Converting a barn
in Chautagne.

Before talking about floor area, budget or plans, only one question matters: is your building identified in the Chautagne PLUi as eligible for a change of use? The intercommunal local plan, approved on 21 June 2022 and shared by the eight municipalities — Chindrieux, Serrières-en-Chautagne, Ruffieux, Chanaz, Motz, Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille, Vions and Conjux — identifies these buildings under Article L151-11 of the French Planning Code.

If the building is not listed, the project will not go ahead. It is as simple, and as blunt, as that. Many project owners find this out after buying, having plans drawn up and sometimes signing quotes. It is the first thing we check — free of charge — before committing you to any study.

Second filter: if the building is in an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, the change of use is also subject to the binding opinion of the CDPENAF, the departmental commission for the preservation of natural, agricultural and forest areas. "Binding opinion" means that its refusal is final: it is not a formality.

The Chautagne PLUi does not merely authorise or prohibit: it precisely regulates the appearance of the converted building. The most decisive rule for a barn project is explicit — "the large openings (e.g. barns) of traditional buildings shall not be bricked up", with an obligation to use glazed closures.

In other words: you do not close up a barn the way you close a garage. The large open volume — the cart door, the hay loft opening — must remain legible from outside. It is a strong constraint, but it is also what produces the finest projects: a double-height glazed opening in the original volume is worth more than three windows punched in at random.

The regulations also protect roof and facade features: génoise eaves, surrounds and projecting or decorative quoins. Certain built features are also protected under Article L151-19 of the French Planning Code. These rules must be read before the sketch, not at the time of filing.

Technically, a barn is not a house. The walls are thick, often stone, sometimes laid in earth mortar. The floor was designed for hay, not for a bedroom. The roof structure may be remarkable — and weakened. There is no insulation, no utilities and sometimes no foundations in today's sense.

Our in-house design office therefore carries out a structural assessment before any costing: condition of the walls and foundations, load-bearing capacity of the floors, condition of the roof structure and roof covering, presence of damp. It is this assessment that allows a price commitment that holds — and avoids the classic scenario of the budget blowing up halfway through the works.

Depending on the municipality, there are also zoning designations that we check systematically: the PPRi flood risk prevention plan for the Plaine de Chautagne, which covers seven of the eight municipalities, and the Natura 2000 site "Lac du Bourget et marais de Chautagne" (a protected European nature site). On the slopes of Chindrieux, Motz, Ruffieux and Serrières-en-Chautagne, outbuildings linked to the vineyards follow the same logic: listing first, project second.

We work either as project manager — you keep control of your contracts with the firms — or as a turnkey general contractor, with a single contract and a committed price and timeframe. On a barn conversion, where there are many unknowns, this second option greatly secures the budget.

In practice: checking the heritage listing and zoning, structural survey, sketch design compliant with appearance rules, building permit application and follow-up, contractor tendering, coordination of the trades, handover. The works are carried out by our own teams.

We are based in Aix-les-Bains, about twenty minutes from Chautagne, and a NovAlp site manager provides continuous on-site supervision.