The wide open spaces of a barn put it at the top of many a home hunter’s wish list but getting permission to convert can turn a dream into a nightmare. If you’re lucky enough to find one of the few remaining barns that weren’t converted in the seventies and eighties, don’t expect an easy ride from your local planning department.
The default option now is to preserve the structure of the barn and keep it in agricultural or at least light commercial use. Planners see this as the best way of avoiding the mistakes of the past.
www.findaproperty.com is a good place to start if you want an overview of the barn types and planning issues and www.barnsetc.co.uk gives a helpful restoration guide as well as listing barns for sale in the UK and abroad.
What You Can and Can’t Do
Although barns come in all shapes, from a cruck frame to brick built, there are some aspects of renovation that they all have in common…
Windows and doors – one thing the planners will hate is a design that shows large windows punching holes in the traditional solid walls of a barn. You may be allowed low profile roof windows, some smaller wall windows or enlargements of existing openings. Original cart doors will often have to be retained but full glazing of the opening is often approved.
Structure – we all think of oak beams and floor-to-ceiling spaces when we think of barns and that’s just what the planning department wants to preserve. You may need to use reclaimed or specialist timbers that can drastically increase a renovation budget. You may also need to re-use tiles and bricks. This will take longer and therefore cost more in labour.
Details such as guttering may have to be metal rather than shiny plastic and you won’t be able to stick up aerials and satellite dishes.
If it all sounds too restricting, Potton has introduced the Heritage range of new barn designs (www.buildabarn.co.uk) and you can see one being put up in just twelve weeks on the site’s photo diary.
