9 minute read
La Ferme és Frâses
It’s been many years since the former Strawberry Farm site was a thriving tourist attraction, but a new development of five contemporary homes has breathed new life into this quiet part of St Saviour’s. A charming mix of modern and agricultural-influenced design, set in the rural landscape, the houses were immediately popular with purchasers, who are now moving into their new homes.
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Developers the Fuller Group bought the site back in 2005, with ambitions to reimagine it as a commercial tourist attraction. The then tenant left in 2008, and planning difficulties along with commercial considerations meant that no progress was made for many years, with the site becoming ever more derelict. New planning laws that were introduced in 2016 allowed the Fuller Group to pursue a change of use for the site and by 2019 full planning permission was in place for the new housing development.
While the change in planning laws allowed the project to proceed, developer Alex Fuller still faced plenty of restrictions with the site: “We were only allowed to build on the footprint of the old building, which was a steel framed permanent building as opposed to the glasshouses, which planners regard as temporary buildings. So we used the volume and square footage that we were allowed to its very limit. The two end houses are now benefiting from additional extensions, but permission for those needed to be applied for by the new owners as we were at our limit as developer.
Those restrictions also had a major impact on the design of the properties. To fit within the footprint of the former building, a ‘street’ design was necessary – placing the five houses next to each other in a row. For the architect, Annalisa Spencer of Lovell Ozanne, the site still offered plenty of scope for creativity: “When it came to the design of the houses, we wanted to reference an agricultural style to fit with the rural setting, but also have a very contemporary feel. We’ve used traditional materials such as wood and metal which reference the rural character of the site and surrounding area, but in a modern way. I’d describe it as a contemporary agricultural style, with the houses having almost a barn-like feel to them. The zinc roofs and timber cladding work really well together, while the metal gutters and downpipes continue the rural references.”
Annalisa’s design also aims to maximise the beauty of the rural setting for the new homeowners: “The footprint of the site was pre-determined, but in fact the layout gave us the opportunity to have large glazed gables with few issues regarding the houses overlooking the neighbouring properties. So the living spaces and master bedrooms all benefit from these lovely expansive areas of glazing to the west. We also wanted to respect the interface between the houses, so we’ve used a longhouse layout where you enter into the house from the side but the principal aspects are to the front and rear rather than out towards the neighbours.”
Internally, the five houses are a mix of three and four-bedroom properties, with the homes on each end benefiting from a larger footprint. Large open plan living spaces along with high-quality kitchens and bathrooms and considered storage solutions were designed to add to their appeal. The houses have different layouts to each other to ensure they have their own identity within the development.
It is the first new-build project the Fuller Group has undertaken, as previous developments have seen the Group convert existing historic buildings such as One High Street and The Villa on the Grange into high-end apartments. But for Alex, it was simply a case of taking the same approach to the project: “I think it’s crucial to ensure you have
a really good quality product, with attention paid to every detail the whole way through the process – from the build quality to the finishes. We’ve done a lot of our projects during recessions but have had no problems selling them, and if you can sell during times like that, you know you have a good product. That’s obviously not the case at the moment, and we could have sold these houses many times over.”
While plenty of attention has been paid to the fixtures, fittings and the finishes, the developers say the quality of the build has been just as much of a priority. The main contractor on the project, Hillstone, is headed up by Simon Holland, who has had to guide the project through the pandemic and its myriad effects THE NEW HOUSES ACTUALLY SIT WITHIN THE FOOTPRINT OF THE PREVIOUS BUILDING SO THERE WERE NO ISSUES WITH CROSSING ITS FOUNDATIONS. on the construction industry. But even before Covid hit, the site had provided its challenges: “When we started working on the site, our first job was to demolish the previous structure. Usually when we take buildings down, our concern is that they will collapse – in fact, with this we had the opposite problem. The old structure was very light and almost acted like a big sail, so it had been anchored into the ground with huge concrete lumps.
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“When we took the building down, we needed to dig out that large amount of concrete to check that the ground underneath was solid. It turned out that it was fine, so we ended up filling the holes with concrete again. The new houses actually sit within the footprint of the previous building so there were no issues with crossing its foundations.”
With the foundations for the new development secure, work could start on the houses themselves. For Simon, it was a fundamentally straightforward build, albeit with a demand for a good quality end product: “The houses were relatively simply structures, there was no need to start building basements or cellars or any other aspects that can cause issues. We used concrete floor slabs with fibreglass reinforcement, and cavity block work construction. The block and beam floors give the floors a very solid structure, along with excellent levels of insulation, airtightness and sound.
What did cause issues, as with most recent building projects, was the onset of Covid in early 2020. The demolition on-site had taken place around Easter 2019, with construction work starting that May, so the project was well under way when the first lockdown occurred. For Simon, it was an issue they dealt with as best they could: “We suffered with it in the same was as everyone else as we couldn’t get anybody on site for many weeks. But we used both lockdown periods to forward plan as much as possible. The first lockdown we did a lot of forward ordering as we anticipated the material shortages that would occur. We did end up facing issues with the wooden cladding that we needed but nothing that caused too serious a delay.
The impact of lockdown saw the project extend from its initial yearand-a-half timescale, but it was something Alex said he simply had to accept: “It has taken a long time, it’s now been two years since we started the project. It was quite a
THE CONTRACTORS
• Hillstone Ltd
• Lovell Ozanne
• Sexton Green
• Sarnia Roofing
• WT Partnership
• Dorey Lyle & Ashman
• Transform
• Dave Brooks
• Bonsai
• Channel Island Ceramics
• Bailiwick Windows
• Pauls Joinery
• Stainless Steel Fabrications
• R&H Plant
• Haulage Services Ltd
• Channel Seaways
generous programme originally at 18 months, so we’re finishing six months over schedule. Considering the circumstances of the past year, I don’t think that’s too bad, but we’re still very pleased to see it finished.”
The rural landscape around the properties, combined with their contemporary barn feel, means the environment is never far from mind when it comes to these houses. For Alex, it was something he considered with the development: “We are concerned about our environmental impact and do our best to minimise it. It’s very hard with a development project to install things like renewable energy as the incentives aren’t there, although I hope that will change in the future. In my mind, the money is best spent on the quality of the build to ensure that there is little loss of heat etc. We have also installed electric boilers which should ensure the houses are efficient to run.”
When Simon came to check the houses at the end of the project, he said the results spoke for themselves: “The pressure rating results were very good on these houses – at around two compared with a building regulations pass rate of 10. With the big windows it’s very difficult to get much below that without putting in whole house air circulation. But the build quality means that the houses should stand for 150 years, which is environmentally friendly in itself.”
While inside the houses has clearly been carefully considered, so too has the outside. The landscaping of the scheme has been an important aspect, with a positive biodiversity approach ensuring it respects the natural environment.
With the project finished, the team is delighted with what they’ve achieved. For Annalisa, it’s something that will be of real benefit to the island: “It’s a great example of how the IDP has allowed a redundant site like this be converted into much-needed homes. Thoughtful development has meant that there are now five lovely homes in a desirable part of the island and the rural character of the surrounding area has been successfully maintained. I feel we’ve done justice to the site and that people will enjoy living here, which is really what matters.”
