Redundant farmstead to family home

Once a working farm, the site today, located in the West Midlands Green Belt, is a collection of redundant agricultural buildings – several of which are non-designated heritage assets including a farmhouse, threshing barn, stables and cowshed. We were appointed by our client to develop a site wide strategy for private residential use with the explicit intention of repairing, converting and upgrading the historic buildings so they are fit for modern living.

The design of new additions to the site have been carefully considered, adding a new and contemporary layer to the site’s evolving history. Our proposals include the sensitive repair of the significant buildings to their original form and structure, alongside the removal of the existing modern agricultural buildings that negatively impact the sites heritage value and are visually intrusive in the rural landscape.

Planning secured

Gaining consent was a challenge due to the size of the new extensions, initially felt to be disproportionate given the setting of the Green Belt. Running in parallel, we submitted a scheme under Class Q - General Permitted Development for the conversion of the existing agricultural buildings into 5 dwellings which was granted approval. This established a fallback position where the increased area achieved under the Class Q scheme could be set against the ‘over development’ of the single residence as a case for very special circumstances. The now-approved extension increases the threshing barn’s floor area by approximately 185%.