Ballard’s Smoke House

Fish Quay, Cliffords Fort, North Shields

2012

A building on the site of Ballard’s Smoke House has marked the north-east corner of the Fort since 1707. In 2007 we moved in and have gained planning permission to renovate the Grade II Listed building, within a conservation area and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

It will house a glass sculpture gallery and workshop, an associated art café, an architecture studio, and an apartment. Integrated planting and spaces that can be opened to the outside will blurr the surface porosity. It will be an Activhaus building, acting as an exemplar of Brightblue Studio’s work – the design emphasis being on expressive architecture, integrated glass underpinned by sustainable practice.