West Sussex Heritage Trust Award
Jul 10, 2008West Dean wins Sussex Heritage Trust Award for Farm Development
The West Dean Estate’s Preston Farm development Farbridge, received a Sussex Heritage Trust Award at their awards ceremony held at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on 10 July.
The Preston Farm development has involved the careful restoration and conversion of a redundant and semi-derelict range of early and late 19th century agricultural buildings to a new economic use. The buildings will provide dedicated facilities for private functions, primarily wedding receptions and conferences, with additional luxury accommodation (10 en-suite bedrooms), facilities for civil ceremonies, dancing and catering for up to 150 people.
The award won was in the Commercial Award category “A non-residential (e.g. shops, offices and industrial) restoration, conversion or new-build, within a Conservation Area, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on a ‘brownfield’ site or including a Listed Building, enhancing and preserving its character and/or surroundings.”
The judges commented that this was “a skilful restoration of a former Sussex flint barn where great imagination and quality in both design and materials were used.”
The West Dean Estate, part of the Edward James Foundation, was the developer and principal investor in the project, working closely with the new tenant, John Mickerson, who will run the facility as his own business trading under the name of Farbridge. The brief was to retain the character and structure of the flint barn and associated outbuildings.
Design work and architectural services were provided by John Brown Architecture from Donnington and Stride and Sons from Chichester. The contractors were Chivertons from Bognor Regis, a company which has had a very long association with the Foundation.
Building on the long experience of running one of the country’s largest biomass heating systems at West Dean College, and continually seeking more sustainable ways to manage the buildings on the West Dean Estate, a new biomass heating plant has been installed using Estate grown fuel-wood which provides heating and domestic hot water to the entire site.