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  • HPH385: A stunning contemporary home on a sloping site – with Kirsty Maguire

    HPH385: A stunning contemporary home on a sloping site – with Kirsty Maguire

    Award-winning architect Kirsty Maguire shares her experience of designing and building her own Passivhaus on a challenging sloping site in Newport-on-Tay, Scotland.

    Interview with Kirsty Maguire

    Kirsty Maguire runs an architectural practice and consultancy in Scotland, that blends good design with environmental responsibility, to create buildings that people love. One of her clients used the phrase ‘dream catching’ to describe the process of working with Kirsty, who helps people explore what’s important to them and then turns their dreams into reality. Kirsty does this on all her projects, including her own and feels that building a house can be an enjoyable process. She remembers as an architectural student wanting to create a space for herself, to be part of that world and have that experience. It took over 20 years for her to pinpoint where she wanted to live, find a suitable plot and have the funds available to put this into practice. Here she shares her journey and experience of building her own home.

    Kirsty has also featured on the podcast before, first helping Ben develop ideas for his own house build and then explaining how to incorporate reuse into a project using The Seed as an example.

    Accessing a number of plot opportunities is part of the process

    The idea of building her own home was there in the background for a long time before she really started looking at sites. Her grandmother’s garden, which had an outbuilding that could be replaced, was her first serious consideration, but the timing was not right for her to do the project. However, the thought process she went through, developing her ideas there, became a stepping stone in the right direction.

    When Kirsty is working with clients who don’t already have land, she will help them look at different plots to clarify what they want, what they need and what’s most important to them. Thinking about the future is also important, we don’t know what the future will bring, so having some flexibility is ideal.  

    Get to know what your plot priorities are

    As time went by, Kirsty set up her own practice, went on some adventures, and then got a bit more serious about plot hunting. Some plots came up in Newport-on-Tay, where she was living, but although she visited them and did sketches none of them really floated her boat. But she could identify what was important to her in this location; she had to be able to take advantage of the stunning views, be able to walk to the shops, be part of a community where she didn’t have to drive everywhere. Other people will have different priorities in their plot finding, so it’s knowing what’s right for them.

    Eventually Kirsty saw an advert for the plot where she now lives when she was travelling on a 10-month sabbatical. When she came back, she realised it was a great spot, a really challenging site, steeply sloping, north facing site, amazing views, but it turned out someone else had bought it. She was disappointed, which was really telling, but it came back on the market and she managed to buy the plot.

    A site with a lot of constraints can become a positive

    Kirsty describes it as a tricky site with strict planning restrictions, which limited the overall size of the house, the direction of the build, number of bedrooms and amount of parking. There was also an existing planning consent for a dreadful building all of which put other people off the site and worked in her favour.

    It was a garden when she purchased it, but Kirsty believes it was always seen as a building plot, with the house next door maybe having bought two plots, but never getting round to building on this one.

    The main challenge was the topography, as it’s a narrow site on an extremely steep slope. There is a three-storey level difference between the front and the back of the house. Properties on either side restricted the placement of windows and she needed to ensure the right to light as well as making sure she wasn’t overlooking the other properties. From a Passivhaus point of view, it’s north facing, which is a challenge and most of the views are to the north.

    In Kirsty’s experience once a site has planning permission it is much easier to adjust the details of the building, if you keep within the parameters of the local plan. Kirsty took all the restrictions that had been imposed on the site along with the physical nature of the site itself and used them creatively to create the shape of the house.

    A lot of the core decisions fell into place

    Kirsty knew she wanted it to be a Passivhaus using eco materials, so from that point of view, some of the design decisions were already made. As timber frame building is traditional in Scotland, this was also an obvious route.

    ‘Upside down’ living is a good fit for a sloping site

    Kirsty describes her home as an upside-down building, with an open plan, living, dining, kitchen area upstairs. This has a partial separating wall with holes in it, so that you can sit at the dining table in the south facing sunshine next to the garden and also see the views all the way to Dundee. It’s a two storey, rectangular box with a pitched roof, but the ridge of the roof runs front to back, which is the opposite direction to what you might expect. There is then a box on the side, to accommodate the stairs, bathroom and utility.  From the street you see the gable end of the building, with the ground floor of the building already a storey up above the street, and then it’s two storeys up above that to the ridge. The living space is a tall, generous space, where you could potentially add a mezzanine, but Kirsty doesn’t need any more space.

    Thinking about privacy is also part of the window design

    Kirsty knew that she wanted a big window to the north to enjoy the views and some rooflights to get east and west sunlight into the building to make sure it was light and bright. But, as well as ensuring that she wouldn’t be overlooking other people, she didn’t want them to be overlooking her. She therefore did lots of sight line analysis, which resulted in the big picture window in the living room being raised by 400mm. Architecturally, you might have put in a floor to ceiling window, but having the raised cill gives a huge amount of privacy. People walking along the street, or even in the house opposite, can’t see in and likewise, when Kirsty is sitting on her sofa, she can’t see out.

    Talk to your neighbours to get their support

    Kirsty went round to her neighbours to make sure they knew what was happening and that resulted in lots of letters of support for the building. It’s important to acknowledge that you will be changing people’s local area and most of us don’t like change. If we feel included in the process, we tend to be more comfortable with it.

    The people opposite had built their own house and Kirsty’s house was going to slightly reduce their access to sunlight because of the steep slope, but they were positive because she had thought of them and worked out how to minimise the impact on them. She also feels lucky because the people around her are really friendly.

    Variety in the neighbourhood is often a good sign for a self build

    Kirsty thought a lot about how the cladding of the building would fit into her neighbourhood. There is an eclectic mix, with Victorian buildings, a 1990s period piece opposite, a small brown bungalow next door and some lovely new builds in the village. So she ended up incorporating motifs from some of the buildings around, the big picture window is echoed in the building next door and some of the Victorian buildings across the street, as is the relationship, with the pitched gable roof.

    Some features of the house were not optimal for achieving Passivhaus

    Kirsty explains that some of the constraints led to architectural features that are not optimal in terms of Passivhaus. For example, there are rooflights because she couldn’t have many windows in the walls along the length of the building. Also the desire for a big open space with a cathedral ceiling creates extra volume to heat. All this means is that the insulation must be slightly thicker to compensate.

    The form factor is around four, which is similar to many of the detached buildings that Kirtsy works on. For the Passivhaus certification Kirsty used heat load rather than heat demand. The heat demand is calculated at around 20 kilowatt hours/m² per annum, whereas the heat load is 10 kilowatt hours/m². Her actual energy use is more like 13 kilowatt hours/m² per annum for heat demand, which is a lot lower than the PHPP had suggested. One reason for this might be that Kirsty prefers setting the temperature a little lower in winter at 19 Celsius rather than 20 Celsius.

