Residential Conversation of St. Peter's Mission Room, Hardstoft

We are delighted to have now recieved planning permission for the residential conversion and extension of St. Peter's Mission Room, Hardstoft.

The property has been unused for many yearáás and there does not appear to be any record of when it was last occupied, although the County Archives cites its formal closure on 26 July 1957. The former school building might be mistaken for a chapel, conforming, as it does, to the traditional ecclesiastical architecture and layout of a “Chancel”, “Nave”, Porch and “Vestries”; no doubt a deliberate design choice considering the Church of England funded school that it hosted.

Internally, the building has suffered significant neglect and vandalism, much of which appears to have been caused by the previous owners/occupants on vacating the building. Fortunately, the principal roofs remain in good working order and the condition of the internal finishes, the roof and the walls can largely be attributed to this fortuitous situation. This is not to say the building has escaped the attention of vandals and the ravages of the weather and Mother Nature!

The size of the existing property is limited but the carefully designed layout allows to incorporate up to three bedrooms and open-plan living space, but all windows are high up. To improve natural lighting to some spaces and take advantage of the views over towards Hardwick Hall, we have proposed a modern rear extension to provide a light and contemporary garden room which doesn't compete with the form/architecture of the main building and sits on a different geometric orientation to allow differentiation between the old and the new; all while picking up on the materiality, details and scale of the existing architecture.

The internal spaces require a degree of subdivision but have been designed to avoid the dissection of any windows by floors, by stepping back the floors from the walls and placing the stairwell in front of one of the full-height windows.

The proposals were met favourably from the outset by the National Trust and the Local Authority Conservation and Planning Officers and has gone on to recieve outright planning permission and listed building consent.