Chicken shed conversion will earn developer extra £10,000 thanks to use of Hybrid insulation
A West Midlands development company has added £10,000 to the value of its unusual conversion of a chicken shed into a baker’s dozen of small country homes – by using insulation which maximises the saleable square footage of the property.
Solihull-based Ardenvale Ltd chose to use products from the ACTIS Hybrid range when it converted the 10,000 square feet 1940s one time hen house into a selection of one and two bedroom cottages.
Using insulating vapour control layer ACTIS HControl Hybrid in the walls gave the builders an extra 3 or 4 cm of floorspace at every wall – which, across 13 houses, enabled them to add an additional £10,000 to the overall asking price for the development.
Ardenvale directors Peter and Paula Knott, who specialise in what they call ‘eco grand designs’ bought the derelict, smelly former chicken sheds in rural Chadwick End 20 years ago. They originally converted the building into a warehouse, manufacturing space and offices and used it as the HQ for their specialist printing business, a natural evolution of their combined expertise in chemical engineering and listed building conversion.
After selling that business they converted the whole building into offices before a change in planning law four years ago acted as the spark to transform the former agricultural building yet again.
The change in regulation saw the definition of permitted development expand from merely adding a garage or extension to an existing house to include converting excess commercial buildings to residential properties.
Peter explained: “The hen house’s position in the Green Belt meant that previously it couldn’t be used for residential purposes, but suddenly a new route was opened up for us and we decided to create 13 smaller houses – nine two bedroom and four one bedroom cottages.”
They chose ACTIS products - insulating vapour control layer HControl Hybrid for the walls and 45mm honeycomb style insulation Hybris, H Control Hybrid and multifoil TS10+ for the roofs – for their combination of thermal efficiency and thinness. This enabled them to maximise floor space and ensure sufficient headroom in the eaves.
Peter added: “One of the things about permitted development is that you have to convert, not knock down and start again. We decided to leave the roofs as they were in good condition. But the structure of the roof was such that unless you use a thin, highly thermally efficient, flexible product like ACTIS there is not enough void space. We wanted to expose the beams which meant PIR and fibreglass were out of the question. ACTIS comes into its own in that situation.
“The walls are timber framed and using HControl Hybrid was pretty straightforward. Though saving 3 to 4cm per wall doesn’t sound much, if you take it across the whole site it’s added an extra £10,000 in value to the development.”
The homes will go on the market in the autumn. Peter’s original choice of name “The Hen House” has unfortunate connotations in his native north east – so he and Paula decided to play safe and call it “The Barns” instead!