Our client purchased a beautiful Grade 2 listed cottage in the Surrey Hills. The original cottage is small, but the site also benefited from a Grade 2 listed barn. James Wells Architects was commissioned to design a link to connect the two listed buildings. Concept design was agreed with the client and listed building consent application was submitted for the glass link building and associated alterations.
The current buildings on the site include the listed C18 cottage which had already been extended in the 1980s, the independently listed barn which had been extended with a cat slide roof also in the 1980s and a stable / shed outbuilding erected in the 1990s. All of these buildings sit in a mature landscaped garden along with swimming pool and pool house.
The site, situated in a leafy location in the Surrey Hills, currently offers cramped living accommodation in the cottage with spacious but underused storage-cum-workshop facilities in the barn.
Planning and listed building consent has now been granted for this scheme which proposes a new glazed gallery link joining a Grade 2 listed cottage to a Grade 2 listed barn.
Plan of site showing all buildings and swimming pool
The process
James visited site before appointment and took a range of photographs. Once appointed, an accurate measured site survey was the starting point for James and his team to get to work on analysing the site and creating the design for linking the two Grade 2 Listed buildings. James worked with planning consultant Kevin Scott of Solve Planning.
The solution
The transparent simplicity of the contemporary link was a deliberate contrast to the historic patina of the two listed buildings. This architectural solution creates a new entrance for the combined development and allows more spacious living accommodation in the barn along with a guest bedroom on a new mezzanine floor. This means the historic cottage will now provide five bedrooms for family use.
The scheme transforms the complex into a generous and well appointed six bedroom house extending to some 2,500 ft2. Our client, a specialist contractor focusing on high-end, London residential projects, says: “We are delighted to be working with James again who is adept at sensitive and understated design, not to mention his wealth of experience of refurbishment work in listed buildings.”
The scheme is due to be completed in the autumn of 2021.
Architect’s drawing of the elevation of the glass link listed building
