**Document:** APL Planning Statement **Application:** 22/00452/CON — Registered building consent for internal alterations to first floor including moving bathroom and making access from landing, ground floor extensions to kitchen and side and replacement windows (in association with 22/00451/GB) Registered Building Nos. 187 **Decision:** Permitted **Decision Date:** 2022-05-26 **Parish:** Braddan **Document Type:** report / planning_statement **Source:** https://planningportal.im/a/25293-braddan-5-victoria-replacement-windows/documents/1033113 --- # APL Planning Statement ## 5 VICTORIA TERRACE DOUGLAS : Appraisal for Registered Building Application : January 2022 Designed as one of 12 Houses by John Robinson in the 1840's the terrace was Registered in July 2001. Built as semidetached villas, the houses all appear the same but the clever use of porches and gate piers disguise the fact the terrace rises quite steeply. Some have half basements and each house adjusts to its particular circumstance with regard to the level of the rear garden. Stuart Slack in his well researched book 'Streets of Douglas - Old and New' states that Victoria Terrace was originally to be Nicholas Row, named after the developer Nicholas Boscow, who had started to develop some smaller house on the South side. The pretention of the John Robinson houses included access from the rear lane Victoria Place where stabling would be available for the new middleclass of Douglas which was becoming the major port and most important town on the Isle of Man. The original ambitions for Victoria Road as a series of large villas for the wealthy merchants did not come to fruition as Douglas expanded rapidly. Victoria Terrace has remained popular as the houses are well situated with fairly large south facing gardens. Whilst parking is a premium in Victoria Terrace many houses now have private parking from Victoria Place. PLANNING : Most of the planning applications since the terrace was registered are either to create parking areas or to replace the timber sash windows and recent applications have been encouraged to adopt the original Robinson design for Georgian multi paned sashes still visible in 8,9 although most had been replaced by the more 'modern' single glass sashes in the intervening years. 1 and 4 now sport the original style and 2 has permission for similar. 5 has had approval in 2005 (05/01023/CON) to rebuild the side addition and the new design includes a striking glazed elevation towards the road and a small bay at the rear which does give a view of the sea. It was planned to house a 'hot tub' by the previous owners and at only 2 m wide makes an awkward bedroom with no convenient access to the bathroom or the main sleeping area on the first floor. Other houses in the terrace use this side addition as the bathroom by forming an access off the half landing through what was originally planned as a side window. FIRST FLOOR : The first floor layout is for two reasonably sized bedrooms with fireplaces and two smaller rooms. The larger rooms have higher ceilings and the smaller one some form of vent into the roof space. The main truss supporting the hip roof comes through at the lower level on the wall dividing the two bedrooms. There is a tight access to the loft space from a small room at the end of the landing, currently altered as a utility room and the small room overlooking the garden is a bathroom with what appears to be original fittings - although the layout appears much altered and a shower has been installed. By removing the bathroom to the side addition, the existing bathroom space can be incorporated into the South facing bedroom to provide a much needed dressing area and storage. The other small bedroom can be increased in size by adjusting the wall between bedrooms making a fairer distribution of space between daughters. The fireplace in the larger bedroom is retained but the fireplace in the south bedroom will need to be removed to assist the remedial repairs necessary to stop a long running damp ingress problem caused by the wrong fitting of a gas flue into the chimney. The intention is that the fireplace and surround is refitted in the ground floor room when the gas fire is removed. Moving the fireplace allows for a more convenient layout of the bedroom. The other alterations proposed at this level is to rehang the bedroom doors - whilst originally intended to add privacy they are space hungry and by swapping doors across the hall minimum damage is done to the doors which are all similar sizes. Plans also show a roof hatch in the old bathroom which will improve access to the loft - which will be fully insulated in the proposed refurbishment - and will also house the MVHR ventilation unit. The North Facing bedroom do get a lot of condensation in the Winter and the MVHR and secondary glazing will remediate this. It is very simple to install the necessary vents using the lowered ceiling in the smaller rooms and the new studwork alterations to get to the lower floor. The side addition will have a separate system. GROUND FLOOR : moving the bathroom to the first side addition will require new