Alistair Calvert, who bought Seymour Farm last year, is applying to build a 6,500 sq ft house to replace 19th-century farm buildings.
The proposed property – whose site is close to Victoria Tower and Haut de la Garenne – has been designed by ADAM Architecture.
Mr Calvert says the lead architect, Hugh Petter, was advised by Stuart Fell, Jersey’s former heritage and urban design officer, currently a consultant for local firm MS Planning, ‘on the historic precedents, traditions and the evolution of Jersey architecture’.
Listed buildings within the disused farm complex – a former barracks for a Victorian naval school and a coach house – are being retained as guest accommodation, and for occupation by Mr Calvert’s family while their new home is being built.
The proposed development also includes a garage and workshop, and a swimming pool. Mr Calvert says it will be around a third smaller than the current development.
‘The proposed house and outbuildings are 33 per cent smaller than the existing barns by volume and the house is lower than the main barn it replaces,’ Mr Calvert said in a letter supporting his application.
‘It is believed that the proposal greatly reduces the visual impact when viewed from all directions, most notably from the public areas of Rue des Marettes and Victoria Tower.’
The barrack building, the former farm’s main accommodation, was originally built to house boys attending a neighbouring Royal Navy naval school where they were taught seamanship, net making, compass reading and shooting. The school closed in 1869.
The application also includes landscaping proposals drawn up by UK landscape architects Colvin and Moggridge, who have worked for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and whose other clients include London’s Royal Parks and the National Trust in England. Environmental charity Jersey Trees for Life has advised on the proposed planting of 23 trees and 215 metres of new hedging, and the restoration of 290 metres of existing hedging to increase biodiversity in the surrounding area.
Farmland to the rear of the property will remain in agricultural use and while parts will be taken into domestic curtilage, Mr Calvert says boundary changes will increase the amount of land available for cultivation.
‘It has taken a lot of work to get to this point, but I hope the proposal will become a house that benefits the environment and the community,’ his letter says.
‘Subject to a successful application, it is a house that my family will live in for a long time, and it is our aim that it will be a house that people will recognise as an excellent example of Jersey architecture.’
