Architect Richard Norwood has transformed James Sellicks’ former builders’ yard in Uppingham into a characterful new home, where industrial inspiration, local materials and clever planning unlock a remarkably generous modern family home.

In the picturesque East Midlands market town of Uppingham, architect Richard Norwood was presented with a small but mighty challenge.

Delighted to be asked to design a new home for a local long-standing client, James Sellicks, founder and owner of a chain of estate agents, Richard approached the tight, town centre site his client had found with some trepidation.

“It was a former builders’ yard, nestled down a tight traditional side street in the centre of Uppingham,” Richard explains. “The first thing we had to bear in mind was the limited access. This was not a lovely, green vacant site. There were lots of surrounding buildings, adjoining landowners, neighbouring structures, and it was on the edge of the town centre conservation area with several listed buildings in the vicinity.”

Part of the yard had once been used as an undertaker’s, and there was even an empty coffin standing up in the corner of a brick-built garage, joining a whole collection of dilapidated buildings with timber additions and steel corrugated roofs. “There were some stone walls, but there was no ecology, nothing green; this was certainly a challenge to turn into a dwelling, but we also wanted to respect the history of the yard,” says Richard.

The new home is named Dorman’s Yard; the Dorman family had been well-known builders and part of the non-conformist religious movement in Uppingham during the 19th century.

As the site had a number of structures on it, it appeared smaller than it turned out to be, Richard recalls: “My first thought was, ‘how are we going to get a building on this?’” As an architect, it’s only when you get the measured survey and work of the footprints of buildings that are going to be demolished that you start to see things, and what is possible. But the buildings, and the mixture of materials they showed, did give me the initial inspiration for the industrial barn style I felt suited the situation.”

The site had a frontage width of 22 metres and tapered to a depth of 26 metres. “It would always be a challenging design in terms of highways, privacy and light, so we quickly arrived at an L-shaped building form which maximised a reasonable courtyard garden,” Richard says. “It was a jigsaw puzzle.”

The garden, designed by Second Nature Gardens, based in Kibworth, Leicestershire, has become both a focal point of the house and an oasis in this elegant urban setting. It’s easily accessible from the house via full-height Crittall-style glazed doors in the kitchen and living room.

As founder and owner of Leaf Architecture & Design in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Richard had known his client for two decades. He had worked with him on his former property at Billesdon Manor in a village near Uppingham, and a smaller canalside property nearby. “We have a good understanding of each other,” he says. “And Leaf Architecture’s speciality is that we try to strive for bespoke one-off houses, and we work a lot with listed buildings. This project was absolutely our specialism; a bespoke house for an individual private client on a challenging site.”

Another recent Leaf Architecture project, Grade II-listed Smeeton House, at Smeeton Westerby in Leicestershire, completed in November 2025, also showcases the practice’s approach.

Acquired by Richard’s clients in “an incredibly poor state of condition”, the property, dating to the mid-18th century with late 19th century alterations and a detached coach house, was built as a private home and adapted into a school. “The challenge here was to undertake a full renovation of the property, matching existing traditional materials and craftsmanship but also linking the detached coach house to the main house,” Richard explains. “We did this with a contrasting contemporary extension which provided an opportunity to maximise a glazed connection to the south-facing gardens.”

Back in Uppingham, the next challenge was the planning process – twice. Leaf Architecture first got on board in late 2020. The initial planning application was submitted to Rutland District Council in mid-2021, and approval granted.

However when the project went out to tender, “exacerbating construction and materials costs after Covid” meant that the potential outlay would have made the project unviable financially. So the initial iteration was adapted; a second courtyard was removed, the structure was simplified and window sizes became more standard. The new plans went back to the council as a revised scheme in mid-2023.

Planning consent was granted again later that year, with the adapted plans meaning the project could proceed much closer to the client’s desired build budget. Richard estimates that at today’s prices, the build budget for a similar project would be in the region of £2,500-£2,750 per sq m.

All of the existing buildings on the site, most of them industrial storage buildings, were taken down – a lot of them were fairly rickety, Richard says.

However, most of the stone walls to the west and east of the plot were conserved, repaired, rebuilt and repointed as needed, which helps to bring rich character to the outside space. Bat boxes were installed, but no evidence of roosting bats was found and the last bat survey was completed in July 2023.

The build process began in late 2024, with completion onsite in October 2025. Leicester-based Sandhurst Construction were appointed as main contractors, with the company’s director, Adam Weafer, running the site as project manager.

“There was nothing wrong with the actual planning itself, other than it taking longer than it should have done,” Richard says. “Rutland District Council is a very small council and has limited staff. The planning process was drawn-out.”

