Macallan Penfold has recently been successful in achieving detailed planning and listed building consent for the repair and conversion of a complex of former hop kiln buildings associated with Coldrey Farm, a grade II listed country house on the south eastern edge of the village of Lower Froyle in Hampshire.
Macallan Penfold were originally appointed to investigate and ascertain the available options to bring them back into feasible and viable use. The owners concluded that refurbishment and conversion to residential use represented the only realistic means of securing the future of the hop kilns.
The approach that has been taken is predicated, first and foremost, on the retention of the stone barn at the historic core, which will provide a detached four bedroom house with a total area of 280 square metres on two storeys, along with the retention and incorporation of the northern barn range into the curtilage of the neighbouring house.
Andrew Aldridge, Director in charge of the project, explained: “the overall layout for the site is generated from the retention and separation of these two perpendicular structures. The existing five kiln chambers form the basis of the plan for the proposed house retaining the original malmstone internal walls. The middle kiln on the western side is preserved as a single full-height volume accommodating the front entrance, hall, and stairway to a first floor gallery. Essentially the plan form of the house is generated from the location of this space, with the principal rooms accessed from it.
Our priority has been to ensure privacy for both the existing and proposed dwellings. The historic legacy of the structures to be removed will be preserved in the form of a terraced walled garden around the new house.”