Coln House 

Conversion of a Grade II Listed building in Fairford 

Our client said…. 
 
….thank you for all your excellent work on Fairford. I think without this vision I might have well walked from this project. 

The Story 

Coln House is one of three groups of buildings forming the redundant Coln House School in Fairford, purchased by Acorn Property Group in 2023. O’LearyGoss Architects are working with Acorn across the whole site. 
Coln House had already been granted Planning and Listed Building consent for conversion into three houses and four flats when we were introduced to the project. Working with the client, we reviewed the designs, and their impact on the key elements of the Listed building. We suggested that we could come up with a better design solution. 
Our revised design changed the subdivision to four houses, with increased value, separated along the original lines of separation of each of the buildings. A fifth new build house, in a contemporary style, replaces the more utilitarian lavatory and plant block. This approach reflects the desire that the “subdivision of Coln House should be no more than is necessary and should minimise harm to its significance” 
Working, as always, in 3D, we modelled the revised design to help inform our client and the planners from Cotswold District. 
 
The planners, and the conservation officer, have been very supportive, and the new designs have been approved by a series of Minor Material Amendments to the original permissions. 
Photo-realistic CGIs have been developed from our original model to assist Acorn with marketing. 
 
The project is currently under construction, and we continue to work with Acorn on this and the other developments across Coln House School site. 

Project Team: 

Consulting structural & civil engineers: Vale Consultancy