Restoration

Patience (and good design) prevails

Tonight, thanks to councillors, Wardington Parish Council and a wealth of public support, we received planning and listed building consent for alterations and the extension of Lower Lodge, Williamscot.

Our clients have a young family and wish to extend the lower lodge, sympathetically, whilst removing incongruous previous extensions to make this 2 bedroom house a 3 bedroom family home with an ensuite bathroom, to make this their forever home in the idyllic village of Williamscot.

The project is unusual as it involves a curtilage listed building, extended poorly in the 1960s and 1980s yet the planning officers refused to recognise that good sensitive design was an important part of conservation, insisting that the ugly flat roof extensions must remain.

English Heritage’s conservation principles dated 2008 confirms that new work or alteration to a significant place should normally be acceptable if the proposal would not materially harm the values of the place, which, where appropriate, would be reinforced or further revealed; and the proposals aspire to a quality of design and execution which may be valued now and in the future.

Six previous attempts to secure consent by other local architects have failed. Our unique design approach was approved this evening at a planning committee.