Lumen keeps a low profile on Jamie’s Farm

Jamie’s Farm is a charity helping vulnerable children to re-engage with education and society through a combination of farming, family and therapy, delivered through week-long residential visits.

The charity recently purchased a 60 acre farm near Bath centred around Hill House, a Grade 2 Listed 17th century farmhouse and its cluster of farm buildings, some of which date back as far as the 14th century. Due to the age of the building and its Listed status, the renovation of Hill House required careful planning to ensure the historic fabric of the building remained in tact.

Hetreed Ross Architects (HRA) was commissioned by Wraxall Builders to obtain Listed Building, Building Regulations and Environmental Health Consents. HRA submitted detailed applications for the renovation of the historic farm building into new workspaces and offices for the farm workers and visitors.

Jonathan Hetreed from Hetreed Ross Architects said: "One of the major considerations for the project was how to best maximise natural lighting for the loft area of the smaller barn. The Listed Building Officer required the position of the original rafters to be maintained, with rooflights sitting above them.

Due to the location of the rafters, an off the shelf rooflight product was not an option, and a more intricate design was required." HRA approached Lumen Rooflights as experts in providing bespoke rooflights for Grade Listed and Heritage properties. Lumen examined a number of options for the window opening and how the existing structure would affect the internal aspects of the rooflight.

They also considered a variety of options, including electric actuators, before settling on the middle casement as the opening piece. To accommodate the sizing parameters Lumen spaced the joins in the outer frame to achieve the best position for the winders. They then produced an internal American Ash framework to supplement the liners around the casements. This provided a neat internal finish to compliment the slender framework on the outside.

The final product, comprising of two fixed casement and one large central opening casement, provided an extremely low profile design with each of the glazing bars perfectly matching the position of the buildings’ original rafters. Hetreed said: "The Lumen rooflight has contributed to retaining the historic beauty of the barn from the outside and helped to transform the loft’s interior to a stunning, light and airy workspace for the staff and children to enjoy."