BARN CONVERSIONS Our commission here to redevelop redundant farm buildings and adjacent site area provided an exciting opportunity for us to create a number of prestige residential properties within their own traditional landscape. Many Local Authority planning departments restrict large scale alterations to the external facade of former farm buildings when adjudicating over redevelopments of this kind. This gives us an excellent opportunity to conjure up some creative solutions, configuring the use of the available space. A privilage not normally associated with purpose built buildings. The primary challenge being the inherent restrictions of light entering the building due to the predetermined openings within the existing building structure.

Illustrations either side show the varied nature of the existing farm buildings within which we were to encapsulate our new residential development. The main challenge here was to create accommodation that would maximise the predetermined space available and indeed cater for it's linear format. After careful consultation with our clients, Structural Engineers and Local Authority planning department, designs progressed on the basis of three larger prestigeous units to reflect in principle the three sides to the original farm quadrangle.

Due to the low lying nature of the land around Stamford, the water table in this particular area was less than two metres below ground level. We therfore had to provide all the necessary foul water drainage for all three units without decending below the water table. A gravity drainage system was therefore very rapidly ruled out in preference of a pumped sewage system. A separate pump house with several holding tanks had to be designed and constructed within the boundary of the overall site which would be sufficiently remote from the properties yet suitably accessible for drainage tankers. This proved to be a quandrous task bearing in mind the aforementioned and the above illustrates our final compromise position showing the pump house in the foreground with unit one in the distance.

Units one (above right) and unit 2 below and right, provided a challenge with respect to aportioning the available space between the two units. The natural break within the existing structure where the original farm yard gates would have been would have been the obvious defrentiation point between the two buildings, however this would have severely encroached upon unit two whilst seriously oversizing unit one. We therefore aportioned a section of unit one rear wing to create a double garage linked to unit 2 via a new entrance created within the space originally occupied by the previous farm yard entrance gates between the existing buildings. This solution created a much more characterful unit two whilst equally apportioning the external garden area between the two units

Unit three was the old granary and provided an excellent challenge satisfying both planning criteria restricting the use of openings within the existing structure and the inherent requirement for sufficient light within. The "arrow slots" within the existing structure were glazed and as such added an exclusive dimension to the ground floor

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