Manor Farm Great Raveley

GHA and Brown & Co LLP have secured Planning Permission for a residential redevelopment of the redundant farmyard at Manor Farm in Great Raveley, Huntingdonshire.

This site would have met the criteria for Class Q permitted development for conversion of the redundant buildings, but the local authority acknowledged that the buildings’ size and character were such that conversion would not result in a satisfactory scheme. Instead Permission for an entirely new-build scheme was granted under Huntingdonshire’s Local Plan policy, where a requirement is to “lead to the enhancement of the immediate setting.”

Here, the residential development replaces a group of mainly large 20th century barns, which present a very dominant and unattractive appearance when viewed from the public highway.

The design recreates a traditional courtyard comprising barns of varying sizes/types grouped around the perimeter of the yard, in relationship with farmhouse on the north-west corner. Of the five new dwellings, the one based upon farmhouse typology has a traditional character, whilst the four barn-style properties are designed to be more contemporary in appearance.

The aim of the proposals is to transform the appearance of the site when viewed from the public realm, as well as from within the site, by providing significantly more sympathetic built form, in terms of massing, scale and materials.