Heritage Architect in Cornwall & Devon

Cornwall and Devon share a South West vernacular built substantially from what the land itself provided: granite in Cornwall, particularly towards West Penwith, where field boundaries, farm buildings and cottages are often built from the same stone cleared from the fields around them; cob (a mix of subsoil, straw and water, built up in courses and rendered) and thatch across much of rural Devon; and slate-hanging on elevations exposed to the weather on both coasts.

Listed building consent across the two counties is decided by a mix of district councils, unitary authorities and, within their boundaries, the Dartmoor and Exmoor National Park Authorities — each applying the same national tests set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and the National Planning Policy Framework, but with local guidance shaped by the area's own building traditions: cob repair methods and lime rendering are treated very differently by a South West conservation officer than they would be by a planning authority with no cob buildings in its area at all.

The practice's published example in this region is the sample Preliminary Planning and Heritage Appraisal for Widworthy Court, a Grade II listed house near Honiton in East Devon, shared with the owner's permission. It is shown here as a worked example of what that first report looks like and covers — not as a completed piece of SOANE project work in the way the case studies elsewhere on this site are. The findings in it are specific to that building; every appraisal SOANE writes is specific to the one in front of it.

For an owner of a listed building in Cornwall or Devon, the practical starting questions are usually about material rather than style: is a wall cob, and if so, is it still breathing correctly; is a roof original slate or a later replacement; and what, if anything, has already been altered without consent by a previous owner. An appraisal answers those before any design work begins.

Cob and other earth-based walls need to manage moisture by letting it pass through and evaporate — a breathable lime render and lime-based internal finishes, rather than modern cement render or gypsum plaster, which trap moisture against the earth wall and can accelerate decay. This is one of the most common points where well-intentioned modern repairs on a South West listed building have caused more damage than they solved, and it is a standard early check on any cob property.

• the relevant district, unitary or National Park authority for each site (one per project) ↗
• Historic England ↗

No published SOANE case study (as distinct from the sample appraisal below) is sited in Cornwall or Devon yet.

Read a real worked example first: see a sample appraisal, or browse every area SOANE works in.