Tetsworth Barn

WWA secured planning permission for a significant replacement dwelling at Tetsworth Barn, where we had previously obtained consent for conversion under Class Q of the General Permitted Development Order.  In terms of a planning strategy, we initially weighed up and evaluated whether to try and get consent as a replacement building or as a para 79 dwelling. The bar for designs to be considered innovative and outstanding under Para 79, is set very high, which is a challenge any design team would relish.

Our client, who had a long family relationship with the land, was also a champion of good design that enabled a thorough and considered design evolution process. We arrived at a unique and contemporary response to the site addressing its rural heritage. Ultimately, we successfully achieved planning as a replacement dwelling without the need to evoke Para 79 policy explicitly in the application.

For more information about the Para 79 policy, the RIBA has published a helpful 3-minute read titled, Using ‘Paragraph 79’ to design innovative country houses.