Consent granted for family annex

We are excited to announce that we have been granted planning and listed building consent for the conversion of a Grade II 18th century listed barn into a family annex.

The proposal transforms the old loose box into living space creating a family annex attached to the house, whilst improving levels of insulation. To maintain the external appearance of the barn, existing openings were used for new windows and doors. Vestiges of the old barn were retained through keeping one of the mangers, a band of the cobbled stone floor was maintained around the perimeter and memories of timber stable partitions maintain on the floors and walls. Boarding from the first floor will be partially removed to create views into the roof space above.

‘One of the biggest challenges has been working around the challenges of agricultural construction where one of the principal floor beams rests on the external window’

The house was once the Rectory to the Church of St Bartholomew to the north. The house dates back to the early to mid 17th century. Whilst the stable range is 18th century and was a carriage house and loose box.

Our services included feasibility studies, condition surveys, preparing heritage statements, listed building consent and planning application and developing building regulations and working drawings.

Mission church - a faithful approach to design

We are pleased to announce that we have received planning permission for the conversion of Mission Church, Paxford into a two-bedroom, holiday let.

‘Mission Church’ was initially constructed as an Infant School for 100, in an ecclesiastical style and was used for Church services very shortly after. In 1886, the building became a National School, spreading the Mission of the Church and promoting education to the poor.

The design retains a significant part of the Nave and the view of the Chancel from the entrance. New bedroom accommodation is provided in a mezzanine pod toward the west end of the Nave and in the old classroom.  Existing features such as the exposed rafters, the classroom door, stained glasses, polychrome panels and graffitied plaster are to be retained and conserved.

The design incorporates the latest in technological innovations. Retaining the open plan arrangement with a kitchen between the main living spaces and the only fire exit was the primary design challenge. The solution has been to install an Automist smart scan system, a system which provides an alternative solution to a traditional sprinkler system. The cost of the system is £5000 ex VAT and is cost neutral in contrast with the comparable work of installing new partitions and fire doors.

Redefining the Elizabethan House, Plymouth

Elizabethan House Plymouth

Elizabethan House Plymouth

James Mackintosh Architects together with DHV architects have been appointed as conservation accredited architects for the regeneration of the late Sixteenth Century Elizabethan House Museum for Plymouth City Council.

The Elizabethan House is a Grade II* listed quay-side merchant’s house in the Barbican area of Plymouth’s beautiful historic old town. The museum is the most complete and unaltered example of a jettied merchant’s house in Plymouth. However, the building is in a poor structural condition and is on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, and needs careful repair work and complete re-servicing to bring it back to life as a cultural destination for Plymouth.

We are working alongside a team of specialist consultants on the project to help deliver an imaginative interpretation strategy alongside carefully considered repair and conversion work.

The project is being delivered in collaboration with DHV Architects as part of a growing strategic partnership between the practices.

The museum is due to re-open in 2020 as a leading component of the Plymouth Mayflower 400 celebrations.