NEWS: Farmglade wants to restore and partially demolish Down Place
House, and add a two-storey extension, to create 10 new homes, and
demolish surrounding buildings to build 15 houses.
The last remaining tenants at Bray Studios – where the iconic Hammer Horror films were made – left in 2014. In its planning statement, the applicant says Down Place House’s 18th
century west entrance will be reinstated, as will the original entrance
lobby. A large studio building to the south of the building’s east wing will be demolished, as will the former stables to the west. The application says: “This area is considered to have limited historic
or architectural value and it detracts from the appearance of the main
historic building.”
It would be replaced with a new extension ‘designed to enhance the appearance of the main listed building’. The studios to the south of Down Place House would be torn down and
replaced with 11 detached houses and a terrace of four homes. Farmglade is building 44 homes in nearby Water Oakley, a project which was approved by councilors in April 2014. The planning application statement adds: “The application seeks to
rationalize the development of this site with adjacent Water Oakley site
to the west, with which it shares a long, common boundary.
“The new housing proposed in this
application has houses grouped informally around a ‘village green’ to
the southern end nearest the entrance, and a more formal green at the
entrance area to Down Place House.”
The Royal Borough expects to make a decision by Thursday, October 8.
Source: Maidenhead Advertiser
