COVER STORIES - Gallese Design · garden soil turned out to have an unsuitably high clay content. Instead, a 6m-deep trench had to be dug across to the neighbour’s garden to reach

READERS’ HOMES

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71 The house next door The “funny little 1950s thing” that turned out to

be one couple’s ideal London renovation project

80 Room to live An open-plan kitchen/living room extension is

currently number one on many a homeowner’s list: here’s what you need to know before you build one

86 We want you! Tell us what you think about Build It, and you could

win one of five AEG power drills from Toolstation

● COVER STORY Boxing clever – radical extension to a

period home p30 ● Down under – add valuable space with

a basement p94 ● The living kitchen – how to build the

trendiest extension p80 ● Self-build for beginners, part

one: finding land p104 ● Community self-builds – are

they the future? p97 ● Be safe – must-have site gear p100

● WIN! Makita power tools worth over £930 each p14

You’ll find hundreds of plots, build tips and advice at www.self-build.co.uk

HOME IMPROVEMENT

COVER STORIES

contents

issue 240 | february 2010

FEBRUARY 2010

PRACTICAL BUILDING

92 Room by room: hallways Warm welcome or cool reception? The design

details for creating a beautiful, practical hallway

94 Building a basement With new construction and waterproofing methods,

basements have never looked like a more viable option for getting a lot of extra living space

30 Removing the barriers A glass extension with gorgeous garden views

elevates this Edinburgh house above the norm

40 Modern manor A serial renovator of old houses, Pru Irvine took on

the ultimate challenge when she project-managed the build of a new contemporary home

50 Perfectly clear Easy maintenance and clean-lined contemporary

style come together at the Hinams’ family home

60 The luck of the land Having finished one self-build, the O’Briens spied

an even better plot just a stone’s throw away from their new home. Time to up sticks and start again…

40

50

7160

30

50 BUILD IT | FEBRUARY 2010

Perfectly clear

readers’ homes | new build

FEBRUARY 2010 | BUILD IT 51

Setting up a business would be work enough for most people, but Heather and Paul Hinam decided to build their new home in the same year they started a services design consultancy.

Heather and husband Paul, an environmental engineer, juggled professional commitments with site visits, project managing and furious bouts of tiling, floor laying and painting. Their expertise enabled them to design all of the services – including audio visual systems embedded into the walls, underfloor heating, low energy lighting, rainwater harvesting and the complex energy consumption calculations required to meet Building Regs.

But taking on two such monumental tasks was exhausting. “People were constantly ringing us with problems,” says Heather. “We regularly worked 12- or 14-hour days, six or seven days a week. Holidays with our daughters Crystal and Cherry were no more than long weekends.”

The couple run their company from home, which was convenient for keeping close tabs on work at the site. During the build the family lived just five miles away in their previous home, also in the Vale of Glamorgan. It helped that Heather and Paul had self-built their last property, and second time round they knew exactly what they wanted.

In moving from Rhoose to nearby Barry – of Gavin and Stacey fame – they aimed to create a much larger living

space. A lavish open-plan kitchen and living room, an office studio and four bedrooms, three with ensuites, were planned. And ideas for small improvements gleaned from their last house would make life easier. “I knew I wanted fewer cupboards in the kitchen to put clutter in and fewer worktops to clean,” says Heather. “ We planned wet rooms

Environmental engineering experts Heather and Paul Hinam designed an uncluttered, low-maintenance home – with clean technologies to match. WORDS SOPHIE GALE PHOTOS ROBERT EAMES

Method Timber frame Build cost £245,000 Location Glamorgan

Perfectly clear

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The Vale of Glamorgan is a lowland area that mainly comprises farmland and small villages. It stretches across most of the south of the county of Glamorgan from Porthcawl to Cardiff. Further west lies the Gower peninsula, which is the first area in the UK to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

See our plot listings on page 131*correct at time of press

Location matters

GLAMORGAN

Regional facts and figures Glamorgan

Cost of this plot £150,000

Current market value of similar house £599,000

Plots currently available in region* 155

Top tipsX Get everything, down

to the last detail, in writing, signed by yourself and the tradesmen. Don’t allow any room for errors or misunderstandings

X Pay workers for completing a task rather than a daily labour rate – unless you are very confident in the person or company

X Check progress regularly to ensure that any errors are picked up quickly before they have a chance to become expensive

X Don’t try to describe something and expect the tradesman to understand what you want: provide proper drawings and descriptions, including measurements of everything

for bathrooms, so no shower cubicles to clean. Wood and travertine floors that would be easier to care for than carpets.” And, in place of a large garden, the couple wanted a swimming pool – which they thought was a fun way to cut down on gardening.

