Paragraph 84 · Open countryside
A house in a disused quarry
New homes in open countryside are refused unless the design is outstanding. We took Quarry House to design review twice and it was approved at the first committee.
Houses that belong
to the hill.
New homes and big extensions in the Mendips and on the Levels
Black larch, grey stone and a lot of glass pointed at the view.
We are seven architects and designers in a converted dairy at Nyland, under the Mendip edge. We design new homes and big extensions in places where planning is hard, and we get them approved.
Selected work
Six of the twenty houses we have finished since 2015, from a Passivhaus on the Levels to a barn above Priddy.
Quarry House
No. 01
Sideling Fields
No. 06
Black Barn
No. 03
Ashwell Lane
No. 05
The Withy Room
No. 04
Rhyne House
No. 02The sites other architects turn down
Most of our houses sit somewhere a planner would rather nothing was built: a National Landscape, a flood plain, a conservation area. Getting a yes in those places is the part of the job we enjoy most.
National Landscape · Priddy
A cattle shed on the Mendip top
The planners would only accept the old barn's footprint and roof pitch. We kept both, charred the larch and put the glass in the gable that faces away from the lane.
Conservation area · Listed
Concrete behind a Georgian house
Listed building consent for board-marked concrete and reclaimed Doulting stone at Ashwell Lane, because it reads as new and leaves the old house alone.
Every application approved since 2019, eleven of them in protected places · RIBA South West Award 2025
Read the planning storiesFrom a field to a front door
Every house starts with a walk round the site and a sketchbook, not a brief. Then card models on the studio table until it feels right, and drawings the planners and the builders can trust. Most take two and a half years from first visit to keys.
“Two architects told us nothing would ever get permission on that field. Isla came back from the council with a yes and a list of the hedges we had to keep.”
Open house
Walk round Rhyne House with the family who live there
Twice a year one of our clients opens their door. See how a Passivhaus feels in March, ask what it costs to heat, and meet us with no sales pitch.
- Date
- Saturday 13 March 2027
- Time
- 10am to 1pm, tea in the barn
- Where
- Godney, near Glastonbury
- Places
- Free, 20 places, booking needed
Thinking about building in the Mendips? Start with a site visit.
Thank you. Isla or Rob will ring you within two working days.
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