It’s been rewarding to see one of our recent projects come to fruition in the shape of a barn conversion and link extension to an existing farmhouse in the village of Warley, near Halifax. The project was the subject of a tricky planning permission, given that the site is in Green Belt and that the local planning authority wanted us to retain the majority of the existing outbuilding / barn structure and build around it.

The barn / outbuilding and link extension were clad in a dark timber horizontal cladding board, which provided a visual contrast between the outbuildings and the main house, although we did use a reasonable amount of natural stone on these elements as well. The windows were aluminium and the roofs of the outbuilding and link were clad with a profiled metal sheet cladding in a dark grey finish, which lent itself to a more agricultural aesthetic – something which the planners were keen to maintain.

As discussed, the planners were eager to maintain the architectural language across the site although we felt that this did not restrict us in any way. The farmhouse was left largely unaffected from a structural perspective, although we did undertake some cosmetic improvements. The link and barn conversion were practically a blank slate, where we were able to fuse traditional and contemporary materials and architectural styles.

The kitchen design of the new extension fused traditional farmhouse kitchen aesthetics with some more industrial-looking materials, and we feel this worked well. The large picture window affords occupants spectacular panoramic views over the Calder Valley.

Every endeavour was made to ensure that the habitable rooms made the most of the wonderful views over the countryside to the south, and we ensured that as many full height glazed openings and picture windows were included as the planners would allow. Finding an acceptable middle-ground between a client’s aspirations and planner’s requirements is often difficult, although we think we achieved it well with this project.

We provided a particularly detailed set of working drawings for the contractor, which meant that he was able to undertake the complex build with minimal fuss. Our client was delighted with the end result, as we were. Locally, the project has been received very well and we have benefitted from other commissions in the village of Warley. If you are thinking of undertaking a similar project and require architectural and design input, then please get in touch via our contact page.