Construction boss who wants to knock down £7million mock Georgian mansion …

Posted on by Listify Me

  • Neighbours are opposed to ‘utter madness’ of the new development
  • Ray O’Rourke insists new property would have ‘higher level of design quality’
  • He says it would be of ‘material benefit’ to the area

By
Andrew Levy


PUBLISHED:

16:12 GMT, 2 May 2012

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UPDATED:

16:12 GMT, 2 May 2012

As a construction tycoon whose company is helping to build the Olympic village, Ray O’Rourke knows all about the benefits of regeneration.

But the public enthusiasm for the project is not something he enjoys for a similar rebirth on his own doorstep.

The 65-year-old boss of Laing O’Rourke, Europe’s biggest privately owned construction firm, wants to tear down his beautiful £7million Georgian-style mansion in Essex.

The decision has left locals up in arms – but not because he wants to replace ‘Fairwinds’ with a modern monstrosity. Instead, he plans to swap it for something that appears virtually identical.

Ray O’Rourke’s Fairwinds home: The construction boss wants to knock down the house and replace it with a near-identical property

Mr O’Rourke is 282nd on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £280million

Critics say the expensive project is unnecessary and will raze to the ground a building believed to have been inspired by the work of renowned local architect George Sherrin.

They have the support of the local council – which has already turned down the proposal on the grounds that the house is of ‘considerable architectural merit and makes a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area’ in the village of Blackwood, near Brentwood.

Mr O’Rourke, who is 282nd on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £280 million – has responded by bringing an appeal that is backed by heavy duty hired guns.

These include a planning architect, a design expert and an architecture historian from Cambridge University.

Last week his team informed a planning inspector that a rebuild would allow a ‘higher level of design quality’ and would therefore be of ‘material benefit’ to the area.

Other villagers branded the scheme ‘utter madness’, however.
One, who asked not to be named, said: ‘He wants to replace a perfectly good house with a proud heritage with a facsimile.

‘If he was after something radically different I could understand it, although I would still oppose it. But what he is proposing is utter madness.’

Another added: ‘There are a few of us who have been wondering what it is all about. The house is lovely, so why demolish it? ‘Especially because the plans that I have seen seem to suggest the new place would not be very different anyway.’

But a pensioner, who lives opposite, said: ‘I’m not going to be around much longer so it doesn’t bother me.’

Mr O’Rourke (left) with: David Higgins, Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority; Sebastian Coe, Chairman of London 2012; Jack Lemley, Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority; and Ron Brooks, the programme director and Chief Executive of CLM

Mr O’Rourke, who was born in County Mayo, western Ireland, received an honorary knighthood last year for services to construction.

He founded R O’Rourke and Son with his brother in 1978. It was renamed Laing O’Rourke in 2001 when it bought the construction division of John Laing for £1.

The Dartford-based firm is part of a consortium overseeing the Olympic building programme and is responsible for ensuring it is completed on time.

Other major projects include the One Hyde park luxury development in Knightsbridge, the St Pancras channel tunnel rail link, Dubai airport and the Alice Springs to Darwin railway in Australia’s Northern Territory.

In September last year, Brentwood Borough Council gave Mr O’Rourke permission for a two-storey front extension and extra space at the rear of his mansion.

But he decided this wasn’t satisfactory and applied for the complete rebuild, which was refused the following month.

The application stated the new dwelling, which includes ‘basement accommodation’ would provide ‘high quality domestic facilities… in a much more compact form’.

The council’s heritage expert, Robin Carpenter, told the planning inspector at a meeting in the Town Hall last Tuesday that destroying the building would be a ‘huge loss’ to the area.

Mr Sherrin, who lived from 1843-1909, designed a large number of desirable Georgian-style houses for the middle classes, which had red brick with false timber work.

He was also responsible for some of the buildings at Old Spitalfields Market in London, which are now grade II listed.

But Robert Ward-Booth, who is behind the designs of the new house, argued the importance of Sherrin’s work should not be ‘over-egged’ and there was no evidence the existing property had any link to him.

Mr O’Rourke’s team also claimed the new plan benefits the green belt because its footprint is smaller than those of the original house with the approved extensions.

Mr ‘O’Rourke did not attend the meeting and was unavailable for comment this afternoon.

His wife answered the intercom at their home, which is set in gated grounds 200 yards back from the road.

A council insider said Mr O’Rourke’s plan meant knocking down one of the ‘arts and crafts’ homes in the area, typified by ornate chimneys, sweeping roof lines and low eaves, and replacing it with a ‘big Essex mansion’.

But she refused to comment, saying: ‘Oh, forget about it.’

The planning inspector is due to make a decision next month.

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