Rotunda Trust

Building Preservation Trust

Rotunda Trust is a Building Preservation Trust formed to acquire and conserve the Woolwich Rotunda, a Grade II* listed building designed by John Nash in 1814. The building has been on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register since 2007.

The trust was incorporated on 25 March 2026 as a company limited by guarantee (company number 17115816), and its application for registration with the Charity Commission is in progress. Its charitable objects are the preservation of buildings of architectural or historic interest, with the Rotunda as its first and principal project.

Rotunda Irrepressible, in support of the Rotunda Trust bid
Rotunda Irrepressible. A film made in support of the Rotunda Trust bid, April 2026.
Earliest known view of the Woolwich Rotunda, a hand-coloured print from 1820.
The earliest known view of the Rotunda at Woolwich, 1820, newly re-erected on Green Hill as a museum for the Royal Artillery. The canvas roof was replaced with lead in the 1860s. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

The building

The Rotunda was built at Carlton House for the fête for the Duke of Wellington on 21 July 1814. It was moved to Woolwich Common in 1818–1820 and enclosed in a brick drum, and served as the Royal Artillery Museum from 1820 to 2001. Its laminated timber roof is one of the earliest known examples of large-scale laminated construction in Britain.

The building is owned by the Ministry of Defence, which offered it for disposal in 2026; the disposal process is under way. Historic England describes its condition as very bad. Read the full history of the building.

Interior of the Rotunda showing the conoid roof geometry. Twenty-four laminated timber rafters converge at the central ring.
The interior of the Rotunda. Twenty-four laminated timber rafters rise from the brick drum to a central ring at the apex, forming the conoid roof that Nash designed in 1814. The building is propped and scaffolded pending conservation. Photograph: FennecMedia. CC BY 4.0 International.
The central Doric column inside the Rotunda, viewed from below, with the names of 39 Royal Artillery officers painted on the shaft.
The central Doric column, inserted in 1819. The names and dates of 39 Royal Artillery officers are painted on one face, from Colonel Albert Borgard (1722) to General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley (1890s). The 24 principal rafters radiate outward above. Photograph: FennecMedia. CC BY 4.0 International.

Conservation and commercial use

The trust's role is to hold the Rotunda in charitable ownership and manage its conservation. That secures access to heritage grant funding and guarantees community access to the building for the long term. An operator, chosen by an open process, will run the venue under a lease at an open market rent, with the trust keeping control of the building, and the rent goes first to the building's ongoing conservation.

This is the standard model for a Building Preservation Trust: a charity holds the building for the long term and a commercial partner keeps it in use.

We will work with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the Royal Artillery Museum, the Greenwich Enterprise Board, and other heritage partners on the building's future.

Our vision

The Rotunda was built as a place for people to gather. We want to return it to that role: a venue for community events, cultural programming, music, and private hire, with commercial income funding the building’s ongoing conservation.

Read our vision for the building’s future.

Grant funding

As a charitable Building Preservation Trust, Rotunda Trust is eligible for heritage grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, and the Architectural Heritage Fund, which is not available to commercial entities acting alone.

Detail of a mechanical connection at a principal rafter node. Iron strap plates and timber pegs visible.
A connection at a principal rafter node, consistent with the 1814 construction: forged iron straps, bolts and pegs holding the laminated timber. Photograph: FennecMedia. CC BY 4.0 International.

Contact

For enquiries about the trust or the Rotunda, please write to hello@rotundatrust.org.uk.