Brief: This property has been in the clients family for several decades. Their wish was to restore and link the machine room with the cottage to create accommodation for their large and extended families needs, ensuring future flexibility for intergenerational living.

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Location: Staverton, South Hams.

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Design:The design reconciles the differing requirements of creating a functional family home with the need to replace poorly constructed alterations alongside conserving the locally listed building for future generations.

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Contemporary elements have been chosen for the alterations to the machine room. A new floor has been inserted at first floor level creating additional accomodation. The sense of scale of the machine room has been maintained by the inclusion of a double height space containing the new staircase. Two full height openings on the south east elevation house glazed aluminium windows and doors, with timber infill panels. These provide natural day lighting and  beautiful views particulary from the first floor glazed balcony.

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These new elements do not seek to replicate the design of the original mill but in an understated manner play a subservient but quietly contemporary role to the balance and proportions of the historical fabric of the property.  The design continues the historical restoration and renovation of the building, sensitively maximizing its space and orientation, whilst respecting its historic past. The proposal includes insulation to all the internal elements of the machine room and  the addition of 4KW PV Solar to the rear roof of the Mill.  This is in recognition of the significant potential to supply renewable and low carbon energy to the property.  The South-East orientation and pitch of the roof lend itself perfectly for the use of photovoltaics. This will result in the opportunity for microgeneration of electricity for use in the home, storage or export to the national grid. Heating with a ground source heat pump has replaced an oil burning system.