REFURBISHMENT AND CONVERSION


Stud walls were built to create tileable and wipeable surfaces in kitchens and bathrooms.


service, within a homely and natural setting. Thankfully, the interiors team at IAD relishes a challenge. Through research, collaboration, experience, and hard work, we came together and created a scheme that was practical, playful, fun, and functional.


To do this, and in response to the requirements of Orbis Education and Care’s end-users, we incorporated heavy oak furniture that is both extremely durable and beautiful. We researched a paint palette of neutral and calming colours, which has since been applied throughout not only this project, but indeed all other Orbis accommodation for residents with similar needs.


Bespoke, reinforced TV frames Bespoke, reinforced TV frames were designed and built to protect electrical goods without compromising the rooms’ homely feel. Stud walls were built to create tileable and wipeable surfaces in kitchens and bathrooms. All doors were designed to open against a wall, thus reducing the power with which they could be pushed open, and ligature risks presented by the beams spanning the barns were countered via the installation of lowered ceilings, also allowing us to house spotlights and create large plantrooms within the roof voids. Bedroom floors were given coved edges, and, where necessary, discrete floor drains were incorporated into the design to help with ongoing maintenance. The bathrooms were all turned into wet rooms using resin floors, and anti-ligature shower heads were built into the walls during construction. This level of ‘spec’, combined with the inherent beauty and character of the West Aberthaw Barns, are what make Ty Carreg a truly unique facility.


Internal white paint


You may notice in the photographs that all stone walls have been painted white internally; this was in response to a planning condition which mandated that ‘exceptionally breathable paint’ needed to be used to protect the integrity of the


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The goal was ‘to create environments which feel individual, while still appealing to everybody’.


external walls. This was a problem for Orbis Education and Care, as most breathable paints are also difficult to clean, and would likely absorb anything that might be smeared on to them, making them unhygienic. Through a lot of research (and a bit of good luck) we sourced a product which was breathable, wipeable, and has a very similar appearance to traditional lime render, which is typically used in stone barn conversions. While a good practical solution was eventually found, this in turn left our interiors team with a challenge to bring colour into the scheme, since although we were able to apply the researched palette mentioned above to the internal stud walls, this still left some of the rooms feeling quite stark. We conquered it by clever use of artwork, fabrics, furniture, and window dressings.


Transforming the site


When the construction phase came to an end, the IAD interiors team mobilised to install the next phase of our scheme. From building furniture and making beds, to hanging curtains and canvasses, we spent three days transforming the site from a


Rebecca Lewis-Chapman


As director and founder at the Interior Architectural Design Company, Rebecca Lewis-Chapman has been active in the construction industry for over two decades. A family background in construction led to the completion of her first renovation project at the age of 17. A qualified interior architectural consultant since 1997, she founded IAD Company from a desire to create spaces which ultimately improve lives and add value.


With a focus on the architectural and project management side of both domestic and commercial schemes, she draws on a deep understanding of the construction process as a whole, and has since worked with high profile clients, and authored articles for the BBC website, national design magazines, and others, as a result of her growing expertise in the field.


The IAD Company, a not-for-profit organisation, works within a range of educational and care-focused settings, as well as commercial office and leisure spaces in the hotel industry and on domestic projects, and comprises a mixture of architectural consultants, architectural technicians, interior architectural consultants, interior designers, and project managers.


JANUARY 2020 | THE NETWORK


series of empty boxes, into 12 unique homes eagerly anticipating the arrival of their new occupiers.


In terms of the timescales, from the time IAD Company was brought on board, to the date of the project handover, the West Aberthaw Barns project took around 18 months. Not the longest project we have worked on, but the level of detail it required, the unique challenges it presented, and the genuinely incredible impact it will have on the lives of its residents, are all reasons why we perhaps feel more proud of Ty Carreg than pretty much anything else we have been involved in to date.


Ty Carreg is a genuinely unique development, respectfully transformed from an 800-year-old site, into a state-of- the-art, functional home, where residents and those supporting them up to 24 hours daily are benefitting from an environment of serenity and peace. That is the true reward for us as designers, and I know I speak for everyone here at The IAD Company when I wish all the residents and staff of Ty Carreg a ‘happy ever after’ in their new ‘forever homes’.


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