Applicant Supporting Statement

Mr. S.J. Hawkins, the applicant originally acquired the premises at the rear of 31 Malew Street Castletown in 1982, the house he occupied at that time in Castletown did not have a garden and he and his family used the Malew Street premises as their family garden. The workshop and store also gave Mr. Hawkins covered space from which to run his small electronics business. In 1990 while seeking planning permission to modernise the buildings the whole issue of their long term use was brought into question, the long term use was finally designated as a builder's store for which purpose it has been used intermittently from that date.

In 2006 following the illness and subsequent death of his wife, Mr. Hawkins, now living in Douglas, decided it was time to put his estate in order. The main element of this was to return his premises in Malew Street to a usable condition as they had fallen into disrepair during his wife's illness. The roofs and other faults in the buildings were repaired in 2006, the Victorian greenhouses to the rear of the premises were found on close examination to be beyond repair and are currently in the process of demolition and re-construction in their original form, Mr. Hawkins is undertaking this work largely by himself and expects to have it completed by the end of 2008.

Mr. Hawkins and myself have looked closely at the future use of this site and believe that the two options open are either continued use as a builder's store or change of use to tourist accommodation. From the financial perspective both options offer a similar return in that while the rental from tourism would be higher with a predicted yearly letting period in the order of four months, a let to a builder would be for the whole year and would generate the same or possibly a higher return. Access to the site is by way of a covered alley belonging to the adjacent building over which Mr. Hawkins has a permanent legal right of way granted to him at the time of the original purchase of the land. I have experimented with several vehicles over the past months and have found that the largest vehicle which can be easily used to gain access is a standard Transit van, the most common vehicle currently in use by builders in the Island, this can be driven in turned round and driven out again. Addition of the glazed link to create the proposed tourist accommodation would make it impossible to turn without the proposed turntable although with this installed two vehicles could be easily parked within the remaining space and still allow easy pedestrian access. While continuing the use of the site as a builder's store would be the easiest option Mr. Hawkins believes that change of use to tourist accommodation would be far better for this uniquely beautiful space and I fully concur with him in this. The site as it stands has changed very little for at least the last century, the proposed glazed link between the two existing buildings would have minimal impact on the integrity of the site, the only physical alterations that would be required are the removal of the window in the side of the two storey building and the removal of the masonry beneath to create an opening. It is proposed to use lime mortars in the renovation of the property thus fulfilling the original design imperative of this style of building and allowing them to continue to breathe and remain dry, thus maximising their thermal efficiency. The main addition that we propose to make to enhance the thermal efficiency is the use of modern insulation and a ventilation system with heat recovery we believe that by this method we can make energy savings in excess of 50% as against a standard conversion using cement mortars. Mr. Hawkins, a physicist, has agreed to monitor the energy usage year by year and make the data gained available to interested parties.

The use as tourist accommodation would, we believe, fit far better into the current mainly residential use of the surrounding area and given the limited seasonal lettings envisaged cut the number of vehicles entering the site with its current approved usage by over 50%. It is also proposed to make the ground floor area fully wheelchair accessible, the ventilation system with minor additions can provide total filtering of the air making the accommodation ideal for people with even the most severe breathing difficulties. It is intended to advertise the proposed site both on and off Island as a special needs holiday let, currently a very poorly served area of tourism. Once all works were completed in the garden it would also be Mr. Hawkins intention to include the property in the annual secret gardens of Castletown project thus opening it to all.