I had the privilege of working on a comprehensive branding, design, and website development project for the historic Dockyard Church in Sheerness, revitalised by Will Palin and the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust after two devastating fires. This project stands as the largest restoration effort on the Isle of Sheppey to date, supported by £4.2 million in lottery funding and a total of £9.8 million in grants.

The transformed Dockyard Church now serves as a modern coworking space, a destination coffee shop, and a business centre for aspiring young entrepreneurs and small business owners. It hosts craft fairs, art galleries, and community-driven events, fulfilling the vision of IslandWorks at Dockyard Church to become a vibrant community hub with members and customers enjoying a full suite of affordable business amenities available right on their doorstep.

IslandWorks is a dynamic coworking space located on the Isle of Sheppey, inside the meticulously restored Sheerness Dockyard Church on Garrison Road. IslandWorks offers flexible desk-space rental options by the day, week, or month, and is an affordable alternative to traditional office rentals. They provide a variety of amenities designed to support the needs of modern professionals, which include hireable meeting rooms, a versatile and wide-open event space, and a dedicated on-site coffee shop – The Coffee Lounge. The Coffee Lounge spotlights locally roasted coffee from Ashford, speciality tea blends from Margate, and a diverse array of cakes and sweet treats from the Island’s local bakers, creating a vibrant community hub of collaboration and creativity.

The goal was to design a brand that seamlessly blended the contemporary and inventive character of the new business centre with the rich history and tradition of the building. To appeal to the youthful and energetic target group, I crafted a visual identity that incorporated architectural elements, such as the circular sky-lights and nave-stage archway, while utilising a modern colour palette and typography.

As part of the branding effort, I developed a comprehensive logo suite, signage, print-work and website, all designed to convey the unique combination of tradition and innovation. The end result is a brand that not only honours the building’s heritage but also inspires businesses to thrive at IslandWorks through a distinctive and compelling visual language.

The branding and logo needed to harmonise with the architecture, ensuring they complemented the overall aesthetic. Additionally, there were very strict limitations on signage placements, as fixing anything to the original stone and plasterwork was not permitted due to the Grade II* listing of the Building.

The minimalist visual identity was designed to complement the architecture of Sheerness Dockyard Church, ensuring signage and menus provided just enough contrast against the historic backdrop. The restriction on fixings allowed for some creative signage placements, such as window decals and hanging signs, which creatively avoided the need to install anything to the building's original stonework.

As part of the branding project for the historic church turned coworking space and business centre, I created various marketing collateral to support IslandWorks’ visual identity. This included flyers, posters and banners, and website.

The flyers and posters were designed to promote the various services and facilities available at the business centre. I used a mix of modern typography, bold unedited imagery, and forms from the church’s architecture to create purposeful designs that would appeal to the target audience of young entrepreneurs, creatives and business people.

The website was built in WordPress and used Three.js to showcase the building and facilities in interactive 3D elements. I wanted to feature the church as an interactive 3D model on the homepage to showcase the marvel that was the overall restoration project. Being kindly given Hugh Broughton Architects‘ 3D Enscape models for this purpose, and with some minor tweaks and editing to optimise its use and load-time for the web, my vision was to readily showcase the building’s exterior to visitors. The interior of the church was intentionally left out to preserve that sense of magic when visitors first enter and see the full restoration with their own eyes.

The use of WordPress allowed the team to readily update the website as needed, utilising Custom Post Types and Advanced Custom Fields, also allowed the showcasing of upcoming events and a directory of Business Network Members in addition to article posts and pages. Additionally, custom-built sign-up forms built off the Gmail API allowed the team to receive valuable leads free of spam, and Digital Membership Cards were planned to streamline IslandWorks’ members claiming their discounts in The Coffee Lounge.

The original Enscape 3D models provided by the Architects to use in this project were too large to stream on the web, and featured over 1 million triangles. They were originally intended to be used as fully-detailed building plans for the construction teams.

By editing the model in Blender, I was able to strip the 3D model back to the exterior elements I planned to feature. This removed 80% of the triangles and vertices in the file, however there was still room for improvement. I also applied a Decimate modifier over the entire model to simplify its geometry and further reduce the amount of loop cuts and vertices present. This reduced the amount of draw calls in Three.js, and allowed the file to stream in quickly.

IslandWorks at Dockyard Church involved creating a visual identity that blends the contemporary spirit of a business centre with the historical essence of a Grade II* listed building. I designed a cohesive brand, including logos, signage, and a website, overcoming architectural constraints creatively. Utilising modern design elements and interactive 3D models, the project successfully showcases the restored church while preserving its heritage. The outcome is a vibrant, appealing brand that respects the building's legacy and supports the growth of its business community.