The Old Forge, Godalming

A historic Godalming forge, built into the hillside, transformed into award-winning offices for a global tech tenant.

The Old Forge is an historic building set into the side of a hill in Godalming, Surrey. By the time YayYay acquired it the property had spent its most recent years as a plumbers' merchants — tired warehouse space, dated office partitions, and a dilapidated trading counter that gave little hint of the building's heritage character. YayYay acquired the site with a clear vision: a complete internal demolition followed by conversion to high-specification commercial office accommodation.

The conversion subsequently won an award from Waverley Borough Council for the best commercial renovation of its year. The completed building was let on a long lease to the European arm of GoDaddy, the global domain registrar, trading as DomainMonster.com. YayYay later obtained planning consent for substantial extension to the North and sold the building with that permission in place; it is currently occupied by a wealth management firm.

Solving the Head-Height Problem

The single biggest engineering challenge was vertical: the building offered a generous footprint but very tight head-heights, and the brief required the addition of a mezzanine office floor without compromising either level. The solution was a polished concrete floor on lightweight aggregate Comflor steel decking — a thin-profile structural system that delivered a finished, hard-wearing office floor without the additional build-up required by a traditional screed. The void created beneath the deck became routing space for modern air conditioning, distribution cabling, and services without further reducing head-height in the floors above and below.

The result is a building that feels properly resolved at both levels — neither cramped above nor compromised below — and a textbook example of the kind of structural problem-solving that defines YayYay's commercial work.

Self-Contained Data Centre & Generator

As part of the GoDaddy fit-out, the building was provisioned with a small self-contained data centre — a properly racked Dell server installation supporting the European trading operations of a major global business. To deliver the resilience that this kind of operation demands, YayYay installed a stand-by generator as part of the construction package, sized and integrated to support the data centre and critical office services in the event of a mains failure. It is the kind of brief most developers would sub-contract entirely; YayYay's in-house capability allowed it to be delivered cohesively and on programme.

Award-Winning Heritage Restoration

The exterior treatment preserved the historic forge character — handmade brick frontage retained and repointed, original openings respected, the building's hillside setting kept legible — whilst introducing modern aluminium fenestration, contemporary signage, and a clean entrance composition that signalled the building's new commercial purpose. The brushed-metal "The Old Forge" sign, set against the original brick, became one of the project's defining details. Waverley Borough Council subsequently recognised the conversion with an award for the best commercial renovation of its year of completion.

Planning Uplift & Sale

Following the long-term GoDaddy tenancy, YayYay obtained planning consent for substantial extension to the North of the building, materially increasing the lettable area. The building was then sold with the planning permission in place — a transaction that captured both the value created by the original conversion and the additional uplift from the consented extension. It is currently occupied by a wealth management firm.

Scope of Works

Complete internal demolition of the previous fit-out; structural design and installation of a polished concrete on lightweight aggregate Comflor mezzanine floor; full M&E with concealed air conditioning routing in the under-floor void; commercial-grade office fit-out throughout; bespoke steel and timber feature staircase with glazed balustrading; frosted-glass partitioning system; tiled circulation areas with bespoke window-sill detailing; data centre construction with Dell server racking; stand-by generator installation and integration; brushed-metal external signage; subsequent planning application and consent for substantial Northern extension.