South Downs Garden Annex

The project’s location in the South Downs National Park could have made it difficult to achieve planning consent, however, the client engaged us early in the process, allowing our in-house architectural services team to propose a sensitive design. With the help of Advoco Planning Consultancy, the planning process was relatively straightforward.       

The client had a clear idea of what he wanted to achieve – a garden annex which would house guest accommodation and a woodworking workshop. Alan was committed to creating a traditionally jointed oak frame with traditional features such as common rafters.

The project also utilises ‘direct glazing’; a classic feature of Carpenter Oak projects, provided by Topworks glaziers.

One of the aspects of the project which helped it to achieve planning consent was its sustainable credentials. The annex is heated with an air source heat pump, it has solar panels on the roof, a tesla battery power wall, and is insulated with mineral wool and wood fibre insulation.

To finish the build the client used local craftspeople for elements such as the oak internal doors and external garage doors, and the fascias and bargeboards were grown in a local wood and sourced from a local saw mill. Alan also had the oak frame sandblasted by specialists The Sandblasting Company and used Wildflower Turf Ltd to help the annex settle quickly into its surroundings.

Our in-house architect, Ben Hancock, who worked closely with the client on this project said: “Alan has a passion for oak framed buildings, a commitment to sustainable technologies and a keen eye for detail, which all lead to a highly successful project. It’s also wonderful to see one of our buildings in the beautiful context of the South Downs National Park.”

“While a separate building to the main property and quite different in appearance, it was important to have style consistency across both spaces. Traditional Carpenter Oak framing details such as tapered columns and exposed pegs link both buildings beautifully and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Also being able to utilise an in house design/architectural team who deeply understand oak framing made the whole process seamless and saved a huge amount of time.” Client, Alan Coad.

Glazing by TopWorks

Photography by Clare Jones

If you have an outbuilding you would like transformed into something useful and beautiful, or have another timber framed building project in mind, please contact us.