A former Victorian Blacksmith in Norton on the Apley Estate will have a new life as a family home after planning has been given.
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00:00So we're here in Norton and right behind us we've got a lovely old Victorian
00:04blacksmith's, looking a bit crumbly and a bit wobbly at the minute.
00:09Introduce yourselves guys.
00:11I'm Lisa Pollock, I'm the Assistant Manager of Estates.
00:14Kill.
00:15I'm Graham Manns and I'm the Estate Manager.
00:17So it's good news for that lovely old building, you know so many of these old
00:21buildings are lost and they're just left to fall down. This is going to have a new
00:25lease of life I believe?
00:26Yeah, we're going to convert it into a three-bedroom bungalow, with very high
00:33environmental standards, so it'll be a really beautiful house.
00:37And that's following on from your recent projects next door. I mean we did a
00:42feature on that a little while ago, it's amazing the spec on those isn't it, in
00:45terms of the like the economy side of things.
00:47Yeah, they're really well insulated and well developed, modern houses which
00:54we have four tenants living in them and they're really loving it.
00:59So I'm going to be devil's advocate now, I'm going to say well that's an old
01:03building that's going to cost a fortune to, you know, just smack it down
01:09and get a new one up. Why is it that you're converting that? Is it the
01:13passion about the estates to maintain the heritage?
01:16It is part of that, that's an important factor in it, maintaining the heritage of the
01:21properties on the estate is really important to us. It's also in the
01:25northern conservation area right, so right in the middle of Norton Village is
01:28a conservation area, so it's much much better to conserve these properties and
01:34turn them into something else. So that means it's not a listed
01:39building, but we've been in a conservation area, that means that there's
01:42certain restrictions? Yeah, that's right, so we can't really alter the outside of
01:46it, so the outside facade will look pretty much as it does now,
01:51except for obviously a bit smarter, but pretty much as it looks now. So when
01:56are we hoping to see it completed and people sitting by the fire in there and
02:01sipping a cup of tea? Well we're going to start the work early in the new year,
02:06hopefully in January, and it's about a six to nine month project, so towards
02:11September time we'll be hoping to get some tenants. Cool, so it's, I mean, it's
02:18structurally inside, it's pretty sound isn't it, the beams and everything are good on it?
02:22Yeah it is structurally sound, the roof needs redoing and windows and things like
02:26that, but otherwise it's structurally sound, it's got some nice oak beams in there which will be preserved as well.
02:32And it's great for Atby Estates to be, you know, to spend in that time and
02:37effort to keep the history going isn't it really? It is, it's something that's very important to our hearts here at Atby.
02:44Well done Atbly, we'll have a little look inside as well then. Cheers guys, thank you.
02:50So Michael Cruz, hello sir. Hi there. So you're the architect on this project? Yes, that's right.
02:56And what's the name of the firm? We're BCHN Architects from Shrewsbury.
02:59And is your kind of, historic buildings, is that a bit of a specialist thing for
03:04yourselves? We do a lot of conservation work and the last couple of years in
03:10particular there seems to be an awful lot of work involved in existing
03:13buildings, not just historic, but all sorts, repurposing existing buildings.
03:17But yeah, we have specialism in conservation, one of the partners,
03:22Mark Newell, is the architect for the Abbey in Shrewsbury, so any repair work for
03:28instance in the Abbey, he will conduct that. Well he might be getting a call, I
03:32was there a couple of weeks ago and all that heavy rain was coming down and
03:35they had quite a bit of rain coming through the roof. It often does after rainstorms.
03:39Yeah, I mean I don't know where you start with something like that, trying to find a leak.
03:42But go on then, walk us through and show us what the vision is then. So these
03:46old doors, well this is going to be the grand entrance is it? It will be, yeah.
