The Coach House, Shifnal.

The Coach House is a Grade II listed former coach house and stable block within the historic Manor estate in Shifnal. Originally constructed as an ancillary estate building, its character is defined by a strong red brick form, hipped roof profile, boarded openings and a distinctive blind-arcaded principal elevation.

04/05 Architecture was appointed to develop and submit a Listed Building Consent application for a series of carefully considered alterations to improve the usability, safety and environmental performance of the dwelling while preserving its special architectural and historic interest.

The proposals include a modest single-storey shower room extension with an accessible terrace above, replacement and new conservation-type rooflights, bespoke timber escape casement windows, photovoltaic panels to a secondary garage roof, a new timber doorset within an existing opening, and associated internal alterations.

The project required a significance-led approach. Rather than treating the listed building as a single undifferentiated object, the design process began by identifying where the building’s heritage value is most concentrated. The principal arcaded frontage, red brick massing and hipped roof form were understood as the primary elements of significance. New intervention was therefore directed toward secondary, service-related and previously adapted areas of the building.

The new shower room extension is designed as a lightweight, independently supported timber-framed addition, finished in dark vertical timber cladding to sit quietly against the existing building. Its purpose is functional as well as architectural: the works create a level-access ground floor WC and shower room, helping to future-proof the property while avoiding unnecessary intervention into more sensitive historic rooms.

At first-floor level, bespoke timber side-hung escape casements are proposed to improve means of escape from the bedroom accommodation. The window details were developed to provide compliant clear escape openings while retaining a restrained timber joinery language appropriate to the building’s ancillary character.

The rooflight strategy was also carefully justified. Two existing rooflights are to be replaced in their current positions, with four additional conservation-type rooflights proposed to improve natural light and ventilation. The two smaller front rooflights serve bathrooms that currently have no natural light or direct natural ventilation, while electronically operated rooflights improve practical ventilation to the upper floor.

Environmental performance is addressed through an indicative array of all-black photovoltaic panels located on the secondary garage roof rather than the principal historic roof form. This allows the proposal to improve the building’s sustainability credentials while reducing visual impact on the most significant parts of the listed asset.

The application was supported by a Heritage, Design & Access Statement, Schedule of Works, Photographic Record, detailed door and window information, rooflight specifications and PV panel details. Each element of the submission was prepared to demonstrate that the proposals were modest, legible and subordinate, while supporting the continued viable use of the listed building as a contemporary dwelling.

The project reflects 04/05 Architecture’s approach to historic buildings: understand significance first, locate change carefully, and allow inherited buildings to adapt without erasing the qualities that make them valuable.Brookhouse is the transformation of a substantial rural house in Droitwich into a more ordered, light-filled and contemporary family home. The project reimagines the existing property through a calm modern farmhouse language, combining strong gabled forms, a grounded masonry base and lighter upper elements to create a house that feels both substantial and refined.

The design is organised around a clear central heart: a generous double-height entrance and circulation space that establishes arrival, structure and hierarchy within the home. Around this, the accommodation has been reworked to provide a series of large, connected family spaces including a kitchen and dining room, living room, family play room, office and gym, all arranged to support everyday life while maintaining a strong sense of composure and order.

Externally, the architectural language balances symmetry, depth and restraint. The principal elevations use a limited palette of brick, light cladding and dark framed glazing to give the house a warm rural character with a more contemporary finish. The project also extends beyond the main house to include a detached garage and a new leisure setting with swimming pool and supporting amenity accommodation, creating a coherent family estate rather than a single isolated building.

Brookhouse reflects our interest in carefully structured residential design: architecture that is generous and practical, but also disciplined in proportion, materiality and spatial hierarchy. The result is a home that feels rooted in its landscape while offering a quieter, more contemporary interpretation of rural family living.