Paving slabs, cat food and beer

Withernay Projects logos

It's three years since Withernay Projects was formed, which seems a good time to tell you about the company's identity, designed by the talented Gattaldo. Much coffee was drunk while Aldo asked all sorts of questions about what Withernay Projects is all about, which is not at all obvious from the name.

Anyone who has tried to name a company, band or child will know how agonizing this is. My surname is very well known as a brand of audio equipment and manufacturer of paving slabs so that wasn't an option. Anything that directly related to access or photography was out because the company does both. The answer arrived through the front door on a letter from a friend: Withernay is an old nickname that some friends still use to distinguish me from other Rachels. Technically it should be Rachael 'With-an-extra-a' I suppose. Projects was added because there's already a company called Withernay Limited... which makes cat food.

Handily, the extra 'a' in my name also stands for access and the capital letter is almost an arrow, hence the A in both of the logos. Aldo presented me with a variety of ideas, of which the polygon was a favourite. The access consultancy logo represents the plan of a building, a labyrinth, and a puzzle that needs a solution, which heritage projects often resemble at first.

Seeing the polygon reworked as a circle immediately made sense as the logo for the photography side of the company, being a simple symbol for a lens or the iris of an eye.

Crate Best was drunk three years ago. Yes, I Instagram beer bottles.

Interior photography for an architectural practice.

Three years on Withernay Projects continues to advise on access and inclusion for some brilliant design teams and photographs all sorts of places and spaces, from bathrooms to beautiful historic interiors, and the company name still causes confusion on the phone.

Who says listed buildings cannot be accessible?

Canopy of Kettner's on Romilly Street in Soho.

The application for planning approval for this large and complex site in Soho, Westminster is now complete and submitted. Withernay Projects worked closely with the design team, led by Soda., to propose a transformation to fifteen Georgian townhouses to create significantly upgraded and much more usable accommodation for Kettner's and Soho House private members' club, and 28 new guest rooms.

Eleven of the buildings on site are Grade II Listed, meaning that any changes to them are subject to Listed Building Consent under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act. This does not mean that the current level of access cannot be improved. In fact if the proposed scheme is completed nearly all of the guest and staff areas within the buildings will be fully accessible. The exceptions are one small room on each of the upper levels of Soho House, and the regular hotel rooms. Five of the 28 guest rooms will be accessible / easily and quickly adaptable to suit the needs of a wheelchair user.

If anyone tries to tell you that older, listed buildings cannot be modified to improve access into and within them, then please put them right and direct them to Withernay Projects! Other examples include Peterborough Cathedral, the Christ Church Spitalfields Crypt and York Theatre Royal.

Crypt without walls

The Crypt has not been seen without internal partitions since the 1700s.

Christ Church, Spitalfields, was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and completed in 1729. The Church itself was extensively refurbished a decade ago and now it's the turn of the Crypt beneath.

The soil breaking ceremony on October 7th was a chance to see the space without internal divisions that divided it for centuries, but more exciting is the anticipation of the completed works, scheduled for spring 2015.

Dow Jones Architects won the commission back in 2008 with a proposal that will provide a fully inclusive, not just accessible, entrance into new multi-use spaces divided with oak walls and doors. The design allows daylight into spaces that can be acoustically and spatially combined or separated to support an even more varied range of uses than prior to the commencement of works.

Rev. Andy Rider and a church warden wield a drill at the soil breaking ceremony.