    The size of the windows matters

    Kirsty stresses the importance of getting your windows the right size, both in terms of heat loss and overheating. It might have been tempting to open the whole south gable end to glass, but she knows she would have cooked in the summer. She still has one large feature window and several other generous sized windows, and says the PHPP process really helps to show where there might be a problem and how to adjust things accordingly. Even though it’s looking at averages and could be regarded as a crude tool it did allow her to model her overheating risk to 0%.

    Skylights can be tricky to shade

    Kirsty included skylights as replacements for vertical windows along some of her walls and explains that you will lose more heat in winter through a window directly facing the sky and it will be harder to shade in summer. She doesn’t feel she has enough of them to cause a problem and one benefit is that they work extremely well for stack ventilation.

    Strathclyde University have been monitoring the performance of the house and office for the last 18 months and both of them are working really well.

    Finding time to work on the project was challenging

    Kirsty is building houses all the time, so from that point of view, building her own was quite straightforward. She knows good consultants who are part of her normal work team that she could bring into the project. The hardest thing was setting aside enough time, because she was having to do all this in her own time. At least she was passionate about it, but remembers finishing some drawings whilst on holiday with friends!

    Be prepared for a lot of digging out on a steeply sloping site

    The groundworks phase started with digging out a lot of material from the site due to the steep slope. There was also a 2.5m high wall along the street edge that had to be taken down and soil removed to make it level with the street to create the parking area and the site for the new office. Kirsty was able to reuse the wall to create the gabions needed on site and collected more stone from other building projects around the village. And her dad even carved her house number onto a piece of stone, which was built into the new wall.

    The house is on an Isoquick raft foundation, with the area around it built up with a concrete block retaining wall, which is insulated on the outside with XPS insulation. There is also a tanking layer to keep the water out, which so far has been working well. Around a third of the building sits below ground. The timber frame is filled with wood fibre insulation with a wood fibre “tea cosy” all the way around the outside including the roof to avoid thermal bridges. Kirsty often uses this technique, particularly when doing a stick build on site. She explains that there used to be few timber kits of Passivhaus quality that were manufactured off-site but now there are some good ones, including Eden Insulation that was used at The Seed.

    Find out more about Eden Insulation in our training session with Stephen Gurney in The Hub.

    The steep slope also meant it was harder to bring materials to site

    Everything had to be carried up the steep slope, most of it by hand. Only the large windows and ridge beam were brought in by mechanical means. Kirsty says it’s also worth checking the largest size of window that can be carried on a normal truck, so you don’t have to cover the cost of non-standard transport.

    It’s about choosing where you spend your money to make the best impact

    Upstairs, there is lots of volume due the cathedral ceiling and this gives it a light and airy feel. There is oak flooring throughout the house with quite simple detailing and lots of plants adding interest. A local craftsman, Imric made some beautiful shelving and built in cupboards, with bespoke worktops coming from another craftsman in Edinburgh. However these items sit alongside an IKEA kitchen, Howdens flooring and bog-standard skirtings, architraves and doors.

    Kirsty tells us that people often comment on a yellow globe light that can be seen from the street, which cost £20, whereas other handmade more expensive light fittings go unnoticed. She also made light fittings herself using coloured cable and used a number of long drop cables to separate spaces. It’s not just about putting up walls up to separate spaces, there are more subtle ways of dividing spaces that create layering and different views.

    If you have a dream explore it with an architect

    Rather than always wondering “what if”, Kirsty’s advice is to find an architect to help you to explore your dream building. It doesn’t mean you are committed to the project at that stage, but it’s good to put all your ideas on the table, sift through them and see where it takes you. You’ll probably end up prioritising them, but later you might find a way to return to these ideas that were less of a priority at the start. Kirsty loves going through this process with clients, even when they don’t know how to articulate what they want, because there are so many opportunities. She finds getting to know her clients and creating that relationship with people a really special part of being an architect. She sees private clients as really invested in the process, with many of them bringing so much of their own creativity to the conversation.

    Passivhaus delivers a healthy and comfortable internal space

    Kirsty sells this level of comfort to her clients and visits them in their houses but still thinks it’s difficult to understand how great it is until you’ve lived in it yourself. She was living in a small, 200 year old flat before building this house, which had all the pros and cons of an old building, but is mostly cold and slightly draughty! Much as she liked being there, she can’t really express how comfortable she is now and how nice it is to have constant fresh air.

    When designing the building, Kirsty layered up so many interactions between the spaces, some subtle and some not, to capture different views. She finds it hard to pick out one thing as a favourite, but it’s probably the views through the building, being able to sit in the living room and look out all the way across the Tay Estuary to the mountains.

    Find out more

    Kirsty Maguire Architect

    How to incorporate reused materials on a self build

    Progressing your house build plans before you have your land

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  • HPH347: Common pitfalls to avoid when building a house – with Amelia Lee

    HPH347: Common pitfalls to avoid when building a house – with Amelia Lee

    Amelia Lee from Undercover Architect shares some common themes that tend to crop up on owner-builder projects (particularly with people who are doing this for the first time) and explains how they can be avoided by creating a clear foundation of your values and project intentions.

    Interview with Amelia Lee

    This is the second of Ben Adam-Smith’s interviews from his time in Australia and in this episode we have a chat Amelia Lee from Undercover Architect. Amelia has been an architect for 30 years and in that time worked on wide range of different projects, as well as three of her own renovations. 10 years ago she decided that she wanted to expand her reach to help more people and left her practice to start Undercover Architect as a platform to provide educational resources that help inform and empower new owner-builders (‘self-builders’ in the UK). In that time she has built a community of confident owner-builders that are well resourced to advocate for sustainable building practices and create homes that help them live well.

    In this chat, Amelia and Ben compare their experiences of working with people who want to build new or renovate existing dwellings, and identify the most common challenges that occur.

    Don’t rush the planing stages!

    Many people focus on the build stage of a project, but there are 3 crucial stages before you get there which will determine the success of your build.

    There a 4 phases to any project:

    1. Pre-design
    2. Design
    3. Pre-build
    4. Build

    Amelia emphasises that the more work you can do in those first three phases to anticipate and manage the potential risks, the more likely your build will go according to plan. Any changes or delays that happen during the build stage will be very costly so having a good plan in place will help your team work as efficiently as possible.

    Pre-design

    The pre-design stage forms the background research for your project. You will need to work out your local planning regulations, the limitations of your site and any council requirements that will need to be considered.

    Lots of people turn to neighbours or friends for advice on these things and then call it a day, but it is very important that you work out the bigger picture of your construction climate. Amelia explains that some councils in Australia allow owner-builders to fast track their projects through planning if their design meets certain requirements, so knowing these things will help you mould your building design to receive local support and avoid potential obstacles.

    “It’s like playing any game, when you find out the rules first, you can create the greatest strategy in order to be able to be most expeditious and efficient in how you do things.”

