Extension, internal and external alterations, repair, restoration and refurbishment of this Grade II listed Farmhouse. The existing building was ostensibly a C16th timber framed farmhouse internally but a mixture of C18th and C20th facelifts and extensions externally. The existing kitchen was disproportionately small to the size of the house, dated and located within an area of the house with particularly low ceilings. Although the house has an impressive Georgian frontage facing the road, the original front door was a ‘dummy’ with the rear, inconspicuous door being the principal entrance. This often led to problems with visitors identifying the entrance on arrival. Internally, the heating and electrical systems were antiquated and required replacement and most notably the existing staircase was something of a ‘Fawlty Towers’ affair which had led to trips and falls in the night.

 

The brief was to provide a new large kitchen/breakfast room extension together with utility/boot room and an ‘entrance porch’ to better define the ‘front’ door. At first floor, a master dressing room and a guest ensuite dressing room were to be provided. Internally, ensuite bathrooms were to be reconfigured or formed and the staircase reconfigured (including structural alterations) to eliminate the trip hazards and create a more formal entrance hall. An added bonus of the design was the creation of an outside covered Loggia which proved invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

​

Nye Saunders provided partial architectural services in preparing the Planning and Listed Building Consent applications only with the client organising tendering and overseeing the build process with their chosen building contractor.

​

Obtaining Planning and Listed Building consent was something of a challenge, firstly due to the property being inside the Green Belt, and thus the total amount of development being restricted to a maximum of between 35 and 40% enlargement of the original house as it stood in 1948 and secondly due to the building’s Grade II Listed status.

​

Nye Saunders worked with D&M Planning of Godalming to secure consent for the extensions, by ‘trading off’ an old 1950s outbuilding which was in close proximity and hidden behind a large hedge, which we also argued affected both the setting and character of the Listed Building. Nye Saunders dealt with the Listed Building element of the application working closely with two different Conservation Officers during the design and application stage and also in providing a detailed Heritage Impact Assessment.