Sam Causer

We’re beyond proud to share that SPID Theatre has been named the recipient of the 2026 RIBA London award @riba we also won the Client of the Year Award for the restoration of Kensal House Community Rooms. 🏆💥✨ This recognition means so much because it celebrates more than a building it celebrates community, accessibility, creativity and the power of social housing. Thank you to every resident, artist, participant, supporter and collaborator who helped bring this vision back to life. This award belongs to the whole community. Design studio: @studiosamcauser

We’re delighted to share that Kensal House Community Rooms has been shortlisted for a RIBA London (West) Award 2026. It’s been a privilege to restore and re-imagine this remarkable Grade II* listed Modernist icon, working with a dedicated team to awaken its original spirit of social generosity and create a home for the SPID Theatre Company. Learn more via the link in our bio. Architecture @studiosamcauser Client and operator @spidtheatre Structural Engineers @standengineers MEP Engineers @orconsultingengineers Quantity Surveying @appleyardandtrew Fire Consultant @marshallfireltd Below Ground Drainage @momentumstructuralengineers Glazing @fabcosanctuaryltd Project Management: TGA Building Consultancy Access Consultant: Jane Toplis Associates Building Control: Salus Arboriculturalist: Tree Projects @riba @ribalondon

Post 5 of 5 on the Margate Winter Gardens Creating Mixed-Use, Independent Spaces We were appointed by Thanet District Council in 2024 to create a costed, ten-year masterplan for change at the historic Grade II listed Margate Winter Gardens. This work was completed before the Council’s decision in 2025 to sell the building to Westwood One, who are taking forward their own proposals. Following conversations with barkeepers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, and cultural promoters in creating a review of the Thanet evening and night time economy for the Council, we helped develop a vision for how the Winter Gardens, as a driving venue in this sector, needs to adapt to support the needs of the Town and wider District. Key to this was maintaining its long-standing use as a mixed-use hall, for gigs and shows by night, but extend this more successfully into social, cultural, trade and other events during the day. The venue is in strong competition with other large halls throughout the south east, and needs to play to its strengths – its unique coastal location, its large, multi-venue complex, and its position within the Margate cultural community. As the business model of recent decades has failed, losing money year-on-year, and not managing to keep up with routine maintenance, the Winter Gardens must become more efficient, better, and a more sustainable employer. Aside from significant repairs to the external fabric, especially the windows, concrete structure, decorative stucco, flat roofs, gutters, railings and cliff faces, It needs various fundamental changes, including: Ability to operate small areas independent of large areas; increased bar provision; more seating and standing capacity; more accessible and easy-to-find entrances and fire exists; better access for back-stage get-in and get-out; and zero-carbon mechanical & electrical services fit for contemporary expectations. Taken together, these measures we developed with the Council should help the Winter Gardens and now its new owners continue to provide the experiences many of us so fondly remember, but also provide something new, in a more sustainable model, for decades to come.

Post 4 of 5 on the Margate Winter Gardens Opening Up and Working within the Existing Fabric We were appointed by Thanet District Council in 2024 to create a costed, ten-year masterplan for change at the historic Grade II listed Margate Winter Gardens. This work was completed before the Council’s decision in 2025 to sell the building to Westwood One, who are taking forward their own proposals. The Main Hall, or Kings Hall, is the heart of the Winter Gardens. Opened in 1912 as a glistening white ‘wedding cake’ filled with sunlight filtered through a verdant, sunken garden with outdoor amphitheatre on one side, and the sea and setting sun on the other. Extended north over a blustery, north-facing terrace in the 1930s, with an elegant Modernist design, the principles remained the same. Today the site is a sad vestige of the 1970s craze for sweaty, windowless, black box venues. Once inside, you would have no idea where you are, and most of the services are now inefficient or broken. Key to our vision was to open up the building once more, to feel you’re in a garden by the sea, more attractive to daytime events while still being able to close up when needed. This expands the range of events and times of operation, encouraging visitors to the District at all times of day, throughout the year, in support of local jobs and visitor economy. One reason the beautiful 1930s windows to the sea were blocked is because the bleacher (pull-out) seating blocks the view. We proposed instead to raise up new mezzanine of seating over a new Foyer Bar, and re-open the 1930s windows. Fixed seating would be more comfortable, and the fire escapes blocking the promenade could be removed, while increasing the floorspace for refreshments at critical pre-, mid-, and post-concert times. The way the site used to work is that the audience was cleared as soon as an event finishes, so the hall can be prepared for the next event. In our design, the bars surrounding the Main Hall can operate independently, meaning the audience can linger longer, spending more in the local economy, and helpfully disperse the huge rush of people at the end of an event.

