28 Mar 2019

Creating a family home

Steve Elliott’s aim was to convert a dilapidated 16th century apple storage barn and some outbuildings from agricultural use to a residential haven for his family.

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The barn is set within the former grounds of Ightham court in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB). The vision behind the barn conversion was to create a family home and an open-plan style of living that would be long lasting and enjoyed for generations to come. This was a pretty complex project due to the dilapidated state of the site, the building even had trees taking root inside the barn – this, coupled with a low budget and many planning restrictions in an AONB, did not make life easy for Steve. These planning restrictions included limiting the number of windows to the external facade of the barn, as well as stating that the living room area had to be located on the first floor whilst keeping the main central bay open. There was also a dilapidated piggery that required a considerable amount of drawings and documents with close liaison with the planners as the roof had to be completely replaced. It was important from the get-go to come up with a design that used natural materials and was in keeping to its original design.

There were a number of challenging aspects of the build that Steve encountered. He wanted to maintain the existing roof however, some of the posts were not in a great state. This meant the roof had to be suspended up on scaffolding to allow all the support timber to be repaired, replaced and then new sections had to be inserted. All the roof tiles were also taken off individually and cleaned by hand. Another large job was underpinning all the foundations of the barn. Japanese knotweed and bamboo also covered part of the plot which was all removed.

Steve project managed the build himself and also worked without an architect on the project, however a structural engineer was used to give much-needed guidance and design specifications for restoring the structure and complying to building control requirements.

Keep organised

Steve has been involved in the construction industry for more than 30 years, so his previous experience allowed him to keep to his original time frame of nine months – three months of that time period was for the planning permission to be approved. He managed to stay within the original budget however, flexibility was needed due to unforeseen repair costs.

Steve’s advice to anyone planning to self-build is: “Invest time in using reclaimed materials, consider oak frame structures because they look incredible both internally and externally and really add character. The use of natural materials also certainly helps in gaining planning permission especially when planning laws are very stringent particularly in an AONB.

“Use experienced specialised tradesmen. You also need to be highly organised with sufficient information and materials on site when you’re with your trades men. Also ensure deliveries and material stocks are organised well in advance, remember this can be problematic with different site restrictions.”

Despite a few challenges at the start of the build, Steve insists he would do it all again in a heartbeat.

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