Renovating Two 17th Century Weavers' Cottages

When Phil Bradby sold his house in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, he didn't want to rush into his next purchase so he decided to turn a dilapidated old property no one else was interested in into a stop gap home until he found the house he really wanted. "This way, I would gain some time to look for another house at leisure without losing money in the process," he explains.

He had the perfect property in mind - two dilapidated 17th century weavers' cottages situated in the grounds of Pecket Well Mill, a complex of industrial buildings which his company, Mango Homes, was converting into houses and apartments.

Over the years, the two cottages had been knocked into one and fitted with high timber doors so they could be used as a fire station outpost. In later years, the now single property was filled with pumping equipment associated with the mill and, when Phil decided to restore it to its former use as a home, he found it in a complete mess.

"Although the building was dilapidated, I loved its character - it still had original mullioned windows and oak beams in the roof," he remembers. "It was literally a shell - just a great big open space - but it had huge potential and I thought it would be great fun to do."

To make the place habitable, builders had to remove the garage-style doors, clear out all the old engineering equipment and break up the concrete floor. They took a JCB inside the property to dig the floors down to a lower level - thereby gaining height in the rooms. Some of the foundations had to be underpinned, and then the gable wall was rebuilt in stone reclaimed from the grounds of the mill and a fireplace was reinstated.

"I sought the advice of contemporary architects in the early stages, who suggested I replaced the timber garage doors with glass," says Phil. "It sounded great, but just wasn't practical. It was always going to be a stop-gap project and I didn't want to create a look which was so radical it might put people off buying it in the long term." Most of the original mullioned windows were still intact, but the Yorkshire stone roof had to be relaid and insulated with flexible Tri-Iso Super 9 foil which was easy to fit round the irregular edges of the original timber beams. "Most of the beams were in good condition, although one or two were too far gone to salvage, and one was quite literally sprouting a tree branch which had to be cut off," remembers Phil.

A new floor was created with steel girders running the width of the property so they could support two bedrooms - one with an en suite - and a central bathroom on the first floor, leaving the ground floor as a flexible, open plan living space. The family bathroom is quite long and narrow, with a high-pitch ceiling, so Phil chose a space-saving suite from Ideal Standard to bring balance and proportion to the room.

To increase the size of the property to 116m², Phil added a single storey glass roof extension which draws more light into the house. "Although the house was spacious, I wanted to add the extension to draw more light into the ground floor. Bearing in mind its on a high Pennine hillside, I also thought a garden room would be more useful than a large outdoor area. It looks out across the valley and makes the most of the superb views."

Foundations for the extension were dug before the floor was created with concrete slab, insulation, screed and Yorkshire flagstones salvaged from the mill. Half of what was the original exterior wall was then knocked out to create a double door opening into the garden room.

To make the whole ground floor area more versatile, Phil also fitted glazed double doors to divide the sitting area from the kitchen. "The place had been very dark and dirty and my aim was to make the ground floor light, modern and open, but I also liked the idea of being able to close off some areas to make it more cosy in winter."

The main structural work, including second fix and plasterwork, was completed in just 12 weeks and the rest of the work was finished at leisure, including the laying of oak and flagstone floors and the installation of hand-built kitchen units and built-in cupboard space. Phil designed most of the layout himself, including bespoke square-edged architraves, extra-wide rustic oak floorboarding and a store cupboard in the kitchen to house a Sime combi-boiler boiler and washing machine.

"I aimed to keep it simple and light so used natural materials like oak and stone," he explains. "The cottage was renovated as a temporary home until I could find a house I really wanted, so I had to bear in mind the fact that I would be selling it one day. Not many people want extremely modern decoration and cutting-edge design in a traditional cottage, but they will appreciate quality and a simple style."

With so many original features in the cottage, Phil wanted to keep the dcor as simple and clean as possible, so he painted all the walls and ceilings in a pale cream trade paint and furnished the cottage using pieces from his last house. "I wanted the place to be uncluttered and easy to maintain," says Phil. "As soon as you start to introduce too much furniture it looks fussy and closed in. I wanted the character of the building to speak for itself."

Phil admits that being in the property business has helped enormously. "I was very lucky in that I didn't have to spend weeks looking for good tradespeople to do the work," he says. "I also knew exactly what I wanted from the outset. Although the building was just a shell, I knew what it could become and always kept my eye on that goal. Now its finished, its everything I imagined it to be: a warm, comfortable, modern cottage with plenty of space and light the complete opposite of when I first saw it."

Further reading:

• Restoring a Victorian Villa
• Converting Four Period Cottages into One Home
• Extending Cottages