    Get to know your budget

    This stage is also where you figure out your budget. The budget must be revisited at every stage, but it is most important to start with a good understanding of what you have available so that anything you take on from this point will be working in accordance with this.

    Establish your values

    You also need to work out what you want to achieve and establish your values that will create the foundations of your design. What are your big picture goals? How do you want your house to work for you?

    “You will need to make something like 15,000 decisions. This gives you some way to anchor yourself to and check against to guide the decision making overall so you don’t get lost in the process.”

    Design

    The design phase is about figuring out how these spaces, places and rooms are going to work best for you. How do you need the house to function best for you?

    Your current home can tell you a lot about your future one

    You can begin to work this out by analysing your current home, looking at which bits work well for you – maybe you like how your kitchen is close to the front door so you can unpack your shopping easily or that your living room faces south so is always full of light. But also working out which parts don’t work for you, like the separate dingy dining room that becomes a dumping ground. Knowing how you want to use a space will help you create a design that works best for you.

    The orientation of your site is important to know

    Amelia explains that understanding the orientation of your site and working out how your house could sit best within it will allow you to optimise the liveability. By considering the positioning, the climate, neighbouring properties, surroundings and even a nice view or feature that you would like to showcase, you begin to create signposts for your design. Knowing these factors can also help to increase energy efficiency by utilising solar gains for heating or natural shading features that can help with cooling.

    Explore the different construction methods available

    In this phase it is also really important to explore all the construction and design options out there so you can pick the one that best meets the requirements you outlined in the pre-design stage. It can be easy to fall into the trap of following the standard or most common construction path, but this might not be the best path for you and your build.

    Always keep one eye on your budget to make sure you are still on track!

    The design stage will start giving you an idea of the cost of your project, make sure you are sticking to your budget and checking that you can afford what you are planning.

    “Your budget is going to dictate the size of your house right from the outset and the level of finish that you can expect. If it’s not going to be enough, then you need to figure out if you need to find more money? Or do you have to radically reduce the size of our property before we begin?”

    Pre-build

    The Pre-build phase is all about formulating your practical construction plan and assembling your team. This will include looking at your building approvals, finalising your building materials and construction methods and collating all of your documentation. In this section, you will need to keep referring to the values you established right at the beginning and make sure you are making decisions that are in alignment with those.

    Create a clear plan for your build

    This stage should focus on formulating a comprehensive build plan with detailed drawings and specifications that will hopefully reduce the need for you to make quick and maybe uniformed decisions under pressure.

    “Drawings, specifications, those kinds of things are the language with which the construction industry understands how things get done, and so the more you can put into that information is super important.”

    Test your energy efficiency now

    Make sure you spend some time testing the energy efficiency of your design, pre-build. PHPP will be very useful at this stage to test the functionality and provide a picture of the energy movement in your design before you have it set in stone… or timber.

    Assemble your dream team

    Choosing your team is very important – trust your gut and pick people who align with your values or have experience in what you are aiming to achieve. Remember, these people will be in your life for anywhere from a few months to a few years!

    Build

    This stage will involve spending the most money and watching the physical progress of your build but if you have completed the first three stages well, this should go pretty smoothly. Of course, there will always be a few hiccups along the way which you can’t predict, but the structure and values that you have created should help you navigate these with ease.

    Key things to remember here are to be as present as possible and make sure that you are referring back to your values when obstacles arise.

    Work out an accurate budget and stick to it

    A clear and realistic budget is very important in a build project. Amelia explains that in her 30 year career most of her clients have a budget that is 50 – 75% of where it needs to be to match their initial aspirations for their home. This figure has tracked consistently regardless of price rises in construction due to inflation, covid, etc. Being realistic about what you can get for your money and making sure you are including all costs (such as planning application fees, landscaping costs, internal finishes, etc) in your budget is crucial.

    Your team can help you predict your costs

    It can be a good idea to work with someone who has experience in the specifics of your build, so you know that they have some knowledge of how much it is likely to cost. It can be useful to include your builder in the design process as a consultant, in order to get a realistic idea of the cost whilst you still have time to amend designs.

    If you are working with someone who isn’t experienced with Passivhaus or sustainable building, Amelia recommends building in a 20-30% contingency into the budget as the cost of certain processes will probably be more than they have accounted for.

    “Your builder can actually be providing input on cost and buildability from the outset, and that includes at that very first meeting, when you say my budget is x, and I want to do y. The builder and the architect can sit there and say, well, from our previous projects, we know that the y that you’re asking for, it traditionally will cost this amount per square metre based on these kinds of finishes. Or if you want to do these kinds of finishes, it’ll cost this amount.”

    Don’t feel the need to max out your budget

    Owner-builders often push their budgets to the absolute max and this trend seems to be regardless of starting budget. Like many things in life, the bigger the budget, the more we try and do, which is consistently meaning people take it right up to the limit. In the planning stages, work out a realistic budget if you can and if you don’t have enough, work out if you can downsize the footprint or some way to reduce the cost.

    Amelia does point out that there are occasions where adding an extra bedroom to increase the property value, will also increase the build costs but may allow you to secure a higher loan to build with. Because of the way the housing market and financial services work, there might be creative solutions to be found but definitely try and work out what’s best for you.

    “My experience with homeowners doing their own homes, is that they will spend the most amount of money that they can without financially crippling themselves.”

    Your project starts with you

    Many people think that their project will begin when they have hired an architect or designer and therefore might put off doing so until they are ‘ready’. Amelia highlights that there are several steps you can take prior to this which include exploring how you want your house to function and establishing the values of your project. This may need to happen before you hire anyone as these will dictate who you are looking for, in regards to their experience, ethos and general practice.

    Amelia notes that it is crucial to be asking the right questions when meeting potential architects and designers. Rather than attempting to gain as much free information about your project as possible, try to get to know as much as you can about them and their practices.

    “Who is this person? What are they like? How do they run their business? How professional are they? What do they communicate like? Are you going to be able to handle having this person in your life for the next 12 months to two years? Are you aligned in the goals you operate your life with? And how are they going to best support you in navigating something you’ve never done before?”

    Don’t fall into the trap of the status quo

    It can often feel like the standard formula for house building is to prioritise size over quality. Amelia explains that when her clients spend time thinking frankly about who they are and how they want to live in their future home, they end up realising that they need less space than they initially thought. As a result they get their rooms and budgets working far harder for them and it sets them up to find the right people to support them in that journey as well.

    “One of my big, hairy, audacious goals is for everybody to build a site specific response. It’s how you create climate resilience, climate sensitivity, you improve the energy efficiency of your home, you lower its energy, heating and cooling costs, and most of all, you actually make it a better home to live in for yourself personally. The thing is that most of our housing stock doesn’t do this, so most people are living without that experience on a day to day basis. They just don’t understand from a firsthand point of view, the incredible difference it makes the everyday life to live in a house that works for your site.”

    Creating a design that maximises these things will help you follow the principles of Sarah Susanka and utilise every space in your house, everyday.

