The SAWMILLS is a Victorian, former watermill on the River Wandle, dating from the early C19th.

The Wandle Valley and its fast flowing river was the heart of the Industrial Revolution in London. The Sawmills is the last remaining part of Duntshill Mills, one of fifty watermills during the 1800s, adjacent to the river and connected by the Surrey Iron Railway, which ran along Garratt Lane.

Over two centuries The Sawmills has been the site for the production of gunpowder, flock for wallpaper at the William Morris factory upstream at Merton Abbey Mills, the printing of calico, of coffee for the Kenya Coffee Company Limited (Kenco), electro plating and polishing of parts including taps for the QEII and Balmoral, and parts for Concorde, Rolls Royce cars and Bentley cars, and location for film and television shoots.

Honest building structure with exposed masonry, glass, steel and timber

A spacious and inspirational place of work.

The SAWMILLS has a natural and environmentally-conscious design, including:

  • Reclaimed London Stock bricks & industrial wooden flooring

  • Breathable, natural hempcrete insulation and lime plaster

  • High thermal mass: exposed masonry and concrete keeps the spaces warmer in winter and cooler in summer

  • Abundant natural daylight from Victorian style steel roof-lights and handcrafted period style timber casement windows

  • Natural ventilation; stack-effect and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to each space

  • Recycling: more than 99% of all waste generated during the build segregated, recycled, or reclaimed and reused in the refurbishment