The client didn’t want “a traditional Uppingham stone house, and in any case it wouldn’t have fitted, the DNA of the site was industrial.” Richard grasped this immediately, proposing that the new building had to evoke “that sort of industrial barn style, but not a traditional barn conversion. It needed that industrial edge, dark stain cladding, corrugated, sheet metal materials, slate, and the lovely clay tiles that are also evident in the area.”

However, this original vision faced compromise when it came to achieving planning permission. “The councillors understood the modern design direction – rather more than the comments (on the planning application) from the public, some of whom didn’t get it,” Richard explains. “However, the local authority did challenge some aspects. I wanted to use a dark stained timber with the stone for the industrial edge, but they didn’t get that, they needed something more mellow. They demanded the timber cladding was a more natural oak colour. Everything else is a regular L-shaped two-storey building. It was never going to be a contemporary glass box.”

Although Covid prolonged the process by a few years, especially when the original tenders came in higher than expected, Richard now regards this element of the project as crucial to the success of the finished home. “It helped us reflect on the design a little bit further, and in a way that was a good thing. It meant we could test the design and the detailing and it became a truly viable project that was finished to everyone’s satisfaction. All of that painful process, all that transpired, was a positive thing in the end.”

Cleverly, Richard has managed to design a generously proportioned two-storey 300 sq m home with four double bedrooms, an open-plan living space with a vaulted ceiling for daytime activities and relaxation, plus a separate TV snug. There is also an ample utility area and boot room – a must-have request from the owners – plus an internal garage.

With a mixture of slate and clay tiles, air-dried oak and ironstone and brick dental detailing, the materials palette took inspiration from the local vernacular. Black Crittall-style windows and doors add to the subtle yet characterful variety of warm textures and materials.

The house is of traditional masonry cavity construction, using salvaged brick and local stone, but the unusual element perhaps is a block and beam concrete first floor to provide a robust and sound-proofed floor construction.

“Clients fall into two categories: they have a strong idea, or a loose idea”, Richard says. “The latter is better because it allows me to use my skill set to the fullest. James had some basic ideas of the accommodation he needed. He wanted a family day space, a nice kitchen, four bedrooms and lots of support provision – so the utility, boot room and garage – and genuine high-quality detailing. This was a tight, snug site, so he knew he wasn’t going to get a large garden.” Internally, James, who is in his early sixties and married with two children, also wanted a contemporary look. This was achieved through neutral/soft white colour schemes which help to reflect all the available natural light, smart Crittall-style internal doors to complement other glazing and natural hardwood floors.

However, James did have strong external design detail ideas, which he inputted to his architect, including the distinctive projecting first-floor dormer windows: “The windows to the bedrooms were always going to need detail, but these are actually a detail quite specific to James. He’d seen a number of local buildings with similar traditional windows. For his own home, he wanted to use this idea to create some finesse and enrich the detail on the building.”

James sent Richard images of vernacular design he’d spotted on his travels in the local area. “That richness of detail and individuality that James wanted was definitely something that the client brought to this project. And the builder and his team had some fantastic artisan skills that brought out these details brilliantly.”

Other traditional elements featured on the exterior of the house include the distinctive louvred oak vertical cladding, the limestone architrave surround for the front door, the exposed truss and exposed rafter feet under the roof, plus the Crittall-style heritage windows, salvaged clay tiles and slate all bring together genuine quality materials, Richard says.

When it came to energy efficiency, the aim was to create a high-performing building that would exceed Building Regulations requirements. After considering various heating and hot water options, including an air source heat pump, James decided to proceed with a high-efficiency gas boiler. He has also installed a PV array on the south-facing roof.

Achieving building control sign-off also proved a long drawn-out process. “It’s not just a question of building control doing a final inspection and supplying the certificate the following day,” Richards says. “There are many people involved in supplying the EPC following air pressure tests, various certifications from suppliers on windows for fire escape compliance, testing certificates on all plant and equipment. This can take weeks, if not months, to finalise, so can be stressful when you simply want to sign off the project.”

The only access road to the site, Audley Street, was barely a car width wide, and shared access with a neighbouring property, so this meant careful planning for the builders and deliveries. “There wasn’t another immediate location where highway access could be relocated,” Richard explains. “There were a number of other factors to juggle too. We were very mindful of adjacent neighbours; we wanted to screen the northern boundary for privacy, we needed to be respectful of the properties to the east and we needed to create a courtyard that would have opportunity to optimise southern and western light.”

What is Richard’s advice for would-be self-builders considering the potential of similar challenging urban sites in their own towns, villages and cities? “Embrace the initial stage with all that excitement, but be aware that the process can grind it down,” he says. “It’s important to find ways to maintain that excitement and energy and find an architect who is passionate about design opportunities and a good team, good quality builders with good reputations. And be prepared for a long process; planning can be awkward, but it’s definitely worth the long haul.”

Text: Jayne Dowle  |  Images: Dom Jones Photography