Oakhouse Barns
Successful barn restoration requires sensitivity, technical knowledge, historical literacy, aesthetic judgement, and a mature philosophy toward conservation practice. Such skills were brought to bear by our team in the restoration of two beautiful 18th-century Grade II listed Oakhouse Barns in Berkshire. This pair of part thatched timber-framed barns have been sensitively converted to create four dwellings of considerable style.
Full-height vaulted living areas create space and light where threshing floors used to be, with open galleries and mezzanine floors creating useful additional space for study areas and bedrooms.
The original timber frame of these historic Oakhouse Barns has been carefully repaired and exposed to view, celebrating the carpentry of the traditional craftsmen who originally built the barns. In areas of Berkshire, red brickwork is similarly left exposed internally.
Fine attention to detail by our architects enabled competitive fixed-price tenders to be sought for the barn restoration, with the chosen contractor completing the works to a high standard and well within the original
contract price. Our experienced team’s meticulous attention to detail and proactive project management ensured an outstanding result for our customer, Gerald Palmer Eling Trust. The project took 67 weeks to complete to a cost of £2.02m – built to a very high standard by Kingerlee who acted as main contractor. The combined effort of the team and the high-quality outcome was recognised by reaching Finalist status at the RICS South East Awards, and as a regional finalist in the Civic Trust Conservation Awards.
To learn more about other barn restoration work and WWA’s wider heritage project pedigree, you can use the following link to download our Heritage Brochure. In the image gallery below, you can also see Oakhouse Barns as part of A visual timeline of some of the most prominent heritage projects undertaken by WWA – outlining the historic periods of UK architectural movements towards to which these buildings belong.
