation Area.

Research suggests that there has been a property on the site since at least the mid 16^th Century. The building is first described as a house in 1657, then later as a 24-pupil boarding school between 1769 and 1851 and was then converted to a general Post Office, book shop and stationer in 1881. In 1934 the property was ‘reconstructed’ as Lewes Post Office when the earlier 19th Century building was re-fronted.

The building now provides offices, design development studios, meeting and conference facilities/exhibition space, kitchens and ancillary facilities. State of art audio, visual, lighting and IT technologies have also been discreetly incorporated.

Only where repairs could not be made due to severe decay were any elements replaced with some new and reclaimed materials. Over the course of 15 months, painstaking and sensitive remedial works were undertaken to restore this beautiful example of Georgian architecture to a high standard of finish and a contemporary, functional office environment.