    Sustainability must be a foundational theme for it to be effective

    Sticking to your sustainable goals in an industry that has not embraced them yet can be quite challenging. It is all too common for it to fall by the wayside when clients hit a professional in the industry who says sustainability will just cost you more. It’s not the job of your professional to tell you it’s too expensive. It’s up to them to tell you what your choices will mean and cost, and you to decide what your priorities and values are. By assembling the right team and putting in the work in the early stages, you will be much more likely to succeed with your sustainability goals.

    Sustainability Bolt-ons

    Too often in house building we see sustainability advertised as a bolt on service. Amelia views this approach as a form of greenwashing in the industry, as it creates a false economy by giving people a free pass to design oversized and inefficient houses that are perceived as sustainable because they have solar panels on the roof.

    “We’re all living on a planet and we know our choices, impact everyone in everything that we do. Building a house is no different and you’re embedding those choices for a very long time.”

    It is important to view sustainability as a foundational concept in your design, so that the entire structure can be created with this in mind. It is crucial to not get distracted from this goal because the end product will not only improve the sustainability of your home, but also improve the way you get to live in it.

    “I feel that sustainability actually starts and is most heavily impacted in the decisions that you make before you begin, about the size of the project that you’re going to build and in how you’re going to make it suit its climate. If you can get those two things right, you will be 80% of the way there before you even start worrying about solar power”

    Don’t outsource your agency

    Amelia’s closing reflections highlight the importance of being an informed and confident owner-builder:

    “I really encourage people to not to not outsource their agency. At the end of the day, it’s your home, and so no one’s going to care as much about it as you do. I want you to know that you unlock what is possible for your future home because it’s your decisions, your money, your vision, that’s the reason this whole project is happening. So it’s really important that you get yourself educated and informed before you begin.”

    The journey can be a great opportunity for personal growth:

    “I love with empowering homeowners, particularly women who are stepping into a male dominated industry. In the renovation and construction industry, women are making 80% of the purchasing decisions and yet they’re dealing with mostly men as they do this. I see them get to the end of their project, and they turn around and look at what they’ve been able to accomplish for their family and consider what else they are capable of? I just get really excited about what it unlocks for people in terms of readjusting their expectations of themselves as well.”

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  • HPH290 : Being resourceful to bring down the cost of a build – with Colin Rice

    HPH290 : Being resourceful to bring down the cost of a build – with Colin Rice

    Self-building an annexe in an area of coastal erosion meant a low-cost but high-performance build was a priority for architect Colin Rice.

    Interview with Colin Rice

    Colin is a partner at Cullinan Studio, but one of his first jobs after graduating in 1980 was working with Lyall Addleson. Lyall was well-known for his “Handbook of Building Failures”, and Colin worked with him on his investigations into building defects, and subsequent book “Performance of Materials and Buildings.” The time spent having Lyall as a mentor has shaped how Colin has approached architecture throughout the rest of his career.

    Colin has spent three years applying principles he learned during that time to his own self-built annexe at his Green Tiles coastal home.

    Five principles guide how Colin designs

    These are principles that came out of Colin’s work with Lyall and which he has always kept in the back of his mind since.

    First is the constraint which he calls high to low. This applies whether you’re thinking about rainfall or structure and the force of gravity from high to low, but also to things like air pressure and thermal gradients that affect the building envelope.

    Separate lives is his second constraint. He says that lots of buildings suffer defects from ignoring the fact a building is a process, and understanding how the different thermal and moisture properties of the materials will work together or against each other over time.

    The third principle is the objective of continuity, and particularly the continuity of performance. To use the example of a Passivhaus where there is a greater extreme between inside and out, there has to be continuity of all kinds of things, including the air barrier.

    “You’re trying to manage a much greater differential between high and low and you have to do it by thinking very carefully about continuity in the face of the challenge of separate lives.”

    The objective that you’re trying to do is to hold that in balance, which is the fourth principle.

    And finally, creative pessimism is the fifth principle. It could also be thought of as ‘whatever can go wrong at some point will’. By thinking ahead to what could go wrong, Colin says you can come up with smart solutions more creatively.

    Colin’s home is in an area affected by coastal erosion

    Colin’s Green Tiles home is backed by sand dunes along the coastline of Norfolk. It is an area where the cliffs are being eroded at a phenomenal rate, which is only expected to worsen further with the predicted changes to sea levels caused by climate change and global warming.

    Being somewhat unwise to therefore invest huge amounts of money in the project, applying the five principles to his project also helped with keeping the costs down.

    The annexe provides a warm overflow space

    The existing house on the site is a timber frame building of around 6m x 8m, which they have owned since 1998. There was also a 6-berth caravan adjacent to the building which they used as a playroom and then a workshop, before it went into a state of disrepair.

    With the existing house being very cold during the winter months, they managed to get planning permission for a self-contained annexe in which they could stay comfortably during the colder periods and also use as overflow space for accommodating guests.

    Think of planning as being part of the work

    With Colin doing all the work himself, he would use alternate weekends for planning and carpentry at home, and then being on site. While he stresses the importance of careful planning it shouldn’t be at the expense of allowing yourself to make changes and improvements.

    A circular economy style of re-use requires storage space

    As the caravan was in too bad a state of repair to use as a workshop, Colin purchased a shipping container as a replacement. He dismantled the caravan and salvaged components where he could, and used the container for storage.

    A flood strategy was needed for planning consent

    Being situated in a low-lying area at the bottom of a hill, which can have standing water for several months, they were unable to use traditional foundations. Instead, they have used damped down crushed aggregate with railway sleepers on top. The timber frame, which Colin simplified by planning around standard timber sizes, is strutted off the sleepers to allow any floodwater to flow underneath.

    Prioritising performance doubled his initial budget

    Originally Colin had a budget of just £12,000 for his build, but that was before he made the decision to prioritise performance and apply for building regulations approval.

    Taking that decision meant an increase in costs of glazing and insulation so his final spend was just under £25,000, which works out at slightly less than £850 per square metre, including VAT and all the internal fitting out.

    Colin built the annexe himself at weekends

    He spent £2,000 on the double glazed units, which he designed on a “drip dry” principle where the sheet of glass overhangs the wall below, and is overhung by the wall above.

    Rather than using off-the-shelf I-studs, which would have weighed 90kg and cost £90 each, Colin made his own C-studs weigh 60kg and costing £60 each. He says they wouldn’t be strong enough for a multi-storey building, but for his single-storey dwelling they are perfectly adequate, thermally efficient and light enough to handle more easily when doing the construction yourself.

    The roof and walls are insulated by filling the cavity with Warmcel cellulose insulation. The roof joist insulation is held in place with plasterboard and a thin layer of OSB on the underside.

    The cold roof has a deck which carries the waterproof membrane. It is designed to be cold because it has a ventilation space underneath it. It relies on air movement through the cavity to clear moisture and things that can cause decay of the timber.

