H&M billionaire gets go-ahead for Ramsbury mansion

 

Billionaire Stefan Persson, owner and chairman of the H&M clothing chain, has been granted permission to build a brand new country pile on his land at Ramsbury.

The 67-year-old owner of Ramsbury Estates – to which 9,000 acres of Crown property was added last year – was given the green light to build Park House by Wiltshire Council planners last month.

The house will be the jewel in the crown of his property portfolio, which also includes houses in London, Paris and Stockholm, and the 21-cottage village of Linkenholt in Hampshire.

The nine bedroom house, designed in the Classical architectural style, will employ six members of staff. And Mr Persson’s ‘local’ will be The Bell Inn at Ramsbury: the pub he bought in 2012, which serves the beer made by his brewery.

The 90-page design and heritage statement – prepared as part of the application on behalf of The Ramsbury Estate – argued that planning permission should be granted on the basis of the “exceptional quality and innovative nature of the house design” and the fact that the 780-acre Park Farm – on which the house will be built – has no principal estate dwelling.

And the team behind the application seem to have thrown everything at it to obtain permission. The plans were even peer reviewed by architectural historian and specialist expert on the English country house, Jeremy Musson, who wrote: “As an architectural critic and an architectural historian with considerable experience of assessing buildings for heritage and design significance, and one who has known and loved the Wiltshire landscape for thirty years, I commend the vision of the project and the quality of the project ensemble.

“I believe that this proposal, designed by an internationally renowned and award winning practice, has demonstrated a detailed evolution of an outstanding design, and a thoroughness in evolving an understanding of the site and local traditions”.

The house will be made up of six distinct elements: the formal house with living accommodation set over three floors, a kitchen wing, a pool building housed within a barn-like structure, an orangery, a garden pavilion, and a garage courtyard.

The applicants have not attempted to close or divert any rights of way as part of the application, and insist the house itself will have a low environmental impact, with solar panels on the roof of the orangery, and a biomass boiler. There will even be cycle storage on site to encourage sustainable transport.

Modern farm buildings – including a large silage clamp – will be demolished, along with a pair of wartime bungalows, which will be replaced by a thatched Gate House with three further bedrooms. The tenants of the bungalows, planners noted, have already been offered and accepted alternative accommodation on the estate.

The house will be situated in an elevated position, shielded by existing woodland. They say they wish the farm to revert to the parkland setting established 350 years ago, citing nearby Littlecote House and Tottenham House – ancestral seat of Lord Cardigan – as examples.

Visitors, says the plan, will approach the house “through a grazed park in common with the 18th century landscape tradition” up a 2km private track off the A4.

The planning application was approved with the blessing of Ramsbury Parish Council.