The Old Cart House, Newbury
Client: Private
Location: Aldermaston, Berkshire
Status: Planning
Set in the context of a Grade II listed group of former farmhouse and buildings, this understated and traditional red brick and clay tile outbuilding has been sensitively designed to convert to a residential annex of the existing house, without materially impacting the heritage asset. New timber framed windows have been included within existing openings and internally, original king-post timber trusses will be retained, repaired, and exposed within the interior of the new annex.
The clients are a retired couple, owners and former farmers of the estate within which the site is located. They had previously retired to live in the converted Cart Shed and now due to advancing years they require additional ground level accommodation, for either themselves or a potential live-in carer to occupy. A small former office, annexed from the house provided the obvious solution – close enough to constitute an annex and with sufficient separation to maintain a degree of independence.
The site is part of a curtilage listed shed range that sits within a wider farm complex that also includes a grade II listed farmhouse and barns, all within the Aldermaston Conservation Area. The proposed site is within part of the old-shed range, which is curtilage listed at grade II owing to its historic connection and ancillary use to the grade II listed barn and outbuildings that are approximately 20 Meters away from the farmhouse and its grade II listing.
The proposals include the removal of two doors and two windows of the building's western elevation, and their replacement with one door and three sets of windows with lowered sills. The existing doors and windows are modern, and therefore it was felt that their removal will not affect the building's significance. The proposed new doors and windows are all to be dark timber frames to match those throughout the complex. They are located within the existing openings to reduce the extent of alterations required, whilst the lowering of the windows will require the removal of existing brickwork, the proposed windows will match the modern glazed floor to ceiling frontages inserted elsewhere on the other listed barns.
A significant detail within the existing brickwork is the soldier course above the doors and windows, and the Dutch bonding under the eaves, both of which are to be retained as part of the design. The design rationale has been to preserve the significance of the former shed range despite a number of previous modern interventions. The extended windows will not alter the appreciation of the historic form of the building and will allow for the retention of the significant elements of the brickwork detail.