    Being thrifty can be fun!

    Colin has tried to reuse as many materials as possible in the construction and fit-out of the annexe, even down to the microwave glass plate fixed into a hole in the wall to make a window into the bathroom!

    He never throws things away as they might be useful someday, and says he is also an opportunist. He has utilised off-cuts of wood from Cullinan’s previous office and among other things has taken apart an old bench sander to use the cogged rubber belt drive on a drop-down window in the annexe.

    Reused features in the Annexe

    Ask the question “If I take this apart, will I be able to use it again?”

    Colin’s tips for tackling a high performance project on a small budget are:

    • Use eBay and similar sites for sourcing materials
    • If you have the space, use a shed or container for storage
    • Plan on a modular basis for avoiding waste
    • Design in a way that doesn’t rely on glues and sealants

    Find out more

    Visit Cullinan Studio’s website

    Follow Colin on Twitter

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Colin Rice.

    Please connect with me

    Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

    Like our Facebook page

    Follow us on Twitter

  • HPH279 : A beginner’s guide to building terminology – with Lee Fordham from Architype

    HPH279 : A beginner’s guide to building terminology – with Lee Fordham from Architype

    Lee Fordham from Architype simplifies some of the terminology you might come across if you’re thinking about doing a sustainable self build.

    Interview with Lee Fordham

    Shortly after qualifying as an architect in 2004, Lee spent time travelling and working for architecture practices in New Zealand and Australia. When he returned to the UK he decided to pursue his passion for sustainable design and started working at Architype, one of the UK’s leading sustainable architects, where he is now an Associate Director.

    A beginner’s guide to terminology

    For those that are just setting out in their self build journey there can be an overwhelming array of technical terminology used that can be baffling to anyone outside of the industry. Lee takes us through some of the common terms that you might come across in a sustainable self build.

    Passivhaus / Passive House

    Passivhaus (Passive House in the United States) is a building standard that was developed in Germany around 30 years ago. Using physics, the aim is to reduce the performance gap between how the building is designed to perform, and how it actually performs.

    The aim is to make the building more comfortable for the occupants and reduce how much energy the building uses, which is done with a better quality of build.

    Liz and Mike Hill’s Passivhaus – designed by Architype

    The experts will use the Passivhaus Planning Package (which you’ll hear referred to as PHPP), which essentially is a very complicated spreadsheet of data that allows them to design a building that will meet the Passivhaus criteria. The contractor will use that information to construct the building, and a certifier will guarantee the work and certify it if it meets the required standard.

    Passivhaus plaque

    MVHR

    You’ll commonly hear a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery system referred to as an MVHR. They’re most likely to be used in Passivhaus buildings, but not exclusively. It is a ventilation system which extracts the used air from inside a building. It takes the heat from that air and mixes it with fresh air which is being brought into the building from outside, to provide every room with fresh, pre-warmed air.

    The air is filtered coming into the building, and different filters can be used according to whatever is in the external air in that area.

    A key benefit over natural ventilation is the element of control over any given space, ie removing moisture from bathrooms etc.

    An MVHR for a domestic dwelling is roughly the size of a combi-boiler and will need to be incorporated into the building’s design.

    MVHR unit at Landsdowne Drive Passivhaus – Green Building Store

    Foundations / Footings

    These will usually be designed by a structural engineer and are what sit under the building to evenly transfer the weight of the building to the earth. The type you use might be dependent on what your ground conditions are like, but some examples are pile foundations, deep strip foundations and raft foundations.

    U-value

    A complicated one to explain, but essentially it’s a way of measuring how thermally conductive a component or a series of components (like a piece of glass, wall or roof) is. It is the rate at which heat travels through. The lower the U-value, the better it is.

    The aim is to have fairly consistent U-values across all the components in a building. Having just one element that isn’t consistent could act as a magnet for moisture and potentially damage the structure. This can partly be achieved by better insulation, triple-glazed windows etc.

    The U-values form part of the data that feeds into the PHPP system.

    Airtightness

    At a very basic level, this is about eliminating drafts in a building. It’s relatively easy to achieve but needs to be thought about at the design stage. At Architype they denote the airtightness layer on their detailed drawings using a red line, which shows the contractors where to take particular care in the construction so as not to damage it.

    To meet building regulations, when the building is finished an air test will be carried out. The building has a giant fan attached to it and is either positively pressured, ie blowing air in, or negatively pressured, ie extracting air. The rate at which the air leaks gives you your air test result. It is a measure in pascals of the pressure of an internal area. Building regs require you to get a result of 10 or less.

    The method in a Passivhaus building is slightly different. This takes an average reading from the building being both positively and negatively pressured, to give an n50 value which is how many volumes of air changes there are in an hour. The Passivhaus requirement is that it should be less than 0.6, so significantly better than building regulations.

    Build system / construction method

    This is a way of describing what method you are going to use to construct your building. Examples include timber frame, masonry, brick and block, insulated concrete formwork (ICF), pre-cast concrete, in-situ concrete, and cross-laminated timber.

    Pre-fabrication

    Pre-fabrication is where components, or indeed whole buildings, are made off-site. This could be from wall panels, to timber frames, to bathrooms that are fully plumbed and tiled, to entire houses.

    MAKAR production facility

    You can even go to the factories and choose your handles, paint finishes, floor finishes etc. When they reach the site they are connected together. The advantages of building the elements off-site is it can be quicker, they’re not subject to delays or damage from the weather, and often it can result in better quality and working better when brought to site.

    Huf Haus

    Zero carbon

    Lee says that this is a difficult one to explain as there are many different interpretations of what it means.

    Generally it refers to off-setting the energy use in a building. So the better your building is, ie a Passivhaus, the less carbon you have to off-set because you’re not using as much energy.

    Looking deeper into it, some people will be referring to zero carbon in use, which is the energy that is used starting from the point of when it’s been built, through to its end of life.

    But there’s also embodied or sequestered carbon, which takes into account everything to do with the design and construction of the building, together with the in-use energy and sometimes through to the demolition. This is more complicated to account for, although there are tools which can help explain for instance, how much energy is used in getting a tree from Germany to the UK to use in a timber frame.

    Custom build

    Whereas self build has many decisions for you to make, whether or not you’re doing it in the purest sense of building it yourself, or whether you’re commissioning someone to carry that out for you, custom build can take some of those decisions away from you. There will be an offering from the custom build company, but with options for you to customise it. That could be in terms of the style of the house, the layout or the finishes. It might not be as individual as you would get with a self build, but it can take away a lot of the headaches!

    Potton Homes design

    Solar shading / brise soleil

    Effectively the same thing, brise soleil or solar shading would be used on the south facing side of a building to limit the sun coming in during the summer months when you don’t want the building to overheat, but allowing it to come in during the winter when the heat is required. Generally it would be a horizontal component that sits over the south facing glazing, whether that be a roof overhang, external canopy or series of louvres.