Post 3 of 5 on the Margate Winter Gardens Steps & Ramps off the Promenade, serving Independent Venues We were appointed by Thanet District Council in 2024 to create a costed, ten-year masterplan for change at the historic Grade II listed Margate Winter Gardens. This work was completed before the Council’s decision in 2025 to sell the building to Westwood One, who are taking forward their own proposals. A key part of our plan, developed in collaboration with business expert Bonnar Keenlyside, was to separate the site into different parts, which could be developed independently, funded and operated by independent businesses, open at different times of the day, and accessible from different entrances around the site. Of course the businesses would need to work together to support each other to host large events and festivals and so on, much as the local traders already do in any town centre, and especially so in Margate. This approach would spread the required sources of funding across a wide network of smaller businesses, as well as spreading risk, rather than relying upon big investment from outside the district. We produced this masterplan with this economic and social model in mind, from which emerged venues such as the East Bar, which would regain its front both to the north sea & promenade, and also to the sunny sunken garden in the south, helping to provide year-round enjoyment of the site, whatever the weather, run by people who live locally, in support of the local economy. The way the site is currently structured, for any one part of the building to open, pretty much the whole thing needs to open, which means staffing and servicing the whole site, resulting in huge operating costs, and therefore very limited opening times, focussed only on when events are planned, for people with tickets. One of the main problems with this is that it’s hard for employees to rent a flat or manage paying the bills with a zero-hours contract. We instead encourage businesses which can open every day, all year round, not only to provide good quality jobs, but also to make the beautiful buildings and sites open and accessible all of the time.

Post 2 of 5 on the Margate Winter Gardens New Entrance We were appointed by Thanet District Council in 2024 to create a costed, ten-year masterplan for change at the historic Grade II listed Margate Winter Gardens. This work was completed before the Council’s decision in 2025 to sell the building to Westwood One, who are taking forward their own proposals. Our masterplan was developed with business expert Bonnar Keenlyside and a core Team of Max Fordham, Appleyard & Trew, and CTP, and followed our Architectural Review of the building, part of a wider review of the Evening and Night-Time Economy of the District by Counterculture LLP. The Winter Gardens was built in 1911 as an indoor entertainment venue, extending the summer holiday season with a large, glazed hall with views onto both the sea to the north, and a sunny, sheltered garden to the south. This unique form of building, carved out of a chalk cliff, set in a sunken garden, was designed to provide easy access from the promenade, as well as the clifftop walkways. The building has been extended and altered substantially, completely cut off from its coastal surroundings as a windowless black box. Closed during the covid pandemic, the building now stands empty and is in need of a complete refurbishment, alongside a financially viable strategy in today’s economic and cultural climate. Our strategy was to develop the site in phases as money allowed, with Phase 1 using £4m allocated from the Town Deal fund. The plan split the building into two parts: the Main Hall and the Queens Hall, allowing different businesses to operate independently in a mutually-beneficial way. Phase 1 planned to reopen the Main Hall as a large, mixed-use, sea-view venue. Key to this was to re-purpose the 1930s North Extension as a light-filled, sea-view Foyer-Bar. An historic arcade would be re-opened through the building, connecting the Lower Promenade with the Sunken Gardens via a dramatic, long flight of steps and accessible ramps. This would improve permeability through the site and create intuitive and level access for all, in all weathers, and a vibrant, festival atmosphere around the building.

