42 YEARBOOK 2026 described conditions there as lethal. His campaigning led to the Penitentiary Act of 1779 and a new philosophy of reform through regulated labour, isolation and religious instruction. The concept of a ‘panopticon’ prison was developed by Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century, with a central guard tower surrounded by cells arranged around a perimeter wall. The prison form that eventually emerged adopted the concept but with wings radiating from a central hub, allowing a small number of officers to observe multiple wings simultaneously. First pioneered at Millbank (1816), the radial plan was refined at Pentonville (1842) providing the template for prisons across Britain and throughout the Empire, with four or five radiating wings of individual cells, each with a top-lit central hall surrounded by landings. Beyond this was the gatehouse and perimeter wall enclosing the compound, a chapel, the governor’s house and other ancillary buildings. Of the seven prisons closed in 2013, five remained substantially derelict a decade later, and only one, HMP Shepton Mallet has achieved any sort of permanent solution. HMP Shepton Mallet, Somerset, was purchased by entrepreneur Joel Campbell and reopened as a heritage tourism destination, drawing visitors who explore the Grade II* cell blocks, the execution chamber used by American forces during the Second World War, and the remarkable treadwheel house. This use has required minimal change while providing an income that should be sufficient for maintenance and repairs, ensuring the fabric remains intact while making its history publicly accessible – an outcome Historic England had explicitly encouraged during the disposal process. Plans also exist for new-build mews housing within the perimeter walls and, more controversially, residential conversion of some of the Grade II* cell blocks into apartments. HMP Shrewsbury was sold in 2014 to the Trevor Osborne Property Group, the company responsible for converting Oxford Prison into the Malmaison hotel in 2006. Here, however, proposals for student accommodation and offices were refused on highways grounds, and it has since been offered for sale again. The building’s extraordinary layered history — a Victorian panopticon prison sitting over the remains of its Georgian predecessor, with executed prisoners reputedly interred in the yard — gives it exceptional historic significance, and the owners offer open-days for visitors. THE ADAPTATION CHALLENGES For developers, conservation officers and heritage consultants, redundant prisons present a unique set of difficulties that go beyond those of most other building types. These include the size of the cells and their poor levels of lighting and ventilation, the scale of the buildings, the stigma of its use, and various forms of contamination. Scale and repetition are defining problems. Victorian prison wings consist of dozens of small cells, typically around four metres by two, arranged on multiple levels around top-lit atria. Converting these to habitable rooms requires either radical internal reconfiguration to combine cells and connect rooms on different levels, or accepting floor plans of unusual constraint. The atrium spaces themselves cannot be subdivided without dramatically changing their character, although this at least is reversible. Cell windows were deliberately small, so daylight and ventilation in the proposed rooms are chronically inadequate by modern standards. Introducing new openings in massive perimeter walls requires technically demanding solutions, and the enlarged openings inevitably conflict with the architectural character of the building, impairing its significance. Contamination and infrastructure present practical obstacles. Prison sites frequently contain buried human remains (executed prisoners were routinely interred within the walls until 1969) as well as underground utilities designed for institutional rather than residential use. Asbestos is ubiquitous in post-war additions. Stigma and marketability remain real, if diminishing, concerns. The success of conversions at Oxford and Bodmin (both now hotels) demonstrates that former prison One of the radial wings of HMP Gloucester during an IHBC site visit in 2015 when plans were being considered for its redevelopment. The building is now open for occasional visits, ghost tours and use as a film location. (Photo: Jonathan Taylor) Oxford prison, successfully converted for use as a hotel by Malmaison (Photo: Alan Hughes, CC BY-SA 2.0) A first floor cell in Victoria Prison, Hong Kong during the investigation and analysis phase in 2011: the arched window can be seen in the photo of the compound opposite. (Photo: Lisa Oestreicher)
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