    External louvres – Charlie Luxton Design
    Wimbish Passivhaus Scheme – Parsons & Whittley
    Ditchingham Passivhaus Scheme – Parsons & Whittley

    On an east or west elevation you would usually have a vertical component, and that’s just to do with the angle of the sun at certain times of day and certain times of year. Windows on the east and west elevation can be harder for dealing with glare and overheating issues.

    Lee says the ideal situation is to have the building facing south where the solar gains can be controlled more easily.

    Design team

    The core members of a design team are likely to include: an architect, structural engineer, civil engineer, mechanical and electrical (M&E) engineer, and possibly a project manager.

    Beyond that, depending on your site and your level of involvement and interests, you might also have: landscape architect, ecologist, arboriculturist, quantity surveyor, Passivhaus designer etc.

    Renewables

    Renewables refers to technology that generates energy. This could be photovoltaics, wind turbines, hydro power etc.

    Air source and ground source heat pumps

    An air source heat pump takes energy from the temperature in the air. Any air above zero degrees has energy in it and this can be taken and transferred into heat or hot water for your house. Similar in size to a washing machine, they’re put on the outside of a building.

    The ground source heat pump works in much the same way but will take the energy from the ground. They have pipes which can either be spread horizontally in the ground which will require a lot of space, or as a vertical spread of pipes, which need less space but are a lot more expensive.

    Plans, elevations, sections and details

    These are examples of the different types of design drawings, created by Parsons and Whittley for Ben Adam-Smith’s house:

    Plan – This is an aerial view, looking down onto the building. You can have different plans to show each floor of the building, but they can show the roof, doors, walls and windows, together with the internal layout.

    Elevation – An elevation is a drawing of what the outsides of the building look like from where you’re standing. A south elevation for example would be the side of the building that is facing towards the south.

    Section – This is like slicing down through a building to show what’s inside. It will show the components of the walls, floors, roof etc.

    Details – By taking a section drawing and zooming in you will create a detail. They can be various scales, such as 1:2 or 1:10, and are an in-depth analysis and instruction for the contractor showing how to construct that part of the building. It would show them where the airtightness line is, where the insulation is, and how wide cavities would need to be.

    Soft landings and performance monitoring

    A soft landing is about making sure that once the building has been constructed, that the operator of that building knows how to use it. Obviously if you’ve built it yourself then this wouldn’t be necessary, but if you’ve largely commissioned other people to complete the project then you should have someone tell you how it all works.

    Performance monitoring can take place throughout the build process but in particular Lee refers to monitoring once the building is complete. This uses sensors to check on things like the internal temperature, humidity and CO2 levels, to make sure the building is performing as it was designed to do.

    Tender

    The way you tender will depend on what kind of contract you will have, but essentially a tender is a set of information that is put out to someone for a response. They will price up the aspects on the tender and return it with their figure and requested documentation. It can be a tender for a design team or for a contractor. The returned tender documents are then scored and weighted according to whatever your priorities might be. For some that might be 80% of the marks will be based on how competitive the price is, but for others they might weight it more heavily in favour of quality and not necessarily who is the cheapest.

    A key thing is to make sure the information and drawings you are sending out are as comprehensive as possible. That way it can be priced accurately for what you will be needing. Without that detail they will be adding an element of price risk to their response which will invariably make it much more expensive.

    Window parts

    • Sill – The ledge at the bottom of the frame.
    • Head – The top of a window where it meets the wall. It can be internal or external.
    • Jamb – The side of the window
    • Reveal – The part next to the jamb. Can be internal (usually plasterboard) or external (usually timber or brick). If the reveals are set very deep into the thickness of a wall they can provide some shading to the window
    • Mullions and transoms – Found on traditional Victorian style windows, the mullions are the vertical bar in the middle of the window, and the transoms are the horizontal bar.

    Roof parts

    • Trusses – The pieces, usually made of wood, that actually make the roof structure
    • Joists – A horizontal structural element that supports the floor and/or ceiling
    • Eaves – The part of the roof that overhangs the wall. Usually if it’s a sloping roof it would be the part which overhangs the gutter
    • Soffits – Underneath the eaves, the soffits are the horizontal section that you can see
    • Ridge – The point right at the top of the roof, usually where two pitches come together
    • Verge – The part at the side of the house. Usually there would be a bargeboard or piece of wood that goes down the side
    • Parapet – Usually a piece of wall that protrudes up above a flat roof
    Roof trusses
    Roof joists

    Find out more

    Visit the website of Architype

    Follow Architype on Twitter

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Lee Fordham.

    The Hub

    If you’re new to self build and looking for more information, then be sure to check out The Hub. It’s full of great resources, video diaries and support from a community of like-minded self-builders.

    Please connect with me

    Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

    Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher

    Like our Facebook page

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  • HPH278 : A beginner’s guide to self build – with Geoff Stow

    HPH278 : A beginner’s guide to self build – with Geoff Stow

    Having worked on his own hands-on group self build project, and site managed others, Geoff Stow shares his experience on where to start when it comes to self build.

    Interview with Geoff Stow

    Geoff’s involvement with self build started years ago when he worked with a community arts project in south London, making a video with a group of self builders who were promoting their scheme in Lewisham. So when Lewisham decided to do another scheme he put his name down, chairing and being part of a group of 13 that built their own houses on a Walter Segal project. From there, his involvement continued with working as a site manager for other group self build schemes, including the Hedgehog project in Brighton.

    “My background isn’t as a builder really but I think in some ways that’s quite interesting because it’s actually coming at it as a novice. I’m sympathetic with people who are trying to get a scheme off the ground.”

    Geoff also runs courses on timber frame self build, and self build project management at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales.

    Hope Wharf
    Hope Wharf

    It’s likely to be harder than you’re expecting!

    Geoff says he’s never met anyone who said they wished they hadn’t done it, but does stress that you should be prepared for a lot of hard work. He thinks there is actually very little in place to make things easier, with the majority of things at the beginning like planning and finding out how to connect services, being geared up to failing.

    Whereas most people spend their time at the beginning sketching designs for a plot they don’t yet have, he recommends instead taking that time to research and understand the issues involved. That could be around planning, environmental issues, insulation, ventilation etc.

    Take the opportunity to go to the exhibitions to grow your understanding and help you talk the same language as the experts, but bear in mind that a lot of it is sales focused.

    Understand the issues around claiming back the VAT, and get yourself organised with a good accounting system so you can keep track of staying within budget.

    Build your knowledge by checking out some of the self-build books around, like Mark Brinkley’s Homebuilder’s Bible. They’re worth reading for finding out about things like health and safety requirements, working out how you’re going to organise your project, whether you might be able to site manage it yourself, and understanding what the relevant issues around that might be.

