CAVENDISH EXCHANGE
Reconnecting the heart of Cheltenham
THE PROPOSAL
One of Cheltenham's most important sites remains disconnected from the life around it.
Positioned between the Promenade, Regent Street and the Everyman Theatre, Cavendish House occupies a strategic location at the heart of the town centre. Yet despite its prominence, the building currently acts as a barrier rather than a connector.
Long frontages, limited permeability and underutilised space prevent the site from contributing fully to Cheltenham's civic, commercial and cultural life.
The challenge is not simply how to redevelop a building.
It is how to reconnect a piece of the town.
About the designer
Cynthia Hartmann
Founder, Studio CH
Cavendish Exchange is the result of fifteen years of professional design practice and a long-standing interest in how architecture, movement and public life intersect.
Developed through extensive research into Cheltenham's urban fabric, the proposal seeks to demonstrate how thoughtful design can unlock new opportunities for connection, activity and civic value.
It is both a design proposition and an invitation to conversation.
the vision
Civic Destination
A new public route will connect the Promenade directly to Regent Street, opening the building back to the town and creating places for gathering, culture, hospitality and everyday interaction.
Promenade
At the Promenade level, the building is repositioned as an anchor retail destination, encouraging slow movement, observation, and passage rather than obligation to consume. The restored Regency architecture reinstates elegance and civic presence, transforming the Promenade from a dark, inactive edge into a welcoming urban experience.
THE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE
Walking through the passage is conceived as a timeline through Cheltenham's architectural character.
Visitors enter from the Regency Promenade, where the restored historic façade preserves the elegance and rhythm that define the street. At this point, the architecture still feels familiar and historic.
As people move deeper into the building, the space gradually transforms. The historic frontage gives way to a contemporary structure, where new materials and larger openings introduce light, activity, and movement.
The route becomes framed by views of the Everyman Theatre and the new interior spaces, creating a sequence that connects past and present.
The passage, therefore, becomes more than a shortcut between Promenade and Regent Street. It becomes a spatial journey — a walk that reveals the evolution of the building and the changing life of the town.
Like the Promenade itself, the route is designed for walking with pleasure, encouraging people to pause, gather, and experience the city rather than simply pass through it.
Above, a gastronomy gallery occupies the second level and reimagines dining as a shared civic experience, rather than a singular restaurant. Multiple food offerings gather around a central island, with seating along the perimeter to engage views and light — a place where Cheltenham's festival spirit continues long after the last performance ends.
Regent Street
A new public space on Regent Street resolves long-standing issues of congestion and unsafe queuing associated with the theatre, offering a generous, accessible setting for gathering, waiting, and interaction.
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Office accommodation at the rear ensures the building remains alive throughout the working day — providing the economic continuity that sustains the public programme and makes this vision not just beautiful, but viable.
To the rear, the passage opens into a cultural gateway — a tourist information and exhibition space that anchors discovery and civic orientation at the heart of the pedestrian journey, connecting visitors to Cheltenham's heritage, arts, and landmarks, while simultaneously activating the rear of the site and strengthening its relationship to Regent Street.
Cavendish Exchange takes its name from the passage at its heart — a journey that begins on the Regency Promenade, moves through the building, and arrives in the contemporary life of the city beyond.
Cavendish House has always transformed with its time. This proposal does so once more — preserving the Promenade façade exactly as it was meant to be, as the elegant, civic face of Cheltenham, while the intervention behind it reflects the city as it lives today.
Architecture as an exchange between heritage and contemporary life. A building that honours its roots by refusing to stand still.
Cavendish Exchange responds to what Cheltenham has always been — a town that values elegance, culture, and public life — and proposes a building worthy of that identity.
This is not a vision built on aspiration alone. Every design decision is rooted in rigorous site analysis, precedent studies, and personal observation of how people move through, around, and past this building every day. The urban problems are real. The solutions are specific.
The mixed programme — retail, gastronomy, office, culture, and civic space — is not decorative. It is designed for economic resilience: uses that sustain each other across the day, the week, and the season, ensuring the building remains alive and viable long after the opening.
A civic destination that does not close itself off from the city, but opens itself to it.