Westerleigh Crematorium

Remembering loved ones in a peaceful and rural setting.

Set in 25 acres of countryside, Westerleigh Crematorium is a peaceful facility in a rural setting for the people of Bristol and the surrounding counties.

The existing crematorium, built in the 1990s, was extremely successful. Our client was looking to maximise the efficient usage of their cremator plant and to widen their offer to customers to include a more intimate second chapel and on-site catering facilities.

The ‘Woodland Chapel’ is a second service space, directly linked to the existing crematory. It has a smaller seating capacity to offer a more intimate environment for those with a smaller service attendance. Separate parking facilities were included to enable concurrent services to take place in both chapels.

The new bereavement hospitality suite allows families to hold a reception or wake adjacent to the chapels. Families will often travel from a wider area, therefore the inclusion of this facility removes the need for travel to a second venue. This building offers catering facilities including a small tea room.

The principle of the design was to create an organic integration between the existing and new parts of the development. We uitilised a contextual built form for the second chapel which made reference to the design and form of the existing buildings. The bereavement suite was a contemporary intervention, designed to merge into the landscape, a greenbelt designated area.

Our additions, which also included some minor modifications of the existing fabric, have now created a glorious group of buildings and courtyards, set within a beautiful, calm, mature landscape which is more sympathetic to the needs of its users, enhances the surrounding environment and increases cremation capacity and operational efficiency.

An assessment of the existing facilities and potential capacity of the existing cremator equipment underpinned our work.