A 150 year-old coach house turned into a luxury accommodation, leisure and conference complex has scooped a prestigious design award for the renovation and an ADAS consultant played a leading role in bringing the new design to life.
Keith Owen, Senior Buildings and Environment Consultant at ADAS, helped to win the Wales Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Design Award for Regeneration for his plans to turn the coach house into the Llety Cynin accommodation and leisure complex near St Clears, Carmarthenshire.
In the process, Llety Cynin saw off entries including the £675m St David’s Shopping Centre in Cardiff and the new Hafod Eryri Mt Snowdon Visitors Centre. As well as drawing up the designs, Keith also saw the plans through the planning procedure on behalf of the owners, Dyfrig and Elizabeth Davies.
Keith said: “It was a shock to win the award to tell the truth, considering who we were up against, but we’re really pleased with how the building turned out - Dyfrig and Elizabeth have been fantastic clients to work for.”
“The original building had a strong sense of history to it which was important to preserve which we did by keeping many of the orginal features, like window and door configurations. At the same time the building offered plenty of regeneration potential and it’s been a great project to work on. I’m thrilled with the results.”
As well as restoring the external facades, the regeneration project houses a swimming pool, spa, sauna and gym. Internal design changes ensured the building has space as a conference venue and overnight accommodation for 23 guests.
Elizabeth said the award was unexpected, but said guests were often left impressed with the building – especially given the remote location.
She said: “It really was unexpected we’re over the moon to have won.”
“ ‘Wow’ is often visitors’ first impressions when they see what we’ve done and they often remark on the fact that it is amazing to see something like this in such a remote location.”
ADAS is best known as a leading rural and environmental consultancy, and the RICS win is a testament to the breadth and depth of the company’s offering, said the firm’s Environment Director, Martin Buckland.
He said: “Llety Cynin’s award win is a real coup for us because it shows just how wide ranging – and exceptional – our services are. Not only did Keith draw up the designs he saw it through the planning process too and it’s this kind of continuity that our clients appreciate.”
Following an initial assessment of the coach house’s potential, Keith began working on plans before submitting them to the planners, a process which took less than a year.
The award was presented to Dyfrig and Elizabeth at the Welsh RICS Awards on May 21st in Wrexham. The success means the project will now go on to contest the UK- wide RICS award for Regeneration.
For more information on planning & design consultancy please contact Keith Owen on 01267 220233 or email keith.owen@adas.co.uk