Chloe Horsfield designed the conversion of this lovely Grade II listed barn, located just outside the Essex market town of Saffron Walden. Her proposals showed the barn as a separate residential dwelling, including a new single storey cart shed style extension to the north.
It was completed in January 2025 and has particular importance to our practice, because of Chloe’s involvement: she designed and managed the project from start to finish. I had the absolute pleasure of working with her at our practice for 14 years. Sadly, due to the return of the cancer she had battled five years earlier, she was forced to leave the practice in November 2024. She died in May 2025 aged only 40. She is deeply missed. This project is a testament to the hard work, enthusiasm and commitment she demonstrated with every project.
The entire frame is exposed internally, with all modern partitions removed. The structure is insulated externally, with Woodfibre to maintain its breathability. To allow for the extra depth in wall structure, an additional skin of brickwork was provided to the plinth. The cavity formed will allow for plinth level insulation so the existing, rebuilt and repaired plinth can be retained and exposed internally.
The existing thresher barn remains a fully open-plan, vaulted space accommodating the kitchen and living areas. Low level stud partitions will be used divide the space for the kitchen and snug.
The external doors and windows are painted timber casements. The existing openings to the threshing barn are fitted with frameless glazing. The front of the new cart shed also benefits from the use of frameless glazing, with an exposed oak post behind, which provides the appearance of a fully open cart shed. Externally, the existing barn and the extension have been thatched in reed due to the complexity of the roof shape.
Although Chloe never saw the finished barn, I know she would have been immensely proud of the completed project, and rightly so.
