Project: Twin Valleys Cold Store, Horsmonden

Description: The project consists of the conversion of a former ‘apple cold store’ building into a family home. Planning requirements dictated that an approach based on minimal intervention would be most appropriate. The new accommodation will therefore be housed entirely within the existing volume, and will make use of much of the existing fabric externally.

The quantity of accommodation proposed is modest and has been determined by the most appropriate pattern of inhabitation of the existing structure. This has resulted in a three bedroom home, with expansive open-plan common living areas at the ground floor with bedroom accommodation at first floor. A double height volume containing the main vertical circulation and a first floor gallery links the ground and first floors. New openings within the existing masonry fabric have been minimised, being restricted to two small windows at first floor level on the north elevation serving the smaller bedrooms.

The house itself will constitute a fine example of the contemporary re-use of an agricultural building, drawing from its ‘host’ in terms of its volume and materiality, but distinctive and characterful in its own right. The conversion of the apple store will enhance the site of which it forms a part, and relate sensitively to the spaces which it defines, and the landscape which forms its context.

Status: Permission Granted