Grade II listed barn conversion in South Devon

Grade II listed barn conversion from agricultural building to bespoke wedding venue.

The traditional brick built barn was sympathetically restored with a new corrugated iron roof, brickwork re-pointing and the installation of new aluminium windows and doors.

The internal layout of the barn was completely remodelled. The first floor was almost entirely removed to expose the original trusses and create a vaulted ceiling.

One end of the barn houses the bar and guest toilets above, up a wooden staircase and hidden behind vertical larch panelling. At the other end is an easy access toilet and office/ bridal changing room above, again behind vertical panelling with recessed strip lights.

The walls have been finished with lime render, whilst preserving the ancient ‘daisy wheels’ in the old walls. The new floor is polished concrete with underfloor heating.

We also constructed a temporary kitchen at the back of the building.

On this project, we faced two big challenges: The first were the old, hand-cut trusses, that were just not fit to support the new roof. We understood that the trusses were an important feature in the whole design concept and found a solution by bolting new (straight!) trusses against the old ones. The second was of course working during a pandemic to a completely fixed deadline – the first weddings were booked within days of our completion date. Fantastic teamwork and swift problem solving skills made it happen!

We are looking forward to returning to Brickhouse Vineyard!

Architect: Studio Exe

Client: Brickhouse Vineyard

Roofing Contractor: John Goodfellow

Electrical Works: Electrix

Mechanicals: GoGreen Engineering

Concrete Floor Polishing: ACS Floorgrind

Photography: Tom Hargreaves