Brief
To redevelop a 300 year old house located in the village of Mickley
Key Features
Acquired a key village property with heritage value, including a Grade II listed chapel, initially raising local concerns
Successfully negotiated with a neighbour to remove rear access rights, enabling clean title for barn redevelopment
Replaced an awkward annex with a single-storey extension through approved planning, creating a functional four-bedroom home
Collaborated with a local architect to secure planning consent within a conservation area, including ecology requirements
Identified and professionally removed brown asbestos, with costs passed to the vendor following a pre-purchase survey
Upgraded utilities by installing a sewage treatment plant and replacing an old lead water pipe with a new alkathene supply
We bought this house as part of a development in the stunning village of Mickley. Our acquiring the site for redevelopment was not initially welcomed by the villagers as this prominent house and its outbuildings including a detached Grade II listed Chapel were part of the much loved village scene. Our plans to change it gave cause for concern to quite a few.
There were several challenges we faced in order to develop out this scheme as planned some of which were as follows: –
Neighbour
The neighbour to this property owned a large paddock over the rear boundary and he benefitted an access over the rear garden and through a gate into his paddock. This would not be an ideal situation for any prospective purchaser of the barn post development and so we needed to try and strike a deal with the neighbour to relinquish these rights. I’m pleased to say that although it did take quite a while we did reach an agreement with the neighbour and we were then able to sell the barn to a third party with much improved title. The purchaser developed the barn into a four-bedroom house that is evident today.
Planning
In negotiation with the neighbour we agreed to demolish a fairly odd annex building attached to the house that was two storey and overlooked the neighbours property. While this meant we were knocking down valuable floor space, it was felt that the accommodation didn’t work well for the house and would require a fairly specialist purchaser if we were to include it as part of the refurbishment. We sought planning permission for the demolition and for a new single storey building to be put up in its place. It meant we could make the house a four-bedroom, two-bathroom conventional detached house with a superb feature kitchen and separate utility. The charming character features of the original house sat perfectly with the modern new-build extension to make this a fabulous house.
We worked with a local architect to obtain planning permission for the extension and were successful on the first attempt, working through ecology obligations and conservation area consent.
As part of the planning permission, we sought to create a new access for parking outside the house because the remainder of the site was being sold to the Chapel and Barn. For this we needed a Section 278 Agreement from North Yorkshire Highways. This enabled our road works contractors to create the access from the road and through the public footpath to the property.
Asbestos
When we bought the house it had been in the ownership of a successful local family for over 60 years. It was dated throughout but it had clearly been well maintained. On first impression this was going to be a straight-forward renovation. Prior to purchase we sent in professionals to carry out an asbestos survey. We were not expecting any to be present but to my complete shock this property had be dry lined in brown asbestos boards throughout the kitchen and into the annex, seemingly not uncommon in the 1960’s . I had not experienced anything like this before. The surveyors gave us a quote for removal as did another company who we were recommended to. It was not insubstantial in terms of cost but the company we used did do an amazing job and we were able to pass the cost onto the vendors. I’m very relieved that we had the survey done and it goes to show that not everything is always as it seems!
Services
The village of Mickley is located deep in a valley and has no main drains. We installed a sewerage treatment plant and soakaway within the garden which was quite tight to achieve. The water supply was located at the far end of the site and came through the property in lead. We co-ordinated removal of the old lead supply with replacement of a new alkathene waterpipe that was connected to the meter by Yorkshire Water.
Chapel
This very charming and unusual building was grade II listed and offered great potential to be converted however, with the works required to the house itself we decided to split the chapel off as a separate plot and offer it up for sale. The purchaser happened to be an architect who worked up a scheme that was passed for planning.
Dividing the site up and working with three separate parties to complete the development proved challenging at times. All parties did however manage to achieve their goals and I think anyone who views the site and its three houses today would agree that it was a well-considered scheme that fits well and could have been this way for the past 300 years.
We have been very pleased with Simon's work for what was a bespoke job. He had lots of good ideas, finished the job on time and on budget - what more could you ask for. Just planning the next project with him. We couldn't recommend him highly enough.
hroughout the project, Simon was hands on, available and always happy develop the design along the way. The quality of the build was great. Simon always left the site clean and tidy and was always available on the phone if I needed to speak to him.....
Simon came quickly and started the next week. He and James are brilliant-fast, professional, hard-working, and knowledgeable. I can’t recommend them highly enough.
Bespoke Buildings,
Chapel Hill Cottage,
Thornborough,
Bedale,
DL8 2RF
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