BEFORE
LOW POINT
“When it was broken into, and we were having planning problems, and I thought ‘I don’t know if this is worth it’.” – Mark Young
may/june 2022
an opportunity to resist. Although there was a house on the plot already, renovation was out of the question, for multiple reasons. Firstly was the fact VAT can’t be claimed back on a renovation, but secondly was the poor state of the house. “It was in very poor condition,” explains Mark. Although they were clear on wanting a new build, Mark and Sharon were immediately faced with a potentially huge hurdle when the local conservation officer and consequently Natural England were brought in to assess whether the house should be listed. “It was so stressful,” Mark says. “If they had listed it, it would have been a disaster. However, the fact it had not previously been listed was a positive.” As well as the back and forth regarding the building’s potential listing, they would endure an arduous planning battle, which ended up taking 18 months. “There were many hurdles,” Mark says. It was during this period that their architect, Jim Hicks of firm Owen Hicks suggested renovating instead, but Mark immediately dismissed the idea: “I told him, ‘we need to fight on’.” They also had a particularly strong- willed neighbour who was so determined to stop them that he hired his own planning consultant, but thankfully it didn’t prove fruitful. “He tried everything, but one person is not enough to
derail a justified project,” Mark says. Despite the battles and hurdles, Mark and
Sharon had to make very few compromises on their initial designs. The only change was the removal of a separate detached office building, which they took out to make it more attractive for planning. “It meant we were replacing a four bed with a four bed – which made their assessment like for like,” he explains. “When you increase scale and bedroom numbers it becomes more difficult.” Mark hadn’t used architect Jim Hicks
previously but had seen and liked the firm’s modern style. Jim presented the couple with the design he had done for his own house, believing it would work well on their site and fit their main requirements – four ensuite bedrooms, attic trusses, and open plan living. “We made changes externally and internally, but the principal layout he had actually already built himself,” Mark says.
This made things much easier, giving them a solid starting point which “ticked all the boxes.” One of the changes made was driven by a break in at the site nine months into the project. “We changed the orientation following that, for security,” Mark explains. Thankfully nothing significant was stolen – just a lot of garden items
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