Selfbuilder & Homemaker – July – August 2019

lots of light – and really worked hard to make it

happen,” says Mark. “It took a bit of effort, but

Rotherham planning authority eventually

passed Paul’s modern design and we were

delighted.”

However, their euphoria was short-lived. On

the day that the demolition of two unattractive

previous extensions began, the project ground

to a halt. One of the restricted covenants in the

deeds of the house decreed that the estate

had to rubber stamp the design – which they

refused to do.

“We were gutted,” says Mark. “We

considered fighting it – we thought we had

reasonable grounds – but we didn’t want to

risk losing it all together, so we agreed to

compromise.”

For six weeks the build was on hold while

Paul drew up the new design and resubmitted

it. One of the new restrictions was that the

windows should include glazing bars.

“We had already ordered the windows so it

cost us another £2,500 to have these altered,”

says Clare, an operations manager. “It was

really frustrating because one of the things we

really liked about the original design was the

big, plain windows overlooking the view of the

countryside.”

The green belt restrictions also meant they

had to stick to the original footprint, and work

within a certain volume of living space. Paul

took the new design to the limits of planning

by almost doubling the size of the original

cottage and using the footprint of the

demolished extensions to create a two-storey

new build, with a full-height glazed atrium.

There followed many meetings with the

estate manager and the planning department

to achieve the compromises that worked for all

parties, before the second application was

finally passed.

“It delayed us, but it would have been a

much longer delay had we not capitulated and

instead fought for the original design,” says

“We didn’t want to

hide the fact that

the house is in two

parts – the old

section and the

new build – but

achieving a smooth

transition wasn’t

easy” – Mark

UNFORSEEN

The cottage came with a

sizeable plot which was one of

the main attractions for Clare

and Mark, although they had to

spend an unforeseen £15,000

to buy a strip of land in front of

the former toll house – from

the estate on which it sits

22www.sbhonline.co.uk july/august 2019