Welcome to the Porthmeor Studios Renovation Project website.

The Site has been designed and built by photographer Graham Gaunt and is being updated on a monthly basis as a photographic document in progress of this important Grade II* listed building.
Porthmeor Studios in St Ives provides workspace for fishermen, artists and the St Ives School of Painting, but is perhaps best known for the internationally significant artists who have worked here, including Ben Nicholson, Patrick Heron, Francis Bacon and Wilhelmina Barns Graham. Please visit www.bsjwtrust.co.uk for more information.

The Project
Prolonged exposure to the harsh marine environment has taken its toll on the building, and it is now extremely fragile and in urgent need of major repairs. This £4 million project will repair and refurbish the building and improve access, so that it can continue to offer essential workspace for future generations of artists and fishermen. The project is being carried out in two phases: Phase 1 will be completed in July 2011, and Phase 2 in July 2012.
The design team is led by award winning architects Long & Kentish, and the main contractor is Symons Construction from St Ives. The main public funders include Arts Council England, Sea Change/CABE, Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, Cornwall Council , ERDF Convergence and European Fisheries Fund

Project Progress
Each month the site is updated showing works in progress. Click on the Images above or links below to open the gallery images in a separate window, and then close the window to return to this page. Further photographs will be added at a later date by other photographers, and the builders own records.

Project Funding
This £4 million project has important cultural, heritage and economic benefits for Cornwall and meets the requirements of many public funders. The resulting funding package is therefore very complex, and has taken a long time to assemble.
The Borlase Smart John Wells Trust is most grateful to everyone who has helped to make this project a reality. Most of the funding will be provided by the public funders listed below. However the Trust is also very grateful to Charitable Trusts and individual donors, and especially to the local community fundraising appeal, Smart Regeneration, which has raised over £65,000 so far. This is an incredible achievement.
Although most of the funding is now in place, the Trust still needs to raise the final £150,000. To help us reach this target, please contact the Trust through its website www.bsjwtrust.co.uk or email admin@bsjwtrust.co.uk.

Project Partners
Porthmeor Studios is a Grade II* listed building of great significance to the local community, and it is vital that the repairs and alterations are handled with the greatest sensitivity. The Trust has been delighted with all the work carried out to date, and would like to thank its partners in this important project for their care and attention to detail.

Client, Borlase Smart John Wells Trust
Main Contractor, Symons Construction
Architect, Long & Kentish
Structural Engineer, Keith Rolleston Associates
Building Services, King Shaw Associates
Quantity Surveyor Project Manager, Trevor Humphreys Associates

Photography images below click on months
This site uses separate viewing windows, updates each month. click on the links below for each Gallery close the window to return to this page.