03:50I mean the building itself, obviously the historic part of the building is what
03:54you see in front of you, there's also an extension behind which is built much
03:58later, which will be removed. But obviously the existing building, the
04:03plan with that is to retain as much of the original character as possible and
04:07any interventions would be, I think, clearly distinct really from the
04:14original fabric. But the new entrance here will have a new entrance door and
04:19glazed screen as an entrance into the hallway. The frontage of course will
04:23need to be turned into a sort of defensible space for the residents as
04:28well. So as you can see from the dwellings next door, it's a continuation
04:32really of the pavement and the idea of a frontage really for this former
04:37front garden almost. So walk us in then, so this is going to be a
04:41nice grand entrance hall. It will and the entrance hall itself is quite generous and we will retain the sort of volume of the space, there'll be
04:50sort of storage, coat and hat storage and so on in here. I can see a lovely big
04:56feature like dangling from there potentially. Yeah, but I mean we're keeping
05:01obviously this building extended backwards so there'll be a new opening within this
05:05wall which takes you into the new link. So as I say, the original building will be
05:10quite intimate, retain its original character but there'll be a completely
05:15new sort of addition, intervention to the building through there. So it's difficult
05:20to imagine at the moment, that will be a new opening. Yeah. There'll be a, the way the
05:24levels work in this building is quite interesting because the building that I
05:28mentioned at the back is about 600 millimetres higher than this level. Okay,
05:33yeah. So what we want to do really is sort of reconcile the levels because it's, so
05:38the initial extension will be almost like a link at the same level as this
05:43and that will contain a dining space and also things like an en-suite for the
05:51master bedroom which will be on the upper level in the new extension. So yeah, if
05:56you can imagine there's an entrance through there. Yeah. Through here, this will be
06:00where two of the bedrooms are in this space here. So there'll be some new
06:05stairs going up to a third bedroom at the top. Yeah. And then this room here, there'll be a family bathroom in this space which is where the, this bedroom and the one above share. This will be like the second
06:20bedroom. Got you. And again, you know, it's quite intimate with the beams and so on. They're really quite a nice height though, aren't they? You know, kind of
06:28plenty of space to get under them but you've still got that nice snug feel. Yeah, you have and obviously the existing windows will be
06:35sort of refurbished and retained so it'll have that kind of character to it. Yeah.
06:40But it'll be quite a generous bedroom, isn't it? Yeah. And then through here, we'll have the living space and again, you know, we're going to, the chimneys at the top will be maintained.
06:55The fireplace has been removed previously but that brickwork will be
07:02cleaned up and retained as part of the character and we'll make good some of this but again, we'll retain that kind of fireplace within the space. So again, within here, the whole
07:14building will be upgraded thermally. So, it'll be a new floor which will be insulated. The walls will be insulated. Roof will be insulated. So, very high levels of
07:26insulation. We're looking, we're working with a consultant to introduce very sort of passive low energy heat and ventilation sources. Yeah. Which will aim, the
07:41bill is aimed to be EPC rated A which is the highest level it can be really. So, it's going to be very low heating and bills and that kind of thing really, energy bills because it's going to be so...
07:54So that, you know, it just goes to show that can be done. We're in an old Victorian blacksmith's. Absolutely. But, you know, there are all amazing ways to do it. Yeah. And it's a lovely old features, aren't they? It's quite nice to have those.
08:05Yes, exactly. And I think that's the great thing about these type of buildings that you can because the new fits the top which, you know, we can't see from here but there's almost, there's another level beyond the dining space that I mentioned. There's another level. Yeah.
08:20So, you know, three steps up which is going to be the kitchen sort of space and then the master bedroom will also be in that extension top. They'll be really crisp. The character of the building, the form of it will have a nod to this building. It's a very similar kind of form, the pitched roof and so on. Yeah. But it will be very distinct. We're not trying to copy this building with that one. It will be distinct. So, it will be a new addition and we're looking to use a
08:50black profile metal roof for that, stained dark timber cladding, very crisp kind of a contemporary aluminium windows on that one. Yeah. Whereas this building's still retaining the timber windows. Yeah. So, what we're looking to do is it's an addition to it but it's kind of very, you know, it's contemporary. And in terms of the amenity space for this, the other thing I forgot to mention, again, because of the level, there's quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise to the ceiling. Yeah. So, you know, it's going to be quite a steep rise
09:20up here. Yeah. We've we're creating a almost like a two-level patio that takes you up to the high level. So, from this space here, the extension which is on the same level of this will open out onto a lower patio which this this door will be replaced with a glazed door that will open up onto a lower patio. Yeah. So, that will create a nice sort of south-west, sorry, west-facing sort of patio space and then there'll be a further few steps that go up,
09:50creating another patio and that's sort of the same level as the lawn as well which will be where the kitchen dining space open out onto.
10:00So, every habitable space opens out onto a amenity space as well which has, you know, sunlight and everything on it as well.
10:09That sounds like a fantastic project. We look forward to revisiting when it's all done.
10:13Thank you very much.
10:14Cheers, Ruddy.