Hambledon Vineyard

Established in 1952 by Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Hambledon Vineyard is renowned as England's first commercial vineyard. It has a distinguished legacy of pioneering English winemaking. Known for its historical significance, the village of Hambledon is also the birthplace of Cricket.

Embracing the new era of wine tourism and responding to increasing customer interest in provenance and authenticity, the vineyard decided to develop a new restaurant, visitor experience, and educational facilities at the estate's highest point.

In Spring 2024, Hambledon Wineries contacted Jensen Hughes, requesting our assistance with their visitor center, which is part of the existing vineyard. The center includes a restaurant, shop, function space, office space, and storage, spanning two main levels (lower ground and upper ground). This two-story mixed-use building will serve both commercial and storage purposes. The upper ground level will be split into two, with a large restaurant, reception, courtyard, kitchen and back of house areas on one side, with the other half of the upper ground level used as a cellar.

The building was partially constructed; however, the works were left unfinished. Therefore Jensen Hughes were brought into review the existing works and to conduct a detailed fire strategy review of the plans to ensure the approach was robust. As part of this review, we identified several non-compliances and either supported the existing design, recommended a more efficient approach, or suggested improvements to the design where needed.

The cellar’s fire safety strategy takes into account the flammable alcohol stored within. Building Regulation approval was secured to ensure the safe storage of wine, incorporating a specified number of exits and adherence to distance limitations with a fire engineered approach to the Approved Document B regulations, the means of escape were designed with advice on staircase width, travel distances, cellar exit widths, and sprinkler options.

It is a privilege to contribute to this vineyard, which is known for producing award-winning English sparkling wine.