In Bamburgh we have designed and overseen the construction of a three bedroom home in a conservation area which lies between the historic and Grade II listed Armstrong House, originally designed in 1914 as a rest home for workers in Lord Armstrong’s Tyneside factories and now a rest home managed by the Abbeyfield Group, and the Grade I listed Bamburgh Castle, the highly sensitive location required an equally sensitive design.

New homes in Bamburgh are rare due to planning constraints which have worked superbly well to preserve the village. Our application was on behalf of a local family who now required a three bedroom family dwelling with a range of living space to include a ground floor bedroom – a modern home with minimal impact on the heritage significance of the site, which took advantage of the superb outlook.

Of prime importance was the need to protect the visual association between Armstrong House and Bamburgh Castle so that Armstrong House could be viewed from the castle and vice versa. The design therefore placed the low profile home to the north of the available site with materials selected to blend in with those of the adjacent buildings and vehicle parking and access discretely hidden from view. The stepped roof profile with varying ridge and eaves heights, combined with retained existing trees protects views from the Castle with the line of sight going over the garden rather than the house itself.