The future of Dawnay Coach House, historically linked to Beningbrough Hall and the Dawnay family, looks set to be secured trhis week.

The planning committee of Hambleton District Council is recommended to approve the work when it meets on Thgursday.

York-based restoration experts GEM submitted its plans Hambleton District Council  a year ago.

At present, the Victorian brick and slate coach house buildings off Chapmans Lane, Shipton-by-Beningbrough, are dilapidated.

However, councillors look set to back the conversion and reconfiguration of the existing coach house to create three homes, with the addition of two, separate new, historically sensitive homes.

The new sustainably designed homes will come with either gardens or courtyards, car parking, electric vehicle charging, heat recovery and renewable energy systems (solar, air source and ground source heating are being considered).

The development will also encompass improved road access along Chapmans Lane, with passing places, and a turning spot.

GEM chairman Mike Green said: "Dawnay Coach House is in a derelict state, but remains an outstanding and beautiful building, a rural jewel with real presence and stature.

"There are significant challenges ahead involved in bringing the buildings back to life. But we have vast experience of this kind of skilled work and once we are completed, these historically important buildings will make wonderful family homes and further strengthen the fabric of the local community."

Originally constructed at the end of the nineteenth or start of the twentieth century - probably by Colonel Dawnay - the impressive, large-scale buildings are built with local brick and would have housed the horse-drawn coaches of Beningbrough Hall, two miles away.

With eight buildings in all on the site, the coach house fell into disrepair with the rise of the motor car in the 1930s and most recently were used for livestock, hay and storage.

Dawnay Coach House has been unoccupied for many years and is in need of considerable repair and conservation works to secure the building's heritage, integrity and sustainability.

Harmful details will be removed and original materials will be reinstated which have become damaged, such as roof and guttering, windows, doorways, openings and arches in the brickwork.

Mr Green founbded GEM Construction in 1997. It employs 35 full-time staff including project and professional staff, alongside GEM's sister company, Lanstone Conservation, which specialises in the maintenance, restoration and conservation of ecclesiastical, historic and ancient buildings and monuments.

GEM Construction most recently announced the successful development plans of the new Refectory Restaurant at York Minster, which is scheduled to open later in 2023 as part of a partnership with Andrew Pern's Star Group of Restaurants, including The Star at Harome.