drainage connections and possibly renewing the present drains to the rear. The existing soil pipe would be retained in the new design. The new bathroom is intended to reuse the existing fittings with a raised floor making the installation easier and the link through to the landing more natural with steps formed in the new opening. The glazed screen approved in 2005 is retained. The new layout will include a small toilet on the ground floor. The boiler position is retained although the long-term plan is that it will be replaced by an air sourced heat pump in the front area outside the glazed screen. The reuse of pipework will be relatively simple given the present boiler position. BOOT ROOM: The major alteration is that the rear of the side addition is extended to replace the existing boot room lost when the toilet is fitted. The house is generally accessed from the rear where there is good parking both at the rear of the garden and in a garage on the other side of the lane also owned by the applicants. The intention is that the garden wall is rebuilt to the new height and rendered incorporating pillar matching those already attached to the rear of the house (and replicated in the side entrance on Victoria Terrace all along the 12 houses). The new wall will increase the privacy for No. 4 and provide a south facing wall by their kitchen entrance. The new boot room will have a flat roof and incorporate a roof lantern to maximise natural light. The door screen reuses the doors approved in 2005 in a symmetrical design. GARDEN LINK: The new boot room will also be attached to a new garden link room from the kitchen. At some time, prior to registration, one of the rear windows was extended to a door to give garden access direct from that room. The three steps into the garden are steep and narrow. The present arrangement is unsatisfactory and the new link room is intended to provide a better arrangement and an additional space adjacent to the dining kitchen (where visitors can be entertained by the garden or parents relax when the other living room is invaded by children). It is deliberately halfway between the kitchen and garden levels. This allows a view over the garden and small terrace area without overlooking neighbours. The door is to the side to encourage new visitors to approach the boot room rather than invade the family space. It is also recognised that the present door arrangement is very uneconomic as any heat generated in the kitchen is quickly lost without a draught lobby. The design of the new space is intended to complement the existing building and uses design features which would have been familiar to John Robinson. It also has a glass lantern to maximise light and the arched window gives a view from the kitchen as well as on the lower porch level. The door screen again reuses the existing doors approved in 2005 in a symmetrical design. KITCHEN: The other intended changes to the ground floor include insulation under the suspended floor, removing the gas fire and relocating the first floor fire surround and two new fixed glazed lights adjacent to the door into the hall from picture rail to worktop height. The existing hall is dark and these will give a view through to the garden through the kitchen window. SASH WINDOWS: Permission is also sought to replace the existing sashes with multipane Georgian style sashes incorporating the 3 over 6 arrangement in the first floor (as No4 and 1) EXTERNAL FINISHES: All new brickwork and studwork will be finished in lime render to a smooth finish and decorated with KIEM paint to match existing (colour still to be confirmed). All existing doors to be reused and all new joinery painted white. Paving to be natural stone laid with mortar joints, footpaths to be natural gravel as existing. GUTTERING: New metal half round guttering and downpipes to increase capacity ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The house is a fairly compact design but with high ceilings. Most of the heat is lost through draughts, single glazed sash windows and a poorly insulated floor and roof. The walls to either side are linked to adjoining buildings and one elevation is South facing which is an advantage although the kitchen door is not lobbied. The house has gas central heating with old style radiators. Fitting new sashes with draught stripping and secondary glazing especially to the North elevation together with higher levels of insulation to roof and floors will improve airtightness. The proposed boot room and garden porch will further reduce heat loss and the MVHR will ensure good air quality without needing to keep windows open. The switch from gas to air source heat pumps will reduce the carbon footprint and the existing heating system and radiators should convert to the slightly lower water temperatures backed up with electric storage water heating. --- *Data sourced from the Isle of Man public planning register under the [Isle of Man Open Government Licence](https://www.gov.im/about-this-site/open-government-licence/).* *Canonical page: https://planningportal.im/a/25293-braddan-5-victoria-replacement-windows/documents/1033113*