12/11/2025
For those of us working on Paragraph 84e country house projects, it’s been fascinating to follow the evolving definition of what is considered “truly outstanding” - a pre-requisite for success with these schemes.
Our managing director, Kit Knowles, had the privilege of serving on the Design Review Panel for Francis Terry’s proposed “world-first Neoclassical Passivhaus” at Little Tew, and has the following reflections on the local authority’s refusal and the reasoning behind it.
The key takeaways:
1. Sustainability now defines outstanding design.
Passivhaus alone is no longer exceptional — it’s the starting point. In the context of the climate emergency, no building can be outstanding unless it is inherently and verifiably sustainable across its whole-life carbon. Certification, circular materials, and low embodied carbon should be treated as fundamentals, not features.
2. Context matters.
Paragraph 84e expects proposals to raise local design standards. In the case of this Neoclassical Passivhaus, the proposal was situated in the vicinity of Tew Park, where the Inspector found “design standards already high, so the scheme would not raise them.” In other words, schemes stand a better chance where the baseline quality is low and the proposal can demonstrably uplift it.
For any project considering a Paragraph 84e route to planning, engaging with a Design Review Panel is one of the most effective mechanisms for lifting design quality. The multidisciplinary scrutiny — architecture, landscape, engineering, and sustainability — are invaluable in strengthening both narrative and performance.
Plans for what Francis Terry described as ‘the world’s first Baroque Passivhaus’, have been rejected – despite a council agreeing the designs were ‘outstanding’
