It was actually Nick’s plan to use the existing outbuildings as the office space and to connect the house and business with the pool and games area. The original property had eight bedrooms and the owners were keen to keep as many of these as they could. The house had a lot of work done to it over the years, and sadly there were very few original features left. There was however, a huge fireplace still in place, probably dating from the 1850s, which was positioned right in the centre of the house. Due to its size, they were able to keep it and redesign it as a double aspect fireplace, heating both the dining room and the lounge. Because of the condition of the house, it needed to be totally redesigned, so the radical decision was made to alter the direction it faced and swing the whole project round 180°. With only one gable existing, the plans were drawn up to build a matching gable with a central entrance in between, making it much more symmetrical and attractive to look at. There was to be a complete reworking of how the building functioned, with a centralised circulation space, changing the property to make it work as a family home in a more ergonomic way. With such a large plot, it was also possible to separate the entrances for the house and the business. It was decided to leave the current access for use by the business and another old entrance was reopened further along the road and a driveway built, bringing access to the home round into the courtyard in front of the house. With such a differing change of use, permission had to be sought from the planning department. “The previous owner had applied for and received planning permission to change the use of the outbuildings into separate dwellings,“ explains Russell. “That meant we had to apply to reverse this decision for it to become one dwelling again. We also had to put in a separate business planning application, which was also approved, and the two projects ran side by side.”
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KLmagazine Home Design and Build Special Edition