Marley Eternit Roofing Is A Beacon In The Park

Fibre cement profiled sheeting from Marley Eternit has helped architects Lacey Hickie Caley convert an award-winning dairy barn in an area of outstanding natural beauty into a residential youth and outdoor activity centre for a Christian community. The Anthracite-coloured Farmscape sheeting, which is normally used on livestock buildings to prevent the build-up of condensation, was specified by the architects as it had been approved by Exmoor National Park for use on agricultural buildings and had the closest profile to the original roofing. The now redundant dairy barn had been commissioned by the Christian community at Lee Abbey in Lynton, Devon, in 1969 and comprised a cowshed, milking parlour, hay lofts and machinery storage to support its growing farming activity. It went on to win a Civic Trust Award and a Financial Times design award so when Lacey Hickie and Caley were commissioned almost 30 years later to investigate the integration of what is now Beacon Youth Centre within the barn they were mindful they were converting a noteworthy building. The barn, and the whole of Lee Abbey, is situated within Exmoor National Park, an area of Outstanding Coastal Beauty and an area of Special Scientific Interest, so during pre-consultation meetings with the planners several decisions were made regarding the design of its conversion. It was decided the existing building envelope would not be extended, the external materials would be retained as far as possible and all materials used would relate to the original agricultural aesthetic of the barn. Also, that the existing timber structure would be retained and expressed internally as a reminder to new users of the original function. However, it became apparent at an early stage that the existing structure was unable to take any additional loading so all new bedroom accommodation needed to be freestanding and self-supporting. In addition, the self-draining concrete floors of the dairy barn varied by over 90cm from one end of the barn to the other. Galvanised steel shoes, variable in length, were designed to fix to the base of all main timber columns to take out level differences and enable a new floor to be formed, and following this, the timber frame was refurbished through shot blasting and new, high levels of insulation incorporated. Two floors of bedroom accommodation were then inserted using a lightweight Scandinavian metal stud and board construction, the stud frame supporting the floors and intermediate floors and providing lateral stability to the original, adapted timber frame. Externally, traditional saw-cut hit and miss vertical timber cladding was used to replace the existing, while windows within the cladding were maintained in a strong vertical form. Marley Eternit specifically designed the fibre cement profiled sheeting on the roof with a pigmented top layer instead of gloss paint to blend into the landscape. In addition to the bedroom accommodation there is a double-height activity and dining room with spectacular views over Lee Bay and a six-metre high climbing wall, a new kitchen, IT learning and teaching suites, leisure area, and simple laboratory/technical facilities. Mike Hickie of Lacey Hickie Caley said: “The whole ambience is light, friendly and attractive to young people while using as far as possible natural materials including timber and slate flooring, steel and oak finishes. The building is robust, contemporary and suitable for use as a youth centre while being sensitive to its context as part of a listed, outstandingly beautiful site. “The cost of the conversion at £1.5 million was probably no less than the cost of building the same facility from new but the conversion enabled the creative use of a redundant building and the development of a facility for Lee Abbey which would not have received planning approval from Exmoor National Park if a new building had been proposed.”

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