Over the last months we have had to adapt our homes to accommodate activities that we hadn’t planned for (Joe Wick’s PE lessons anyone?). To some homeowners this has brought an opportunity to rethink their layouts and needs. We acknowledge that extending or refurbishing your property is not always possible due to time or space constraints, but have you thought about transforming your garage, shed or pend facing your back lane?
Aberdeen City Council has published a local planning policy titled ‘Development along lanes’ which details what you can achieve within that setting. The focus is on the reintroduction of the mews building type in order to make lanes more liveable and be perceived as a place instead of just passing by. In the past, mews buildings were usually split over two floors and used for storage, carriages, horses and sometimes living accommodation on the top floor.
The council have noted that the intended use of these new mews development should be mainly residential but workshop or small business may be acceptable after consultation. The policy document states that ‘The form should be a responsive contemporary design to the built environment and allow existing properties to appear as originally built by reducing pressure to extend their original building envelope’.
We designed a mews cottage in Glasgow following this principle: contemporary but respectful of the surroundings onto the lane while preserving the historic building on the main street.
What would you be going for? Home office? Fitness suite? Teenagers hangout? Or even bring in an additional income as a short-holiday or short-stay accommodation? The possibilities are innumerable and equally exciting. Please contact us if we can help developing any of these ideas.
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