Church Farm House, North Moreton

Local Authority: South Oxfordshire District Council

Services: Heritage statement, condition survey, feasibility study, planning and working drawings.

Church Farm House is a generous family home, however, the oldest timber framed part of the house overlooking the rear garden has very small windows and therefore lacked aspect onto the surrounding gardens. The existing kitchen was too small and lacked a dining area. Having recently moved into the Farmhouse, our clients wished to modernise and extend the farm house to bring the house up to contemporary living standards.

In order that the works could be progress as soon as soon as possible, we developed a programme and separated the project into three phases to prioritise planning permission for the Annex, so that this building could be built and occupied whilst work on the house was underway. This allowed time for pre-applications exploring options for extending the listed building.

Planning permission for the annex was granted in early 2020 and the works completed by December 2020. Works on the house started in January 2021 and completed by October 2021.

The project was progressed in 3 phases:

The Annex

The design of the annex was modelled to sit harmoniously within the setting of the old farm buildings. The rooflines carefully considered to remain subservient to the historic buildings. The main living accommodation located in storey and a half accommodation on the north boundary with single storey extensions projecting to to the farm buildings with lower ridge lines.

Timber and brickwork was used for the extensions so that they remain complimentary to the old farm buildings. The annex provides 175sqm of living accommodation and now provides a self contained annex for members of family to stay over holiday periods. The annex also integrates storage for stables and a tack room, with independent residential and agricultural access.

Listed building consent was granted in early 2020 and the Annex was completed by Christmas.

The cart shed

Internally the cart shed was in a very poor condition, and has now been converted into a games room and ancillary guest accommodation.

Church Farm House

An application for pre-application advice proved invaluable, as existing extensions to the west of the house meant that planning officers accepted the principle of extending the listed building to the east. This provided the opportunity for a generous 51sqm extension to the ground floor living area.

The massing of the new extension was designed to reflect the character of the west wing, whilst the garden room was constructed using air dried oak and render panels to match the house.

Project team:

• Client: Steve and Helena Vinnicombe

• Builder: Chris Dix

• Architects: James Mackintosh Architects.

• Structural engineer: Soothill Structures

• Services: Infrastruct CS ltd

• Photography: Simon Maxwell

Construction cost/sqm Annex: £1200 ex VAT

Construction cost/sqm Games Room: £875 ex VAT

james mackintosh architects limited

studio@jmackintosh.com

First Floor, 21 The High Street,

Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
OX7 5AD

01608 692 310 / 07880 727 150