Due to the vagaries of East Hampshire District Council’s planing policy, a number of applications had to be submitted to extend the existing cottage (on paper at least) to form a realistic “fall-back” position where the existing cottage could be significantly increased in size above what would normally be permitted for a replacement dwelling. With these extension permissions secured, a planning application could then be submitted for the new house.

The client’s initial brief was for the new home to have the simple built-form, reminiscent of traditional gable-end and rectangular agricultural barn structures with lower eaves, but with a contemporary aesthetic overall externally and internally. Materials were to be a mix of simple timber cladding and stonework with slate and standing seam metal roofing. The finalised design is for a U-shaped building creating a sheltered courtyard to the rear, looking out over the sloping site and woodland beyond. The wings of the U-shape are single storey and contain the main living space and principal bedroom; both of which are vaulted to give large windows and to take advantage of the simple construction nature of a SIPs build. The building form is expressed on the ends of the two storey and single storey wings with aluminium clad panels from ground level and over the edges of the roof. The single storey elements are stone clad with a zinc standing seam roof, the two storey front section of the bulding is timber clad with slate roof.

The ground floor contains the principal bedroom, ensuite and dressing room, study, laundry / utility room (complete with dog-shower…), and the open plan kitchen, dining and reception room. A fourth bedroom with ensuite completes the ground floor accommodation. The vaulted entrance hall, with sunked spiral wine-store as a focus and talking point in the centre of the space, leads up to a bridge link between the two first-floor bedrooms and bathrooms. The gable ends of the first-floor bedrooms are completed wih re-entrant balconies, set back from the end of the bulding to give privacy and shading to the glazing.

Large glazed openings facing south-west would normally be a concern with their potential for creating internal overheating; the lack of a cantilevered roof structure prevents deep eaves shading the windows. However, in keeping with the agricultural barn appearance, large sliding timber panels have ben designed and included that can be used to close off each of the south-west facing windows in summer on particularly hot days; with the sliding screens closed the doors behind can be opened to maintain a refreshing cross breeze through the building.

For more new SIPs panel homes click here

For more new homes click here

SIPs Contractor was Bentley Projects

A standing seam metal roofing with self-coloured silicone anti-crack render and narrow rainscreen larch cladding and zinc rainwater goods give a contemporary aesthetic to the traditional building forms of a T-shaped plan, steep duo-pitched roofs and gable ends. Large first floor windows with juliette balconies maximise views to the south and the open pergola structure gives a partially sheltered outdoor entertaining space. The simple pergola design is echoed in the design of the front porch.

MBC Timbeframe will be responsible for the foundations, superstructure, insulation and air-tightness using their Passivhaus Twin-wall system and Passivslab raft foundation.

Passivhaus buildings provide a high level of occupant comfort while using very little energy for heating and cooling and Certification is through the Passivhaus Institute.  For more details on what benefits designing to Passivhaus standards can give your new home please click here.

The footprint is similar to the existing bungalow, which had previous permission for a couple of former windows to the roof. The site is elevated above the road and benefits from wide views over the countryside to the south, looking over the top of buildings further down the slope.

The narrow access road and limited space on site, coupled with the clients’ desire to create an energy efficient and cost effective building, meant a timber frame solution was the natural choice.

The traditional design features two simple rectangular plans, intersecting and slide over each other. These are roofed with traditional forms of steep pitched gable ended roofs. The majority of the building is to be timber clad with the main entrance elevation having a stone facing, echoed partially on the rear elevation, helps reinforce the two different plan elements. Likewise, the roofs are a combination of both natural slate and standing seam zinc to differentiate between the two forms.

Works are expected to start on site in early autumn 2020.

For examples of some of our other timber frame homes please click here.

The building is to be built for private client using the same timberframe system that so many of our latest projects employ to ensure low energy bills, cost effective and quick construction and a comfortable home environment.

