Capel Salem has been vacant for over a decade, but in 2022 it was purchased by master potter and channel 4’s Great British Pottery throwdown judge Keith Brymer Jones
We have obtained Planning and Listed Building consent for its conversion and change of use to a dwelling, pottery studio and multi-use exhibition and community space. The full refurbishment work is now underway, and we are very excited to be involved in this project revitalising a building which carries great significance for the town of Pwllheli.
The challenge was to prioritise which part of the building to renovate within a limited budget. We also needed to interrogate how to sensitively introduce new uses into a religious building with listed status. By taking a light-touch approach working with the existing layout as much as possible, and reconciling the history features with minimal structural interventions, the character of the building is retained and costs are kept under control.
The outcome
The main chapel nave with its ornate gallery will be retained, thus preserving the spatial and religious character of the building. Most of the adaptations are to the annex to the rear, where the ‘Festri Fawr’ auditorium will become a studio, with the Sundary school on the floor below lending itself to the creation of living space.
Some of the renovation and repair work to Capel Salem has been filmed by Channel 4 for a four-part series,‘Our Welsh Chapel Dream’, broadcast in Spring 2024.