    Use your suppliers by asking for detailed information, and if they can’t provide it then don’t use them. Geoff gives the example of a window supplier, where you should be providing wall designs and asking what’s the best way of fitting them.

    Have a sensible budget

    Keep in mind that things rarely come in under budget or ahead of schedule, so have a sensible budget that is based on real costings, not just how much you’d like to spend or how much other people have spent. Be wary of the figures that people quote when they say their house cost X amount per square metre, as you never quite know what has been included and what has been omitted.

    Budget high for all of the initial stages. Things like the foundations, services and access roads can have plenty of unknowns and it’s much easier to price up more accurately for the above ground works. Add on a good contingency once you get quotes in as this should free up money later on.

    In addition to budgeting for the overall cost of the build, if you’re using a self build mortgage you will need to consider your cash flow. They work by releasing money once a stage is finished, so although you might have enough money in total, you might find the project grinding to a halt if you do not have it available at the right times.

    Finding land will probably mean making compromises

    Geoff’s key piece of advice for finding land is to be flexible, as there’s not that much of it around. He thinks it best to spend time in the area where you’re looking as quite often word of mouth can be helpful.

    Take the time to understand your site

    Geoff estimates that, depending on your skill base and level of organisation, around a year is a good length of time to spend on your research. As part of this he recommends spending time on your site and understanding how to place the house so you can get the best out of it. This will include things like orientation, window placement and learning how the sun falls on the site at different times. During this period you can also be going to exhibitions and talks, doing courses, going on Passivhaus open days and speaking to other people that have built their own homes.

    Focus on getting the fabric of the building right

    Geoff says you’re never likely to hear someone say that they wish they’d put in cheaper windows or used less insulation! So concentrate on getting the insulation, windows, detailing of doors, heating systems etc right, and getting it to the best quality that you can afford. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the perfect house straight away, and you can always retrofit your dream kitchen or build a second stage later when finances allow.

    Speak to other people for advice

    Get as much information as you can from suppliers and manufacturers about their products and their detailing. Also speak to builders’ merchants who might be able to suggest alternative products that you might not have come across.

    Geoff follows a couple of Facebook groups which he says, if you filter through a lot of the rubbish and sales pitches, can actually have really good information and experience that people are willing to share.

    “There’s no right way of doing it…what there are is a lot of wrong ways!”

    Geoff stresses that there is no right build system to use, and the method that you choose will be based on a lot of criteria. Whatever method you do choose, just make sure that it’s of the highest quality you can afford.

    A lot of it will be down to personal preference, and whether you like timber, stone, brick etc.

    Geoff’s preference is for timber frame, partly for the accuracy and speed which it affords. He personally would also avoid very innovative systems by very small companies as there can be a question of whether or not they can actually deliver.

    Also consider what kind of products you want to be using. Some people might want high performance foam insulation, whereas others will want to go as natural as possible and use sheep’s wool or Warmcel type insulation.

    “Whatever building method you go with, you just need to really understand what the issues and the criteria are. The good points and the bad points. And ignore what people say about their method being the best, it’s modern or it’s developed by NASA or something ridiculous. Just understand what the issues are with all of them and base it on real costs.”

    Decide how much involvement you’re going to have

    As a client there are options as to how involved you will be on the project, ranging from paying huge sums of money to a building company who will do everything for you, to getting hands-on and doing practically everything yourself.

    Probably the biggest deciding factor is thinking about what skills you have, but not necessarily assuming that because you can do something yourself it will necessarily be quicker or cheaper.

    “So, if a job that a skilled person can do quickly and well and you can do fairly well and take a long time over, that might mean that it’s longer before you move in and you’ve got more mortgage repayments, more insurance, if you’re renting a house then there’s the rent that you’re paying while you’re doing it. So, you might think you’re saving some money but actually, are you really?”

    You might also find that by doing a job yourself and taking longer about it, you might be holding up the next trade that can’t come in and do their job until you’ve finished. Instead there might be jobs that you can do which won’t involve holding anyone else up, like prepping and putting up cladding for example.

    When it comes to managing the project, you have the choice of paying someone else to do it, or doing it yourself. Obviously doing it yourself in theory should save you money, if done well, but consider whether you have the expertise to: keep things on track and on budget, get prices and employ subcontractors, nudge people when needed, make sure the work is being done to a high standard, check health and safety standards are being adhered to, keep neighbours on side etc.

    Do it on the terms of what you can afford, what skills you have and what you want your level of involvement to be.

    Being too fixated can be a common pitfall

    Geoff sees people that might become completely fixated on building a straw house for example, when actually the site they have might not actually be ideally suited.

    “It’s just understanding the issues around those sorts of things and not necessarily getting very fixated on one thing where you end up making your build really complicated because you’ve got this one fixed idea that you saw somewhere on television that you want.”

    He also says that no matter what you do there will be people saying that you shouldn’t have done it that way. And maybe even you yourself will look back and think you might have done it differently, but just try to get as much right as you can based on the knowledge and research at the time.

    People always say they want to be in by Christmas!

    Geoff suggests when it comes to how long a project will take, that if you’re planning to do a lot of the work yourself then try and avoid it going over two winters, as the second is always particularly tough (especially so if you’re living in a caravan!) Realistically you could be looking at 12 to 18 months on site, but less than that if you have builders.

    He also recommends trying to get as much finished as possible before moving in, even if that means throwing money at some good contractors to speed things up. Finishing off works once you’re living there is much harder to do and becomes less likely to ever get done.

    To help keep on track with the budget and schedule, try not to make changes as you go along. You can make minor changes but you don’t want to be deciding to change window placement or move walls once work is on site.

    Work with an architect who is on your wavelength

    Keep a scrapbook of ideas and images that you like and can show to a designer or architect, and make sure you work with someone who is going to design the sort of thing you want.

    Although it’s not necessary to employ an architect, having a good one on board that is sympathetic to your ideas can elevate your plans and give you a wow factor, rather than simply being a series of rooms joined by a corridor.

    Having an architect involved could just be paying someone for a simple check over your plans and offering advice, to a full package of designing the house, getting it through planning and building control, and seeing the whole project through to completion and sign-off at the end.

    A key consideration in choosing who to work with is finding someone who is on your wavelength that you feel you can work with. Ask for proof that they really understand the issues that matter to you, as some might claim to be providing a sustainable and energy efficient building just because it complies with current building regulations.

    Participants on a timber frame course

    Find out more

    Visit the website of the Centre for Alternative Technology

    Join House Planning Help’s Facebook group

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Geoff Stow.

    Please connect with me

    Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

    Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher

    Like our Facebook page

    Follow us on Twitter

  • HPH259 : Constructing the masonry superstructure of Portree Passivhaus – with Mike Coe

    HPH259 : Constructing the masonry superstructure of Portree Passivhaus – with Mike Coe

    Mike Coe has a progress report from Portree Passivhaus, which is now almost watertight. We pick up the story as the groundworks begin and look at some of the challenges as the superstructure has gone up.

