Garage Conversion Planning Statement

The Old Sail Loft, Shore Road Underway, Port St. Mary February 2016

Planning & Registered Building Consent

for the

conversion of a garage/store into living accommodation

at

The Old Sail Loft, Shore Road Underway, Port St. Mary

1. Existing Property

The proposed works are to the existing garage/store area of a Registered Building, The Old Sail Loft. The garage is set back from the main road towards the rear of the site, and is sandwiched between the Sail Loft and a recently constructed 2 storey dwelling that is of a modern contemporary design.

Situated above the garage is a first floor conservatory that forms the kitchen to the Sail Loft with a small external terrace area.

The garage was constructed during general renovation works to the Sail Loft. Since then it has only ever been used for storage purposes and not for the parking of a vehicle.

Parking for two cars is provided in the courtyard/driveway.

2. Proposal

The relatively small windows of the existing ground floor studio & bedroom face north onto the small courtyard, and as such the interior of the ground floor is dark and somewhat claustrophobic.

The proposal is to convert the garage/store into additional ground floor living accommodation. The garage doors will be replaced with double glazed doors and sidelights. The design of these will match the existing first floor conservatory and the frames will be coloured in the same dark grey. This will provide a brighter aspect to the ground floor living accommodation with potential views of the harbour, albeit across the courtyard/driveway.

There will be minimal alterations to the Sail Loft itself, apart from the opening up of a previously blocked up internal window to form an access door into the new living accommodation.

As the existing garage is set well back from the roadside we believe the proposal will have no detrimental effect on the fabric or historical context of the Old Sail Loft, or the surrounding area.

The proposed works would also be easily reversible at a future date should someone wish to convert the living accommodation back into a garage or store.

3. Parking

As stated, the garage has always been used for storage and not for the parking of vehicles. The conversion to living accommodation will therefore have no effect on the current parking arrangements and there will still be the facility for 2 vehicles to park off road in the driveway.

Samson Designs Limited

February 2016

Photograph 1 - Driveway and garage with first floor conservatory over {{image:168778}}

Photograph 2 - View from across the harbour