Our client desperately wanted to demolish their draughty and thermally inefficient house and built a replacement house to Passivhaus standard. Unfortunately even though the house wasn't listed (with a large part of it being 20th century) or in a conservation area the council deemed the property to be a non-designated heritage asset and refused the original application.
RCC were asked to review the application and advise on whether an appeal was a viable option. For a number of reasons we felt that wasn't the right way to go and instead we applied for an amended proposal with the oldest section of the property remaining and the 20th century element being replacement with a new extension of a more appropriate design. The council then approved that application.
We then worked up an application to remove the whole existing dwelling and replace it with a design that would in effect look the same as the approval we had attained. The council again refused this application but we knew the chances of success of appeal were much greater. We therefore set out a robust case for the appeal by addressing the heritage issues raised and the sustainability benefits of the wholesale demolition and were delighted that the Planning Inspector fully accepted our arguments and allowed the appeal.
