Spirited away: adapting a derelict copperworks

Clipper ships would leave Chile daily then round Cape Horn in the roughest seas on Earth to deliver ore to South Wales. Thanks to plentiful local supplies of Welsh coal, it was then smelted into copper, used mainly by the Royal Navy as sheaving on wooden ships to prevent rot and parasites.

By 1883, copper was being processed in 124 works, the largest of which was Hafod Morfa Copperworks on the banks of the River Tawe in the Lower Swansea Valley. However, the good times didn’t last and depleting local coal reserves eventually made it more economic to smelt copper elsewhere, resulting in factories and rolling mills being shut down.

The area became one of the most derelict industrial landscapes in Britain and by the 1980s just a handful of buildings were left, as a reminder of Swansea’s industrial heritage.

Several decades later in 2019, Swansea Council and Swansea University kicked off an ambitious project to reverse that decline by breathing new life into the 12.5-acre site at Hafod Morfa.

Backed by funding from the Heritage Lottery, Swansea Council, Swansea University and the Welsh Government, it involved the restoration and conversion of a Grade II listed former steam-engine powerhouse building into a new distillery for Welsh whisky maker Penderyn. 

The heritage structure is connected to a new freestanding building containing a visitor centre, designed to communicate the site’s history and the Welsh whisky-making tradition, plus a covered link to a large warehouse with a barrel store.

The project is an exemplar of conservation and involved extensive collaboration and coordination between appointed designers and contractors. These included conservation architect GWP Architecture, fit-out architect Archer Humphryes, main contractor John Weaver Contractors, as well as quantity surveyor and cost consultant TC Consult. 

The dilapidated and fragile state of the powerhouse building raised various challenges, many of which could not be anticipated in design. Dave Rowden, site supervisor at John Weaver says: “From the minute we put a shovel in the ground until the time we put the last slate on the roof there were challenges that no one really understood until we started to get in there and investigate. Many solutions were bespoke, we even had to dig the roof slate out of the ground and split it by hand.”

The existing powerhouse “was literally derelict, it had no roof, the walls were saturated, the floor was mud. It was in peril,” says David Archer, co-founder of Archer Humphryes. The unsafe structure prevented comprehensive surveys and despite valuable input from the structural engineer and architect, unexpected quirks and anomalies were uncovered as work progressed, requiring contractors to think on their feet.

“The roof structure was an unknown thing before we started, similarly we had drawings for the clock tower and the spire, but a lot of information had to be developed,” says Rowden.

The clock tower was rebuilt and the stone outer walls partially rebuilt using material reclaimed from a building previously demolished on site, cemented together with lime mortar. The interior walls were also repaired and given a simple coat of lime wash.

Some broken iron truss sections recovered from the debris on the floor of the powerhouse were salvaged and rewelded, while remaining trusses were newly forged at a Welsh foundry. Existing cast iron columns were repaired and reinstated. 

A metallurgist was appointed to scan the metal to check its load bearing capacity – when this was found to be insufficient, the roof was redesigned to increase the sizes of principal oak rafters and purlins. This in turn altered the roof pitch and the roof line. 

New stainless steel components were fitted to boost the strength of the structural frame and increase support for the new timbers.

The walls of the powerhouse had spread over the decades and other aspects had moved out of alignment. Some had to be extended or tied into modern fixings and joints. “We had to adjust the purlin dimensions, pack things up and run things to lines rather than levels to get it right,” says Rowden.

Weekly meetings with Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service, helped ensure that any changes were agreed and signed off so that work could progress on site.

The main design challenge for the fit-out, Archer notes, was coordination of this mass of equipment, arranged to pass through and between the various columns and cast iron trusses, also factoring in manufacture and installation.

In a satisfying nod to the site’s original use, the Faraday stills are not only made from the same copper, but they were designed by Dr David Faraday from the University of Surrey – whose ancestor Michael Faraday studied the copper smelting process at Hafod Morfa Copperworks. 

A distillery imposes unique scientific demands on design, driven by the need to ensure the best possible environmental conditions to produce a high-quality alcoholic drink.

As part of a strategy to provide natural ventilation and dissipate the large amount of heat created during operation, the powerhouse is fitted with replacement ventilation hoods on the ridgeline. Large replacement metal windows and glazed rooflights bring controlled natural light into the main space.

Careful coordination was also required for the new floor slab, which had to incorporate damp proofing, below-ground drainage, gullies and other features. 

Respect for the industrial heritage filtered down into the modest palette of materials and finishes used for the fit-out. Most materials are either exposed, or given a lick of paint. For example, the columns are coated with a blue industrial glue commonly seen in Victorian buildings, such as in the train shed at London’s St Pancras Station. A room on the upper level of the powerhouse, used for whisky masterclasses, features red painted steel I-beams. 

The Grade II listing prevented any major alterations to the structure, however, an enlarged opening on one side of the building enables access for industrial scale machinery, another widened opening functions as a delivery point for grain.

The three-storey block features a glass facade with a set-back upper floor faced in burnt timber cladding, topped with a metal panel pitched roof. Inside, a yellow glazed rooflight runs across the building’s frontage and above a main staircase lined with bottles of whisky. 

“The expression of the interior design in the visitor centre is less reticent and works harder to tell the story of the introduction of the distillery and Welsh whisky into Swansea,” says Archer. “The materials are simple and modest – terracotta tiles, a concrete floor, bespoke bricks and joinery – the detailing, form, shape and expression belongs to a contemporary building.” 

Some aspects more directly reference the past, such as a live flame fireplace in a ‘furnace bar’ on the first floor, featuring a beaten copper hood inspired by a smelting forge. 

In recognition of this bold, yet sensitive transformation of this derelict site through adaptive reuse and conservation, the Penderyn Distillery project took home the RICS Wales Heritage Award in 2024.

Commenting on the award, RICS judges said: “The Distillery & Visitor Centre is an exemplar of restoration and preservation. The combination of two Grade II listed historical landmarks, once part of a pivotal hub in the copper industry, has been meticulously completed, showcasing a harmonious blend of heritage and modern functionality.

“The restoration and contemporary connection were a true collaborative effort from all involved, enabling the integration of a new state-of-the-art distillery. The scheme’s transformative impact is acting as a catalyst for wider regeneration, and stands as a celebration of heritage conservation, promoting a cultural legacy and fostering a renewed sense of local pride.”

We should also raise a glass to the local skills and materials that keep the building rooted within its context, a vital ingredient helping attract new business, leisure and tourism to the area.

The 2026 RICS UK Awards are open for entries from Monday 5 January 2026.