Plotting and hunting Easier access into Cardiff was another motivation for the move. Though close to a main road into the city, their new home sits in a peaceful position, at the end of a small lane with open countryside behind. Paul’s brother, a tree surgeon, came across the land through his job. This is their “dream plot”, says Heather, and in this case good things did come to those who waited – they only found one other desirable site in two years of looking. “It’s easier to find plots up to the Valleys, off the beaten track,” says Heather. “But for a quiet spot on the outskirts of Cardiff it’s more difficult – we were lucky to find it.”

Outline planning for the site provided for a dormer bungalow. When this transmogrified into a two-storey, four-bedroom house, many of the neighbours wrote letters of objection, but the council saw no problem. “I think this was down to the foresight of the architect,” says Heather. “The neighbours were worried about being overlooked – I don’t blame them really! This is a nice quiet lane and we came along wanting to add a new house. But the council agreed the house was the right size for the land.” Council regulations require the same amount of “amenity space” (ie, garden and exterior areas) as house

Below: The wood-burning stove is a functional and beautiful feature. Left: High bar stools give the kitchen some hotel-style glamourg




Green issuesA biomass boiler, air to water heat pump,

wood stove and water recycling earn this

house the nickname ‘the eco-house’ with

the family

space, and the designs complied. Th e council didn’t even object to the living room’s lengthy feature balcony, which makes the most of far-reaching views. “I know the neighbours behind did object,” says Heather. “But we have planted trees which in a few years will provide privacy both ways.”

Th e site is sloping, but this didn’t complicate the build greatly. To support a driveway and garage, level with the lane, retaining walls were built. Between these walls and the lower fl oor of the house is a dry moat area, with a bridge leading to the front door. Bedrooms are downstairs and the living room upstairs, again to capitalise on the views. “Th e architect coped really well with the slope by ensuring you enter onto a landing,” says Heather. “Th e bridge makes the house wheelchair accessible, as per Building Regs. Now we’ve placed a café-style table, chairs and potted fl owers in the dry moat below, it’s also a great-looking feature.”

The right peopleOnce the architect had drawn up the plans, the couple bought them from him and began jointly project managing with their building team. Th eir immediate challenge was organising for 10m-long lorries to back down the 80m lane to the house. “Th e lane is just three and a half metres wide with lots of obstructions – a tough one!” says Heather. As a goodwill gesture to neighbours, the Hinams eventually re-tarmacked the entire lane.g



Favourite feature The gallery, as it overlooks the hall downstairs, swimming pool and countryside beyond, is Heather and Paul’s favourite spot. It’s position in the house means that everytime you walk past you can glimpse the changing colours and seasons outside.

Another diffi cult task was connecting to mains drains. A more eco-friendly biotank was the initial option, but the garden soil turned out to have an unsuitably high clay content. Instead, a 6m-deep trench had to be dug across to the neighbour’s garden to reach the mains sewer. “It was scary just to look down into. Th e builder did really well to take that on.” Another real fi nd was their carpenter. “He made a superb job of everything and nothing was too much trouble for him. He even made savings for us on the storage area roof by fi nishing it off with leftovers of the ‘Falzinc’ roofi ng material – moulding it by hand,” says Heather.

A timber frame was used for the main structure and it was quick and easy to instal – the whole frame going up in

just six weeks. Th e supplier, Caerphilly-based company Donnybrook, was less expensive than the fi rm from the couple’s last build but no less meticulous. Th e frame suited the overhanging roof, avoiding structural steel and its associated expense. “My husband also praises its thermal qualities,” says Heather. Semi-rigid fi breglass and Kingspan insulation were used to fi ll the spaces between the timbers – obtaining “superb ‘Building Regs-and-beyond’ U values”.

Green themeAs suits the house of an environmental engineer, many eco-technologies are included. “We were on a mission to incorporate them!” says Heather. Th e LG Th erma air


Above: The large oval bath and neutral hues give the bathroom a scerene feeling


Useful contacts

CARPENTER Chay Webb 01446 735434/07866 106546 TIMBER FRAME Donnybrook Developments 029 20860891 www.builtinwales.com MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SERVICES

Amser 029 20473080 www.amser.me SWIMMING POOL

BOS Leisure 01656 741625 www.bosleisure.co.uk ARCHITECT

Lloyd Britton 029 20226966 www.lbarchitect.co.uk

HEAT PUMP BOILER LG Comfort Cooling 01675 467500/07871 252288 www.lgcomfortcooling.com

BUILDER Rob Ashman 07951 224688 GARAGE DOORS AND

GATE MECHANISM The Garage Door Centre 029 20694111 www.garagedoors-direct.co.uk KITCHEN AND BATHROOM

UNITS Avantgarde Designs 029 20496166 www.avantgardedesign.co.uk ROOF J E Gibbings & Sons 01454 776622 TRAVERTINE AND LIMESTONE STONE China 029 20492887 www.stonechina.co.uk WINDOWS AND DOORS

Vellacine 029 20228578 WORKTOP AND TABLES

Stonerite 01495 237934 www.stoneriteltd.co.uk

source heat pump connected to underfloor heating warms some of the house. Heat is harvested from external air as the name suggests and works efficiently throughout the year. A different brand was fitted originally but never managed to achieve the desired temperature. “People were in and out working on it for best part of a year. In the end we had to go for another one. That’s how it goes with these very new products – we were guinea pigs. Sometimes they modify so that it comes good, but it didn’t work for us.”

