Build It January issue excerpt

Laurence and Debbie Osborne worked readers’ homes 19
with their architect son and their contractor
FACT FILE
son-in-law to add a stunning extension
onto their 18th century barn NAMES Laurence & Debbie Osborne
OCCUPATIONS Directors of a
WORDS REBECCA FOSTER PHOTOS RICHARD DOWNER property development company
LOCATION Cornwall
TYPE OF PROJECT Extension to
converted agricultural building
STYLE Contemporary addition
to 18th century barn
CONSTRUCTION METHOD
Steel portal frame with
timber infill panels
PROJECT ROUTE
Architect designed, homeowners
employed main contractor for
construction & project management
PLOT SIZE 0.7 acres
PROPERTY COST £175,000
BOUGHT 2000
HOUSE SIZE 195m2
(incl. 55m2 extension)
EXTENSION COST £145,632
EXTENSION COST PER M2 £2,648
TOTAL COST £320,632
BUILDING WORK COMMENCED
December 2016
BUILDING WORK TOOK
16 weeks
CURRENT VALUE
£600,000

Above: The cedar cladding on the extension
helps form a clear visual distinction between
the new addition and the original stone barn

town life and into something a bit more rural,” says Debbie. “We drove the idea for a garden room extension. Plus, our family is
bought the barn from a builder who converted it for us, to our increasing in size in terms of grandchildren, so we wanted a bigger
own design specification.” When the pair first saw the agricultural living space.” Over the years, the idea of a light-filled, contemporary
structure, it was the unusual scissor truss roof that had initially addition slowly evolved, eventually confirmed by the pair’s chance
captured Laurence’s attention. “ e design for the conversion meeting with the consultant from English Heritage.
completely ignored this feature, so we re-jigged the proposal – the
barn already had planning permission – to establish a lounge on All hands on deck
the first floor that made the most of the timber structure overhead.”
Debbie, a former maths teacher, and Laurence, who was previously
While the couple enjoyed living in their rural abode, it was far managing director of a planning consultancy, Laurence Associates,
from perfect. “I like to live in a sunny house, but an old barn with 1m already had plenty of experience with this type of project. “We’ve
thick walls isn’t the brightest of places,” says Debbie. “ at was what done a lot of property development in our spare time – we set up

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