Building Conservation Officer Report

BUILDING CONSERVATION OFFICER’S SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT: The 1869 County Series map illustrates that the main outbuilding, lying parallel with the Douglas to Peel Road was in place at the time the mapping was carried out, sometime between 1867 and 1869, making it in the region of 150 years old. The smaller building at ninety degrees does not appear on the 1869 map, but is considered worthy of retention in the development of the scheme. With the exception of the bwid suggane (the small protruding stones at eaves and gables, which are lashing points for the tie down ropes over the thatching), the buildings are devoid of obvious detailing. The wall finish of the long building is a wonderful soft texture, no doubt the result of years of countless coats of limewash, however most probably masonry painted in recent year, another important aspect that distinguishes vernacular buildings from dwellings. The smaller outbuilding is constructed in Manx slate and neither limewashed nor rendered, but both outbuildings are roofed in ‘crinkly tin’, a roofing sheet material used universally across the Island which has its place in the vernacular of rural buildings such as these. In contrast, the main house is roofed in grey/black natural slate. The initial scheme overwrote the ‘L’ shaped plan formed by the two outbuildings, creating a pair of parallel, two storey ranges. It was considered that this approach did not respect the historic forms and layouts of the existing buildings, which it was thought worthy of retention and reuse of and was over bearing to the existing dwelling. In considering a way forward, the applicant’s agent was directed to focus back upon the juxtaposition of the existing two buildings, their material use and the simplicity of detailing found in the existing agricultural/vernacular buildings. It was emphasised that the ‘domestication’ of the existing buildings should be kept to a minimum with no porches etc. In particular, the link between the two existing buildings which acts as the main entrance and is necessary to make the plan work as a house, was kept to a minimum, low in height and using as much glass as possible to minimise its visual impact. The raising of the roofs of agricultural buildings is prevalent across the Island as farming practices changed through the ages. The lifting of the roof as part of the proposals is as a principle therefore, acceptable in this instance. The proposed, is to be re-roofed in a profiled metal roofing sheet which further draws on the agricultural material use and is perfectly acceptable in doing so. The use of the timber cladding in the proposed first floor extension enables the old and the new to be understood as two distinctly different layers by using a materials palette which draws on the new agricultural language of the new barns at Cronkbreck Farm opposite. The detailing of new windows and vertically boarded doors is similarly kept simple as agricultural buildings rarely had complicated windows and doors with multiple opening lights etc and certainly those windows and doors that remain in the existing two buildings are simple in detail and opening method. After some iteration, it is considered that the redesigned scheme, that proposed here, is successful.