A glimpse of the future
Country Life UK|May 20, 2020
The exceptional houses of tomorrow are already being built today, thanks to Paragraph 79
James Fisher
A glimpse of the future

IT’S a pretty good job,’ says Richard Hawkes. ‘I get to go to work every day and design exceptional buildings. It’s not a bad way to wake up.’ Mr Hawkes is the director of Hawkes Architects, a practice that specialises in designing buildings that comply with paragraph 79 of the National Planning Policy Framework, or Para 79 for short. You will have seen these houses if, as I was, you were self-isolating to Grand Designs before it was cool. Indeed, you may have seen Mr Hawkes on the very same show.

Para 79 began life back in 1997 as Planning Policy Guidance 7 (PPG7) and was introduced by then Environment Secretary John Gummer (now Lord Deben). In its original form, the guidance stated that: ‘An isolated new house in the countryside may also exceptionally be justified if it is clearly of the highest quality, is truly outstanding in terms of its architecture and landscape design, and would significantly enhance its immediate setting and wider surroundings’ and ‘This means that each generation would have the opportunity to add to the tradition of the Country House which has done so much to enhance the English countryside.’

As years and governments have passed, PPG7 slowly transformed into Para 79, but the initial framework still stands. The current legislation states that a house given Para 79 planning permission must be ‘of exceptional quality, in that it is truly outstanding or innovative, reflecting the highest standards in architecture, and would help to raise standards of design more generally in rural areas’. Perhaps most importantly, however, the building must ‘significantly enhance its immediate setting, and be sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area’.

この記事は Country Life UK の May 20, 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Country Life UK の May 20, 2020 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

COUNTRY LIFE UKのその他の記事すべて表示
Happiness in small things
Country Life UK

Happiness in small things

Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
Colour vision
Country Life UK

Colour vision

In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
'Without fever there is no creation'
Country Life UK

'Without fever there is no creation'

Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines

time-read
4 分  |
September 11, 2024
The colour revolution
Country Life UK

The colour revolution

Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili

time-read
6 分  |
September 11, 2024
Bullace for you
Country Life UK

Bullace for you

The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
Lights, camera, action!
Country Life UK

Lights, camera, action!

Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
Country Life UK

I was on fire for you, where did you go?

In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
Bravery bevond belief
Country Life UK

Bravery bevond belief

A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth

time-read
4 分  |
September 11, 2024
Let's get to the bottom of this
Country Life UK

Let's get to the bottom of this

Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
Sing on, sweet bird
Country Life UK

Sing on, sweet bird

An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds

time-read
6 分  |
September 11, 2024