A 30KW Rojek biomass boiler is the other main heat source, and heats the swimming pool. “You put logs in to top it up every couple of hours,” says Heather. “It has to have been working for a couple of days to heat the pool, you can’t just switch it on.” For the Hinams, who get free

wood from Paul’s tree surgeon brother, this is an economical option, and as wood-based waste is otherwise sent to landfill it also makes kind to the environment.

Housed in an outside storage area, among logs and bicycles, are two water storage tanks. They collect rainwater that feeds four downstairs toilets. Water meters are mandatory in a new build and, being a family of four, running a business from home, their level of water use shocked Heather. Even so, using rainwater helps save about 50 per cent-plus on normal water utility, the couple estimate.

The swimming pool was initially filled with mains water, but rainwater tops it up and the overfill is pumped from the pool into the rainwater harvesting tanks. Hot water for the showers is powered by a Viessmann solar panel array on the roof. “We feel it is very effective during the summer months, if less so during winter,” says Heather.

Many of these technologies won’t achieve financial payback for years to come. They’re worthwhile because they are “the right thing to do, a lifestyle choice”, says Heather, “not a way of saving money”. As with the super-sized woodburning stove in the living room, they also give enjoyment. “It’s very, very efficient, and it’s fun to pick up logs for it from the beach.”

In fact getting their home just right broke the couple’s budget. “We used up all our savings and investments and also spent as we earned, paying the builder in agreed milestone payments,” says Heather. “We could have avoided this by building more cheaply and having no swimming pool. But we decided we would spend the extra to get more quality and less maintenance.”

The finished house has whitewashed walls, high ceilings and minimalist rooms – just the serene style they hoped to achieve. There are no plans to unsettle the calm any time soon. “This was the second build, and it’s also the last!” says Heather. “But we’re thrilled. We got a few things wrong on the last house but feel we have it right this time.”z





The Hinams bought the plot in April 2006 and the architect applied for planning permission in July. No revisions were necessary and planning was granted in November 2006. Works started in January 2007.

Build timetable

07 Work in progress by year and month

Floor plans

Owners Heather and Paul Hinam, and daughters Crystal and CherryOccupations Directors of their own mechanical and electrical services company, Gallese Design Location Barry, Vale of GlamorganType of build New buildMethod of construction Timber frame

Style Contemporary House size 325m2 (3,500 ft2)Plot size 855m2 (9,203 ft2)Land cost £150,000Build cost £245,000Cost per m2 £753 (£70 per ft2)Date work commenced February 2007Construction time 38 weeks Current value £600,000

The Hinam fi le

OUR VERDICTThe Hinams used their expertise and careersto aid them in building their ideal home with and eco twist. As they had self-built before, they knew what to expect and had learned many valuable lessons already. Heather embraced this and specifi ed certain materials for ease and comfort – no carpets to vacuum and not too many cabinets to clutter. They also cleverly kept the neighbours on side by improving the state of the lane once their building works were complete.

Elements of the build Cost % Cost m Total cost*

Preliminaries 1% £9 £3,000

Foundations 8% £61 £20,000

External walls & windows 10% £80 £26,000

Roof structure & covering 10% £80 £26,000

Internal walls & doors 14% £107 £35,000

Floors, walls & ceiling fi nishes 9% £67 £22,000

Joinery & fi ttings 2.5% £18 £6,000

Plumbing & heating 16% £123 £40,000

Electrics 9% £71 £23,000

Decorating 1.5% £12 £4,000

Fees 6% £46 £15,000

External works 10% n/a £25,000

Grand total £245,000

Build cost breakdown

Schedule of the build2006-2008 JA

N

FE

B

MA

R

AP

R

MA

Y

JUN

JUL

AU

G

SE

P

OC

T

NO

V

DE

C

Preliminaries 07 07

Foundations 07 07

External walls & windows 07 07

Roof structure & covering 07 07

Internal walls & doors 07 07

Floor, wall and ceiling fi nishes 07 07 07

Joinery and fi ttings 07 07 07

Plumbing and heating 07 07 07 07

Electrics 07 07 07 07

Decorating 07 07 07 07

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Documents

COVER STORIES - Gallese Design · garden soil turned out to have an unsuitably high clay content. Instead, a 6m-deep trench had to be dug across to the neighbour’s garden to reach