Temple House is a grade 2 listed property that is orientated with its side onto the High St. The project entailed converting the existing adjacent single storey barn (curtilage listed) to accommodate a new large family kitchen and additional guest bedroom accommodation with associated minor alterations to the existing layout.

 

Snell David were recommended to our clients by previous clients who knew about our work with heritage and listed buildings.  Both Snell David and the clients valued the historic fabric of the building and as such were keen to retain original features and typographies.  One particular example of this is the ‘wriggly tin’ roof over the barn.  Instead of changing the existing rusty profiled metal roofing with traditional clay plain tiles or thatch, our clients were keen to use a product which resembled the ‘wriggly tin’ that so many local barns have.  It was concluded that a perforated powder coated product which disguises the rooflight positions behind and creates beautiful shadows inside.

 

Despite having had various 20th century repairs, the original structure of the curtilage listed barn was in a very poor state of repair –one particular corner collapsing.  After close collaboration with South Cambs District Council officers, listed building and planning permissions were obtained to underpin the complete structure and make the necessary timber frame repairs.  However, once work on site began, it very quickly became apparent that repairing the building piecemeal was not realistic.  With the support of SCDC conservation officers, it was agreed to carefully record and dismantle the timber structure for re-erection. This allowed us to dig new foundations, construct a new brick plinth wall with new slab and repair / re-erect the timber frame.