Partner Article

Farm project revealed

A COMPANY that specialises in bringing redundant farm buildings in the North East back into use has unveiled £3m plans for its latest development.

Preston Farm Group (PFG) has won planning permission to build seven homes in the style of English farm cottages on Preston Farm, Preston Lane, near Eaglescliffe,.

The project will be built on the site adjacent to its flagship development which included a renovated 17th Century barn – The Stone Barn.

The original development won two regional sustainable design innovation awards and was shortlisted for national awards.

The cottages will feature cutting-edge sustainability features, including energy-efficient underfloor heating, solar-heated water, wood-burning stoves and rainwater harvesting, while used bathwater will be re-filtered to flush toilets.

The Courtyard, a quadrangle of 1, 2 and 3-bedroomed cottages accessed through an arched entrance, will be built on the site of several redundant farm outbuildings, including a dilapidated corrugated iron hangar-style barn.

PFG partner Chris Richardson says: “In two years, every new home will have to be built to a minimum of level three of the Code For Sustainable Homes, dictating build quality and energy efficiency standards. The Courtyard will far exceed these standards – and some.”

Partner Paul Devine says: “While renewable energy has been talked about for years, in practical terms it is still in its infancy and it is difficult to even find the right people to talk to about certain aspects of it. It’s proving an education for us and it’s likely we will be breaking new ground in some respects.”

PFG has taken steps to provide nesting and roosting sites for any bats or owls that may be displaced by the development and, after discovering there was once a pond on the site, is keen to work with Tees Valley Wildlife Trust’s Pondscape project to establish a new pond as part of the development.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .