Great Barn at Bolton Abbey wins RICS National Award

We are thrilled that the restored Great Barn at Bolton Abbey has been awarded the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) National Award for Best Commercial Project.

This follows its success earlier this year, when the refurbished building one three regional awards from the RICS including Overall Project of the Year, as well as two awards at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Situated on a ridge overlooking the River Wharfe, and owned by the Bolton Abbey Estate, the barn was built in 1519 to store produce for Bolton Priory, with teams of oxen pulling into place the giant oak “A” frames that support its magnificent roof structure. It is one of the largest and best preserved medieval aisled barns in England, and now a major wedding venue.

Gillespies were appointed to provide a landscape and visual assessment, as well as detailed landscape design, to sensitively transform the Grade II* Listed Medieval Barn and Scheduled Monument into a magnificent wedding venue.

The transformation of Bolton Abbey's 16th-century Tithe barn from a cluttered agricultural store, into a beautiful wedding venue was described by RICS Judges as 'exemplary'. The judges praised the project team for sensitively restoring the Grade II*-listed barn and transforming it into arguably one of the finest wedding barn properties in the country.

View the full list of RICS winners here.

Last image - courtesy of Catherine Kerr