One expert company in renewable technology has done some more digging in to this and isn’t quite as convinced as the tabloids appear to be.

According to www.energist.co.uk there is some discrepancy in what has been reported and what was actually said:

https://www.energistuk.co.uk/knowledge-bank/articles/gas-boilers-to-be-banned-in-2025-we-dont-think-so.php

At BWP Architects we have been advising private clients planning their own homes to push insulation levels up and up while pushing air-permeability down and down. In addition, sensible planning of bathrooms and hot water storage locations can significantly reduce wastage of hot water by reducing lengths of pipework. It is far better to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat your home and water in the first place and then deal with how one creates that heat next. This is one of the core Passivhaus principals of design along with consideration of limiting solar overheating from summer sun while maximising solar gains from winter sun, looking at the volume efficiency of a new home, maintaining fresh air etc all to create highly energy efficient and comfortable homes to live in.

By reducing the requirement for heating it brings in to play the option of using heat source pumps (air, ground or even water) as they become more efficient as the demands are lower.

Of course, as the Energist article above highlights, heat pumps can be heavy on electricity requirements so coupling these with a large array of Photovoltaic panels and battery storage makes perfect sense.

Finally, the Government saying they are committed to something and then this actually actually translating into legislation are often very far apart… it wasn’t that long ago that the Government were committed to all new housing being zero-carbon by 2016!

From a shortlist of eight projects the new house has been awarded “Best Eco House” in the 2018 Build It awards.

Constructed by MBC Timberframe the house is based on Passivhaus principals of high levels of insulation and air-tightness to drive down energy usage while sensitive detailing of overhangs and deep window reveals ensures that solar gains are controlled to the months when they can contribute to comfortable living in the house and eliminated in summer months to avoid overheating.

“Having recently completed our self build,  I have to express my thanks to Leigh of BWP Architects for his input throughout the whole process.

Leigh was not our initial architect, we contacted Leigh once we had decided on a contemporary style property having noted his track record of beautiful homes. Leigh made the whole planning and design process painless, he made everything easy to understand, our expectations were set realistically unlike former contacts and the end result was an outstanding home, which we built on budget and on time, as such I couldn’t have asked for much more.

Peter Worthy – Client, Botany Wood”

Sited within the Greenbelt on the outskirts of Farnham, Surrey this project for a new two storey detached home to replace an existing bungalow needed to overcome Waverley Borough Council’s strict policy RD2A limiting the size of replacement dwellings to just 10% larger than the existing house.

Maximising the potential for extending the existing house under Policy RD2 by 40% over the original property helped secure this scheme.

Construction started in autumn 2016 and the house was fully complete in less than 9 months.

Designed and built using Passivhaus construction principals of controlling air-tightness, limiting thermal bridging and plenty of insulation to drive down energy usage the choice of using MBC Timberframe was a natural one. We have successful worked with MBC on a number of projects now and their ability to guarantee air-tightness levels down at 0.6 air changes per house and insulation levels below 0.1 offers huge benefits. Their ‘passivslab’ raft foundation system avoids the thermal bridging issues where the ground floor meets the external walls.

Externally, the finish will be Norstone Ochre cladding, Dryvit self-colured acrylic render and

timber (heat treated to prevent warping). The interface of these materials with the timber frame solution required careful detailing and our knowledge of the MBS system played a key part in completing the work. Below is an example of one of the 3D details needed to fully explain for the contractors how the external wall fabric goes together.

For more Contemporary New Homes follow this link here.

Many thanks to Matt Chisnall for his photography work as usual.

Approved Document L1B setting out compliance with this is now available on the Planning Portal website by clicking here: Approved Doc L1B

Happy reading!

Many of our projects incorporate the principals of Passivhaus design where a “fabric first” approach to energy savings, coupled with a logical approach to services installation, overall layout, construction detailing, careful consideration of control of solar gains and the integration of renewable technology (without the reliance on it) to provide comfortable homes to live in that are also economical to use.