A Grade II stable block, brought back as a home for care.

A handsome building, falling out of time.

Hyde Care Home sits in the village of Walditch, outside Bridport, in the West Dorset landscape. In its grounds stands a Grade II listed stable block of real character — dated 1884, stone-built, with its clock still in the gable — long out of active use but retaining considerable integrity and potential.

The Kenmore Group’s ambition: bring the building back to life as purpose-designed dementia care accommodation serving the home’s residents. The obstacles, all interlocking:

• Every intervention in the listed fabric needed listed building consent, justified to the conservation officer
• The link to the care home meant a new aperture through historic masonry — among the most sensitive asks there is
• The roof held an active, legally protected bat roost
• Dementia care design had to satisfy CQC standards inside a listed shell
• Fire escape for non-ambulant residents, in a rural setting, within heritage fabric

Five disciplines, one argument.

Heritage & the conservation officer

We prepared a full heritage impact assessment to Historic England guidance and engaged Dorset Council’s conservation officer early, developing the glazed link and the new aperture iteratively in response to feedback. The masonry to be removed was recorded in full, the stonework specified for reuse, the structural lintel designed as a discreet, reversible intervention. The officer’s support was secured without appeal.

The glazed link

The corridor connecting stable block to care home was designed to be legible as contemporary — full-height glazing, a lightweight roof, minimal contact with historic fabric — while giving dementia residents the accessibility, daylight and supervision lines the use demands.

The bats

The roof supports a legally protected roost. A licensed ecologist ran the full survey programme to Bat Conservation Trust guidelines; we built the mitigation strategy — phased works, temporary roosts, integrated bat bricks and boxes, a zero-spill lighting design — that satisfied the three statutory tests and won the Natural England European Protected Species licence.

Dementia care design & fire

Room layouts follow DSDC and King’s Fund guidance within CQC fundamental standards: daylight and garden outlook from every room, legible circulation, appropriate contrast and acoustics — all inside the listed envelope. A specialist fire engineer’s escape strategy for non-ambulant residents was agreed with Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue.

A historic stable given new purpose. A care home expanded to meet real need. A protected colony rehoused better than it was found.

• Planning permission — full consent, Dorset Council
• Listed building consent — all works to Grade II fabric
• Heritage impact assessment
• Dementia care layouts to CQC / DSDC standards
• Contemporary glazed link & new aperture
• Fire engineering strategy
• Bat surveys, mitigation & NE licence
• Ecology reports & biodiversity net gain
• Car parking, access & landscape design
• Historic fabric repair specification

Both consents granted 2026 without appeal; the EPS licence separately granted. We’re continuing with the Kenmore Group through detailed design and contractor procurement — the same rigour into construction that delivered the consent.