Completed in early Summer 2018, the scheme is the redesign of an earlier approved more modest dwelling that we achieved planning for on behalf of a private client following an original refusal of planning by previous owners of the site which ultimately lead to the imposition of the Tree Preservation Order before our clients purchased the site.

The site itself is set within the wooded gardens to the rear of the clients’ former home and is accessed via a new driveway from the north which winds its way through the trees and sweeps round to approach the house from the imposing southern elevation. The design presents a low, single storey elevation to the north with the lower floor cut in to the slope of the site while the mono-pitch roof allows the southern elevation to maximise on the views and sunlight filtered through the trees.

Download the project information sheet and photographs here.

Photographs (c) Matt Chisnall Photography

Winner of an award in the UK regional stage of the International Property Awards 2014-15.

Photographs (c) Matt Chisnall

A naturally sloping site nestled between trees within Farnham’s Area of Special Environmental Quality is always a challenge, particularly when the client wishes to replace an existing house with a highly contemporary design.

For more photographs and floor plans please download the project brochure.

This 3,300sqft design was submitted to Waverley Borough Council in November 2012 and takes advantage of the central plateau of the site. Designed as a sculptural piece within sylvan landscape the proposed replacement dwelling is based on the concept of a ‘broken box’. The client’s aspirations were to take the now “traditional” white render box of contemporary designs and subvert it; pulling the rendered box apart to expose the timber core within. The design takes advantage of the wide frontage offered by the plot and the southerly aspect by placing the main day-to-day living spaces on the south façade, leaving more ancillary spaces to the north façade.

Using the Mantle Panel System SIPs building system which provides a U-value of 0.1 W/msqk and an air-permeability level of 1.0 allows for a highly energy efficient scheme which maximises standard glazing and open plan spaces with minimal need for columns and steel beams.

When you know that current Building Regulations demand a result lower then 10.0 you can see what a dramatic improvement this is.

Careful detailing, construction and selection of Passivhaus Certified windows and external doors, limiting services penetrations through the external fabric, lots of air-tightness tape at junctions all help to achieve, and better, the 0.60 Passivhaus limit.