The Ivy, Exeter

The Ivy Collection is a group of restaurants, brasseries and cafes, established in London and now growing regionally across the UK.

Situated in one of Exeter’s best-loved areas, this particular project involved refurbishing a listed building that required Listed Building Consent along with an archaeologist in attendance during all excavations. This property is located on the High Street but with one side facing onto the Cathedral and its Cathedral Yard. The building used to be an existing bank and as such had extremely thick reinforced concrete walls, which had to be removed and, or drilled through, for the new services being incorporated into the refurbishments.

There had to be major demolition and structural works within the basement so walls could be removed to enable an open floor plan for the kitchen and back of house areas. This required temporary works and propping to allow a spider crane to be positioned on the ground floor to lift steelwork into the basement. 

The main restaurant area is now located on ground floor along with a separate Private Dining Room. The basement houses the kitchen and back of house area. The new bar was designed and built with a pink onyx top. It is back lit with LED light panels to create the dramatic effect wanted.

Materials were researched and sourced from Italy & Portugal (tiles), Italy, USA, Australia and Asia (light fittings) and Europe (sanitary ware).