The road to planning
There was no planning consent to convert it from a commercial to a private property, as the plot sits in an area of scattered rural development and the council was resistant to infill buildings. The previous owner had applied for planning
permission but was turned down on a technicality. Ian, however, wasn’t deterred. When he and Elaine decided to self-build they realised they had the perfect plot in their own garden. With the help of an architect, they reapplied and in 2008 were finally granted permission to convert the showroom into a domestic dwelling. The next step was to submit the design for their dream home, for which planning permission was granted in 2011. “It took around 10 years for permission to be
granted, but it was worth persevering,” says Ian, who describes the house as a glorified three bedroom ‘dorma bungalow’ with open plan
living spaces on the ground floor and dorma- style bedrooms and family bathroom upstairs. But before they could put the plans into action,
they had to sell the house they were living in to release funds for the build. To make sure they didn’t allow the planning permission to lapse, however, Ian and Elaine employed a company to lay the foundations. “As long as you can demonstrate to the
building inspector that the building work has begun you don’t have to reapply for planning permission,” says Ian. “We left it until the very last minute – September 2013 – with just a cou- ple of weeks to go before the permission ran out – but it was worth doing. It gave us the neces- sary breathing space until our house was sold.” While they waited to sell, the couple fine-tuned the design and put the build out to tender. “We already knew, from living next door, the
kind of things that worked well and what didn’t work,” says Ian. “I had renovated the old house
and had a very clear idea in my head of how the new house would look, with functional utility areas to the front of the property, which is noisier, and living rooms to the back where it is much quieter. By building a U-shaped house, with a conservatory in the centre, we would have the best of both worlds.” The conservatory opens directly onto the
garden but it is sheltered on three sides by the main house. Glass windows on those three sides means that light pours right through the property from all angles.
A mix of old & new
Ian and Elaine wanted their new home to be a mix of old and new both inside and out, with traditional style Desimple Wienerberger Hathaway Brindle bricks to complement their old home, Imerys Beauvoise roof tiles and contemporary triple-glazed windows. The
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selfbuilder & homemaker
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