Harborough architecture firm wins award for transforming 350-year-old house into village shop
Shoppers can see part of the original timbers through a display panel inside the store.
An architecture firm based in Market Harborough has bagged an award for turning a timber-framed home from the 17th century into a village shop.
Corporate Architecture’s project focused on a historic house in Desford High Street.
The 350-year-old house now stands proud as a Co-op for the village.
The firm were challenged with making the underused café and living accommodation beside the Blue Bell pub into a 4,000 sq ft food store - while being in a conservation area and facing a listed manor house.
Architects used elements from the village’s farming past to inform the design choices.
Archaeologists from the University of Leicester had recorded the building before construction started, as the historic structure needed underpinning and careful wall work.
At a ceremony at the King Power Stadium, the project won a ProCon Leicestershire Award for ‘Small Non-Residential Scheme of the Year’.
Alfie Simons, associate and senior project lead at Corporate Architecture, said: “The timber frame was the reason to take this slowly, not an obstacle to design around. Every new brick and roofline had to sit comfortably beside a building that has been part of Desford for three and a half centuries.
“The real test was always whether villagers would use it, and whether the Blue Bell would still be pulling pints next door. Both have come true, and a ProCon award on top of that is a lovely bonus for everyone who worked on it.”