The original planning application covered two elements: the construction of the new house and the reconstruction of the original farm outbuildings (barn, stable and cow-shed), arranged around a courtyard. Budget constraints meant it was initially only possible to build the house, but now there’s (expected to be) sufficient funding available for the Outbuildings too.

From a Planning approval standpoint there’s no issue with starting construction in 2024/25 against planning permission granted in 2013: because there was a single planning application covering both elements, and since construction was ‘started’, planning consent to complete the scope of the original approval remains in perpetuity. Building Control approval isn’t quite the same: while the whole project was covered by a single “Initial Notice” submitted in 2014, since no element of the Outbuildings was started at that time, the new work needs to comply with the latest Building Regulations.

The new buildings will be on the same footprint as, and with the same appearance as, the original outbuildings – but they’ll be used differently from how they were historically:

• The original Stable and Hay-Loft will be re-purposed as unheated Storage space
• The original Barn will be re-purposed as unheated Garage space, with garage doors added to the north-facing elevation
• The original Cow-shed will be re-purposed as a heated hobby Workshop
• The remaining building will become a heated Utility room, incorporating a shower room

Since a great deal of preparatory work was undertaken as part of the original design phase it makes sense to continue with the same design team – although some of the personnel are different following a change in the ownership of JSA Architects.

Current status is as follows:

• Material choices for the Bricks and Roof Tiles have been confirmed, in line with the old photos on the Photos – Historical pages
• Suppliers for external doors and windows, not identified previously, have been provisionally selected
• The heating and ventilation solutions have been amended
• The insulation standards for the heated half of the buildings have been upgraded
• The earlier detailed Drawings have been tweaked in line with the above
• The Specification document that accompanies the Drawings has been updated

Following a review of the Drawings and Specification document (scheduled for the week commending 12th August) the intention is to put the project out to Tender within the next few weeks.

There will be a bit more activity on this site as further preparations for the build phase are made then the plan is to resume daily updates once the construction of ‘Phase 2’ commences.