Post 1 of 5 on the Margate Winter Gardens General Approach We were appointed by Thanet District Council in 2024 to create a costed, ten-year masterplan for change at the historic Grade II listed Margate Winter Gardens. This work was completed before the Council’s decision in 2025 to sell the building to Westwood One, who are taking forward their own proposals. Our masterplan was developed with business expert Bonnar Keenlyside and a core Team of Max Fordham, Appleyard & Trew, and CTP, and followed our Architectural Review of the building, part of a wider review of the Evening and Night-Time Economy of the District by Counterculture LLP. The Winter Gardens was built in 1911 as an indoor entertainment venue, extending the summer holiday season with a large, glazed hall with views onto both the sea to the north, and a sunny, sheltered garden to the south. This unique form of building, carved out of a chalk cliff, set in a sunken garden, was designed to provide easy access from the promenade, as well as the clifftop walkways. The building has been extended and altered substantially, completely cut off from its coastal surroundings as a windowless black box. Closed during the covid pandemic, the building now stands empty and is in need of a complete refurbishment, alongside a financially viable strategy in today’s economic and cultural climate. Our strategy was to develop the site in phases as money allowed, with Phase 1 using £4m allocated from the Town Deal fund. The plan split the building into two parts: the Main Hall and the Queens Hall, allowing different businesses to operate independently in a mutually-beneficial way. Phase 1 planned to reopen the Main Hall as a large, mixed-use, sea-view venue. Key to this was to re-purpose the 1930s North Extension as a light-filled, sea-view Foyer-Bar. An historic arcade would be re-opened through the building, connecting the Lower Promenade with the Sunken Gardens via a dramatic, long flight of steps and accessible ramps. This would improve permeability through the site and create intuitive and level access for all, in all weathers, and a vibrant, festival atmosphere around the building.

New roof structure and internal steelwork for a Grade II Listed terraced house in Margate. We’re just finishing the structural work necessary to tie the whole building back together, and starting on the beautiful leadwork, expertly handled by local master craftsman John Couzens. Seeing traditional details executed with this level of precision is a joy, and good for the next hundred years at least. We’ve never seen a cavity wall on an 1820s building before! No wonder the ties between the two leafs had rusted long ago (if indeed there were any), and the layers were peeling apart needing a lot of internal steelwork and a new roof to brace it all back together. We’re glad we were able to save the original voussoirs (wedged-shaped bricks forming an arch) over the front windows. Architecture by @studiosamcauser Build by @coastprojectsuk Structural Design by Geni Engineering Scaffolding by @clbscaffolding Leadwork by @john_couzens_roofing . . . . #HistoricConservation #GradeIIListed #MargateArchitecture #TraditionalRoofing #HeritageRestoration

Every place carries layers of history. Studio Sam Causer Studio works within those layers adapting, re-using, and re-imagining buildings so that what comes next works in harmony with what came before. Architecture as continuity, craft, and care. #StudioSamCauser #Architecture

Another look at one of our most unique projects to come out of 2025! A beautiful distressed paint patina has been hand applied throughout by @johnharragan_artist , creating an incredibly captivating backdrop to compliment our large arched double doors with an antique mirror finish. Georgian-style arched sash windows adorn the rear elevation of the sitting room, with design cues echoed in the Fabco door shape. On the other side, a grand kitchen space awaits, designed and manufactured by the team at deVOL Kitchens. Creating a sense of divide and intrigue, the kitchen side solely reveals the double door, squaring off the surrounding screen and mimicking the shape of the adjacent windows and cabinetry. Each piece of this client's home speaks character, and looks to tell a story. More information on this project can be found on our website, link in bio. Architects/Designer - @studiosamcauser Kitchen - @devolkitchens Photography - @jongolden8 #steeldoors #internaldoor #antiquemirror #steelglazing #londonhome #homestyle #architechture #traditionalhome #archeddoor

A beautifully crafted kitchen at our recently completed conservation project in Blackheath, London. Our full-length side extension and new internal openings transform the ground floor, creating a practical, light-filled heart to the home that accommodates cooking, storage, muddy boots, dogs and family life, while restoring the house’s original sense of ease. A rich palette of dark green timber and aged copper sits beautifully against distressed walls and bespoke joinery. Interior Design: By the homeowner Decorative paintwork: @johnharragan_artist Kitchen cabinets : @devolkitchens Build: @readyfornew.co.uk Architecture: @studiosamcauser . . . . #architecture #design #conservation #conservationarchitect #architecture #renovation #restoration #interior #kitchen #extension #home #london #devolkitchens

Nestled in a borough within the heart of London, the exterior of this property hides away the true magnificence within! Bought to us by the team at @studiosamcauser , conceived by the clients, and inspired by the charm of vintage hotel lobbies, this striking bespoke commission exemplifies the beauty of stepping beyond conventional boundaries. More information on this wonderful project can be found on our website, link in bio. Architects/Designer - @studiosamcauser Kitchen - @devolkitchens Photography - @jongolden8 #steeldoors #internaldoor #antiquemirror #steelglazing #londonhome #homestyle #architechture #traditionalhome #archeddoor