A dilapidated barn in the grounds of John and Cat Frankitti’s home in Fife had long beckoned to be updated. The 18th-century stone building, where cattle drovers once rested, had no floor and cold stone walls, but the couple could see its potential, and they were desperate to bring it back to life before the elements destroyed it.
"Also, as we age and become 'crumbles', living in an old farmhouse with upstairs bedrooms and a downstairs bathroom becomes less appealing," says John. "So we realised that it was time to make a decision: we either had to move to a new property altogether or finally undertake the project we had often talked about and [convert] the barn into an eco-friendly, low-maintenance, single-storey home with easy access and lovely, relaxing views."
Although the couple had someone working on plans for the build, things were moving very slowly until they attended a homebuilding show in Edinburgh. "Persuaded by Cat, I reluctantly agreed to visit the Oakwrights stand and after engaging with project manager Iain Hendry, we soon had a potential solution to our problem brief."
The new plan would allow them to retain as much of the original building as possible – not the easiest of tasks given that the proposed oak frame would have to be dropped into the existing walls. "We also wanted an extension with as much glass as possible to overlook our neighbouring golf course – a combination of timber and glass was the answer as we knew this would blend comfortably with the old," says Cat.
Project details
- Location Fife, Scotland
- Build method Oak frame combined with existing stone construction
- House size 132sq m
- Project Croft barn conversion
Planning approved
In drawing up the plans, Andrew Hunter of Thomson Hunter Associates – Oakwrights'regional architects in Scotland – recognised the unique nature of the project.
"Being a historical building, it was important to retain as much of its original character as possible, while fitting the brief and making it suitable for use as a modern home," he says.
John and Cat say they were suitably impressed with Andrew’s initial plans, describing them as being "very close to the mark" and that they included aspects of the final build that they had not considered themselves.
"Andrew had more insight into what we were looking for than perhaps we had," says John, and with a few added design tweaks here and there the plans were soon finalised.
Obtaining planning permission for the build wasn’t entirely straightforward, though, as the property sits on the boundary of three local authorities. Plus, for a while the planners thought that the building should have been listed, but, thankfully, they backed down on this and planning was granted.
On realising they had enough funds to cover the project, the couple also commissioned an oak-frame garage to be built, complete with additional living quarters above. With construction barely underway, Covid hit and suddenly building materials became scarce and the oak due to be delivered from France was delayed.
Luckily, Oakwrights held the necessary oak required to build the garage, so what was almost an afterthought turned out to be the first part of the project to be built.
The cost of covid
It quickly became evident that a consequence of the pandemic was rapidly rising costs for materials, and for the Frankittis this was a concern.
"To Oakwrights’ credit, even though oak prices soared, they honoured the original contract we had with them and we paid exactly what we had agreed on," says Cat.
When the main building’s oak frame – designed by Sarah Connelly at Oakwrights – arrived in late 2020, construction could start in earnest with Iain Hendry managing the project, while John and Cat remained living in their farmhouse nearby.
The nature of the stone building meant the construction of the oak frame had to be approached differently to normal. "Because this building is far from square – more like a parallelogram – the frame had to be built from the inside, and then angled to fit within the walls," says John.
There were unexpected aspects, too. When the ground within the old croft was excavated with a view to laying raft foundations, the couple expected to find some sort of rubble foundations under the old stone walls, but there were none.
"We even thought we might unearth a few historical artefacts, but all we found was a glass bottle from the 1800s, which we’ve kept," says Cat.
The property is single-storey home that offers easy access
‘In this house, we’ve got big, open spaces connected to nature, none more so than here in the living room,’ says Cat
Having tiled flooring throughout makes for easy cleaning, and is an ideal choice for efficient underfloor heating
The original stone fireplace here is one of two that John and Cat were keen to preserve
Security concerns
By 2021, materials started becoming more available again and the influx of these had other unforeseen challenges for the build.
"We took delivery of 14 pallets of slate and we had so much value lying about the site that I realised I couldn’t join Cat on our planned holiday – I felt I needed to be around here to protect all of the on-site materials from potential theft."
Because the lockdown put a halt to John’s business as a design and exhibition contractor, rather than remain idle he was determined to put himself to good use by helping out wherever he could on the site.
"It was perhaps to Iain’s chagrin that I offered my services – I felt I was helping move things forward whereas he possibly thought I was just getting in the way," smiles John. "Either way, I did a fair amount of labouring when it came to the groundworks and the garden landscaping."
Eco credentials
The project was finally completed in early 2023 and John and Cat were able to move in shortly afterwards.
"This house is future-proofed to allow us to age disgracefully here, and we’re living the dream," says John. "We have a home that is very eco-friendly – although not a passive house, it incorporates an air-source heat pump and underfloor heating, it is highly insulated and has solar panels and Tesla batteries. The glass provides solar gain, and this was all part of the design process. In effect, we put more energy back into the grid than we use ourselves."
From the start, the Frankittis had said they wanted to retain as much of the old building as possible to keep the property’s character and they feel they have achieved that.
Spotlight on a frame with a difference
Sarah Connelly, frame designer at Oakwrights says, "This exciting historical building project to convert an old barn into a modern home involved the design and installation of a bespoke oak frame within an existing stone barn, where access was heavily restricted by the retained building fabric.
"The barn’s stone walls, approximately 600–700mm thick, remained intact throughout, which made it impossible to access the frame from outside for assembly or jointing. As a result, the installation strategy relied on removing the roof to enable the oak frame to be craned in to place from above.
"The oak frame was fully jointed and prefabricated off-site using traditional mortise and tenon joinery, with each component trial-assembled to confirm fit and alignment. Crucially, all joints were designed to be pegged up from the inside, as the solid stone walls prevented any access to the exterior faces of the frame once in place.
"This approach preserved the integrity of the existing stone walls, eliminated the need for invasive alterations, and allowed for a clean, accurate installation of the oak frame within the constrained internal space. The final build looks incredible with a fantastic mix of materials complementing one another."
"We’d like to think that anyone walking by wouldn’t just view it as a new build with stone added," says John, "but instead look at it as an old stone building with a new oak bit on it."
If you love this house and want more inspiration, take a look inside this couple’s oak-frame forever home in Ross-on-Wye, which was built completely from scratch. For practical tips and advice, read our expert guide to renovating a stone house.
