28 C O N T E X T 1 3 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 4 Rebecca Milford works with English Oak Buildings and is a freelance writer. of any proposals fully. Timothy Mowl of Architectural History and Conservation Consultants was appointed. After analysing the extent of the poor interventions imposed on the building, a decision was made to peel back the damage in order to restore and reconfigure the building. One of the proposals involved providing a more sensitive north elevation. This meant replacing the hotchpotch of extensions with one new building in line with the proportions and extent of the 14th century Great Hall. First some of these later 19-20th century ad-hoc extensions were removed, so that a new two-storey staircase and a three-storey glazed facade could be built. A palate of materials was selected to subtly distinguish the proposed extension works from the existing fabric.This included a green oak framed truss. Tonic Architecture produced a scheme, which English Oak Buildings translated into a workable structure. It was discovered that the new roof and the original one could not have exactly the same pitch at their junction, yet they needed to marry up to look right.The solution was to design and build a roof with a compound twist and an irregular gable-to-roof line, allowing the ridge lines to be consistent.The roof extension itself is made up of large purlins and a ridge beam that runs from the front gable to the existing building, over which oak common rafters were installed.These rafters are boarded over with painted sarking boards, wooden panels under the shingles of the roof. The extension consists of an impressive three-storey gable frame with sections of glazing installed on all three floors. Running back into the building from here are a single-storey wall under the common rafters, and a large two-storey oak frame partition wall, both of with curved braces.The staircase is cantilevered off intricate steelwork hidden by the partition wall.This was built behind part of the overall oak frame. Site access was poor, so a small crane, parked on the driveway, enabled the construction of the frame, piece by piece. The existing building’s levels were haphazard and the design was complex, so some operations that would normally have taken place in the workshop had to be done on site. The solar roof (detail below)
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