Black Barn Studios

We are starting the new year having moved in to our new studio! The guiding principle for its design is re-use and retain. Much of the existing building has been reused and complimented with a fabric first approach where high…

Renders

A 3D rendered image gives us and the client a good idea of the feel for a space and how it will look eventually. They help to iron out any issues moving forward and test detail in the layout and…

Tree Milling

In preparation for work to start on site, two Sycamore trees, much loved by the client have had to be taken down. We suggested they could have the trees milled and given a new lease of life for for the…

Studio News

A taste of our new route to work! There’s a hive of activity inside the studio at the moment. The oak frames we rescued from one of our building projects have been restored, re-glazed and installed, and the Scottish Elm…

Orchard House

We recently photographed a completed project which was a collaboration between ourselves and our client. The client was very hands on and had undertaken several renovation and conversion projects in the past. The brief was for a modern conversion of…

Planning Permission

We are very pleased to have received planning permission for this potting shed which will form an essential part of a productive garden. The garden has become an integral part of our client’s lives and this building will not only…

Team Outing

Today we visited the beautiful gardens at Broughton Grange, a Tom Stuart Smith designed garden a stones throw from our studio. Even though coming to the end of the main growing season, the cleverly planted garden is still bursting with…

Planning Permission

We’ve received planning permission for a house in a small village on a considerable sized plot and amazing views across a valley. As we find with many buildings the thermal efficiency of the existing fabric is poor and the cellular…

Windows

The windows are going in to our new studio building which is a very exciting day. These huge, high performance, triple glazed windows are made by Internorm and will contribute to the airtightness of the building. Adopting a fabric first…

On Site Progress

Excitement on site in Buckinghamshire as the enormous windows are lifted in to place. The windows form the glazing for the ‘lantern’ which will allow light to flood in to all corners of the building at all times of the…

Building the Dream

The next series of Building the Dream is back on our screens from tonight, Wednesday 28th April, 9pm, More4.

Steel framed barn conversion

We are working with a client to convert a steel framed barn in to a home fit for a growing family. The barn had achieved a class Q planning permission but the client wanted to refine the plans to be…

Grand Designs

Our Cornish project is in April’s edition of Grand Designs magazine, in a feature about the driveway. Charlie is quoted in the opening paragraph as saying, “The journey from the driveway to front door to entrance hall is an important…

Timber Frame

We have been working with Steico, specialists in wood fibre insulation and timber joists, to create giant timber frame ‘kits’ where every length of wood is pre-cut and numbered off-site ready to be assembled quickly and efficiently on site. This…

Work on site

Still shrouded in scaffolding, the flat roof of this new home in Gloucestershire is taking shape. The roof will be sewn with wild-flowers which will be a haven for wildlife but also a disguise for the the solar panels. The…

Rotunda House

A few years ago we were invited to pitch an idea for a new home for Prue Leith and John Playfair. Luckily for us they loved our contemporary re-imagining of the English country house. The house features a prominent ‘Piano…

New studio on site

Having received planning permission, work on our new studio has started on site. We are converting a steel framed barn into a Passiv-standard studio space which we hope to complete towards the autumn of this year. The conversion will reuse…

Small but perfectly formed

We are working on breathing new life in to this modest field barn. Intended as an annex for overflow accommodation, our scheme will create extra space through a lower ground floor extension sensitively designed to retain the original character of…

Happy Christmas

Wishing all our clients, collaborators, friends and followers a very happy christmas!