The first of several new homes to be completed on a large site on the edge of Farnham in Surrey, this new timber frame home scores a high A rating (94) on the EPC due to the use of additional insulation, air source heat pumps, over 3Kw of photovoltaic solar panels coupled with a 6Kwh battery storage and whole house mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.

The wrap-around verhanda to the south and west elevations provides a simple and traditional solution that ensures that overheating due to solar gains in summer months is eliminated as it protects the large french doors and windows to the ground floor living spaces. The verhanda also provides a covered porch area to the front entrance and a sheltered area to the garden terrace.

Soft coloured Dove Grey painted timber cladding blends with the natural slate roofing with lead hip and ridge rolls but is accented by the white framing to the windows, corner posts, verhanda supports and gable fascias.

Internally, the ground floor includes a large open plan kitchen, dining and family space, a seperate reception room, study and a ground floor bedroom with ensuite facilities.

The first floor includes four generous double bedrooms, two further ensuites and a large family bathroom.

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Timberframe by Merronbrook.

Bespoke hand made kitchen from Charles Yorke Kitchens.

A Lawful Development Certificate was then sought to demonstrate realistic fall-back positions to extend the existing building before a fresh planning application was prepared and submitted for the new replacement homes.

Each home has approximately 125sqm of floor space including three double bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open plan kitchen / diner with two further reception room spaces and a utility room. Careful design planning from the outset ensured efficient and maximum use of the rooms to the first floor. Generous driveways and landscaped gardens wrap the pair of detached homes with large areas laid to lawn.

The site was to be ‘created’ by removing a section of a locally listed flint and brick wall and excavating the 4m height of earth behind this wall to form a site level with the road. A new brick faced retaining wall to the rear of the site (and forming the rear walls of the houses) would ensure that the earth behind was kept in place.

Clearly, this site would present many design challenges.

The solution was a pair of small semi-detached cottages designed to ensure daylight to the principal rooms could be achieved from the front and side elevations as there was no opportunity for natural light from the back. Two double bedrooms, each with ensuite bathrooms and an open plan ground floor make these properties perfect for shared young professionals looking to get on to the housing ladder.

A small courtyard garden provides amenity space for each plot and parking for one car was provided with visibility down the one-way road achieved by setting the front elevation back from the road which also served as access from the parking space to the front of the properties.

The buildings were designed as traditional brick and flint buildings with clay tile gabled roofs and chimneys to reflect the materials of the existing wall and a number of existing buildings in the nearby Conservation Area.

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The linear site overlooks a large river with open countryside on the opposite bank. The off-white render forms are broken up with vertical zinc cladding panels and zinc clad bay windows and cantilevered balconies.

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Works started on site summer 2016 and were completed in late spring 2018.

Overlooking open rolling countryside to the south, these five bedroom 3,000sqft+ homes have been designed over two floors with a stepped ground floor taking advantage of the natural topography of the site. This provides extra high ceilings to the main reception and living spaces at the rear of the house where the large glazed southern elevation allows light to flood into the interior.

Externally, the contemporary design takes its cue from simple traditional gabled barn structures and the mix of timber cladding and render compliment the slate roofing. Cantilevered first floors to the front elevation are supported on piers with ribbon windows to the bedrooms above.

We were approached by the developer client who had purchased the site with planning permission for two frankly rather stark and unappealing houses with a brief to redesign the scheme while maintaining the overall footprint and floor area of the scheme.

The new designs reflected the nature of the steeply sloping site, placing the principal living accommodation on the upper floors to maximise the views over the surrounding woodland lower down the hill.

The upper floor is reached either via the staircases in the entrance halls or directly off the upper terraces at the rear of the property where the site rises up to this floor level.

Utilitarian spaces are kept to the rear of the properties on the north side where smaller windows can be placed leaving larger windows to the main living spaces facing south.

Excessive solar gain is minimised by the exaggerated eaves, keeping the high summer sun off the large glazed windows while allowing the lower winter sun to warm the rooms.

Constructed out of solid blockwork with external insulation and render the houses are economical to build yet surpass the building regulations requirements for insulation.

Typically, housing projects look at sites ranging from potential for two or three units up to a dozen or so. Below are example images taken from a number of Feasibility Studies carried out.

Projects range from schemes for 75 units through to schemes in excess of 400 units.

Three new detached homes for developer Prism Homes in Kingswood’s Residential Area of Special Character.

The new proposals addressed the concerns raised with the previously approved scheme prepared by another architect by repositioning the houses to improve the privacy of each by increasing the distance between the buildings and by orientating them away from each other. This orientation also allows the plans for each house to be designed to relate to its own unique aspect in terms of daylighting and views.

In addition, the new proposals minimised the excavation required on site and removed the need for the 5m high new retaining wall around the western end of Plot 2 and avoided the damage to the existing trees that would have resulted. The minimising of excavation has the added additional benefit of helping to maximise the retention of the existing mature planting around the perimeter of the site and to ensure that minimum damage is caused to the root systems of the large trees.

The houses are designed as two storey traditional brick houses with steeply pitched tiled roofs containing an attic storey. Reconstituted stone detailing around the windows, plinths and to boundary walls are complemented by diaper pattern brickwork in a dark contrasting brick and decorative detailing to the open eaves. Large timber glazed screens to the rear of the houses supplemented with timber French doors to the principal ground floor rooms and a large central rooflight to the double height Entrance Halls ensure that modern standards for large amounts of daylighting are achieved.

The individual orientation of each of the properties ensures that rear gardens face away from each other to maximise privacy while also limiting the potential overlooking issues apparent in the currently approved scheme. Privacy and a sense of enclosure is further enhanced by the new screen planting proposed along the existing driveway and between the plots.