Clifftop property to be demolished and rebuilt

Thursday 24 June 2021

An Art Deco-style house on the south coast cliffs will be pulled down and rebuilt, after the owners received permission to demolish the listed property - almost three years after submitting plans.

Dolphins on Route De Jerbourg, St Martin's will be knocked down and reconstructed, subject to planners being satisfied with the findings of a 3D point cloud survey of the property.

Three years have passed since the owners - The Manu Forti Trust - applied for permission for demolition, following an unsuccessful appeal against the property becoming listed because of its "historical" features. 

Dolphins was built in 1937 and was recently ruled by planners to be of "significant definite high quality and character", influenced by a number of contemporary and historical architectural styles, examples of which are "very rare" in Guernsey.

Pictured: The Dolphins house and grounds are set across six acres. The house has five bedrooms and four reception rooms, along with residents and servants quarters on separate floors. 

The house has a cellular form of rooms accessed via an octagonal hallway, while features and ornamentation are of the Art Deco style.

The house remains in its original use with very little redecoration or renovation carried out over the years by the family who had ownership of it until 2016, when it was gifted to the trust.

The three-storey family house was listed for sale with a guide price of £5.25 million in 2018. The property's listing made it difficult to find a buyer because the house was "in need of some updating" while being restricted by planning laws. 

After lengthy consideration, planners have now granted permission for the Manu Forti Trust to have the 3,500sq ft dwelling demolished and rebuilt.

Pictured: The property provides south coast views from its vantage point by the cliffs. 

Planners stipulated that a permanent record must be produced of the house before any work begins.

"No demolition shall take place until a point cloud survey of the interior and exterior of the building has been undertaken, and 3D models of the interior and exterior produced, and copies of both the point cloud survey data and 3D models submitted to the Authority in a file format compatible with ArchiCAD software," said Planning Director Jim Rowles.

"Thereafter demolition shall commence only when the Authority has confirmed in writing that the submitted data and 3D models are acceptable."

Pictured: The house's decor has remained largely unchanged since it was first built over 80 years ago. 

This is to ensure that an accurate record of the protected building is prepared and submitted to the Authority before any demolition occurs, he added. 

Only three public representations were made with regards to the plans, which were generally in support of a proposal that would stop the deteriorating property from becoming an "eyesore" on the otherwise picturesque cliffs. 

A valid application for demolition of the current dwelling and outbuildings was first received by the Planning Service back in September 2018. 

Pictured top: The interiors of the house in 2018. All images captured by Swoffers when the property was put on the market with the estate agent.