    Mike Coe on the roof at Portree Passivhaus

    Interview with Mike Coe

    Mike Coe has been on the podcast a number of times. Our first interview with him was when he completed building the Cropthorne Autonomous House, where we imagined he might stay put for many years. However, with concerns over climate change, he and his partner Lizzie Stoodley decided to move further north to the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

    This meant selling the autonomous house, which was not straightforward, and taking on a second project with well known architects Rural Design.

    A section of Portree Passivhaus
    A visualisation of the finished house

    The sloping site was perfect for upside down living

    Mike’s previous house, the Cropthorne Autonomous House, had bedrooms downstairs, and the living space and kitchen upstairs. Mike prefers this layout and was keen to repeat it.

    That’s why one of the attractions of the site was its slope. The main entrance could be at the top of the house, taking you directly into the living space.

    The dig begins
    ‘Rotten rock’ is discovered

    Rotten Rock provides a perfect base from which to build

    Mike explains that whenever anyone builds on Skye they look for ‘rotten rock’, which is a combination of the normal clay subsoil but with volcanic small rock particles mixed in. This makes a stable foundation that you can build straight onto.

    Although they were digging into the hill, the rotten rock is almost solid enough to dispense with a retaining wall (but not quite!).

    The Cropthorne Autonomous House

    His first self build guided a lot of decisions

    At the autonomous house the heavyweight structure of the building was used as a thermal store, which would build up heat during the summer and slowly give it back over the winter.

    Hence Mike wanted to repeat what he knew worked well. Portree Passivhaus is a masonry building with a cavity wall.

    This is unusual for Scotland which has a lot of timber frame buildings, that are quick to put up in the inclement weather.

    Resilience was another key factor

    The building’s heavyweight structure will also make it a ‘fortress’ for whatever weather is to come.

    I think it’s inevitable that we’re going to get more extreme weather. We haven’t had that much of it in the UK yet, but there’s rarely a week when there isn’t some kind of extreme weather event somewhere in the world which makes it into the news.

    The slab of insulation goes in

    The building sits on a tray of insulation

    Concrete is poured into a tray of insulation to form the lower ground floor slab. The internal concrete block walls then get built onto the edges of that slab, so the internal part of the house is completely isolated.

    The cavity wall is 375mm wide and uses TeploTies for low thermal transmissivity.

    With a large open plan living area, the building requires a steel structure for extra support.

    The first floor is a beam and block floor, and above this there will be a green roof.

    We’ve got a very substantial roof structure in order to take the weight of the soil on which the grass will grow on the roof. But below that, sitting on top of the structural I-beams, there’s another layer of insulation.

    There is no environmentally benign dwelling

    Mike is well informed when it comes to climate change and believes that we, as a world, could be doing so much more to reduce carbon emissions. So why is he building with masonry when more sustainable materials exist?

    There’s undoubtedly embodied energy in this house. How significant it is in terms of global carbon emissions compared to things that could be very, very easily avoided, I don’t know. In use, the house will have a tiny environmental footprint. It’s very energy efficient, it doesn’t have a heating system, it’ll have renewable energy systems as well.

    Although it will be a number of years into the future, Mike says the house will pay back its CO2 debt. And for him it’s not just about preventing climate change, this is a house that’s ready to face the extreme weather events that have been caused by climate change.

    When you look to the future it’s not going to blow down. And the turf roof is part of the resilience strategy.

    Mike installing the ventilation ducting

    Mike gradually took on more responsibility

    Having been very hands-on during his first self build, he had wanted to do less this time. However, he’s found himself being drawn in!

    Due to concerns over finances, he decided to save some money by installing the mechanical ventilation system and doing all the electrics himself.

    But knowing the level of detail required on a project like this, he’s also monitoring quality.

    It’s all about during and post construction quality control. And trying to get across the message that the insulation has got to be kept clean and dry – difficult in this climate – as dry as possible and put in neatly without any gaps – I don’t know why but it’s just proved to be very tough.

    So Mike has spent weekends pulling insulation out, cleaning it, putting it back again. He’s also taken responsibility for some of the trickier details.

    Mike spotted a thermal bridge across the cavity

    With an architect and contractor who haven’t built a Passivhaus before, Mike’s experience has become extremely useful. During construction he noticed that the steel was creating a thermal bridge across the cavity.

    The solution was to shorten the steels and put thermal break pads in. Using stainless steel bolts also helped reduce the transmission across the steel.

    Delays have had an upside

    Mike’s contractor has had to start another project for a local hotel and this has meant a reduced workforce on Mike’s site.

    However, as pensioners, Mike and Lizzie have been able to squirrel away extra cash.

    This gives Mike cautious optimism that he could get towards the end of the project… and even hire decorators (something they’d really like to do).

    Stone cladding begins
    The main living space

    Find out more

    Visit the website of Portree Passivhaus

    Follow Mike Coe on Twitter

    Follow Portree Passivhaus on Twitter

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Mike Coe.

    Please connect with me

    Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

    Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher

    Like our Facebook page

    Follow us on Twitter

  • HPH257 : 4 ways a self build project can go wrong – with Ben Adam-Smith

    HPH257 : 4 ways a self build project can go wrong – with Ben Adam-Smith

    Ben Adam-Smith runs through the biggest problems you could face on your self build journey. He also looks at what can be done in those situations.

    There’s no end of challenges on a self build

    It’s worth pointing out that there will be many ups and downs during a project. We could easily compile a list of a hundred things that could go wrong!

    However, most of the time, there is a way forward and any hiccup will be forgotten about in a few days (or at worst leave a lesson for ‘next time’).

    What we’re talking about today are the key things that can go wrong that may be hard or even impossible to fix.

    1. Running out of money

    No matter how much you do yourself, money is the life blood of the project. Without money, progress will be hard and the project is likely to stop.

    In some ways most self-builders run out of money! The difference is when it happens. If it happens towards the end when the home is at least habitable then it’s annoying, yes, but you can move in and finish off little jobs as money becomes available.

    A word of warning

    It’s a lot easier to get everything done before you move in. Once you’re living in the house there’s a horrible tendency to make do. The pressure of needing to move in can even be a useful driver to get those final jobs completed.

    Running out of money before the home is habitable

    Nobody wants to end up here. There are times to stop a self build and in the middle of construction is not one of them.

    It’s extremely difficult to dig yourself out of this hole because there will be ongoing costs of stopping the project, such as site insurance.

    Why does it happen?

    The main reasons for running out of money are because of:

    • A change of circumstances – for example, the loss of a job and therefore inability to secure a mortgage
    • Overspending somewhere else – perhaps sinking more money into the ground than you would have liked
    • Losing money during the project – if a contractor goes bust, for example, and you don’t have adequate cover
    • Burying your head in the sand about how much money you’ve got and how far it will go

    Getting out of a financial mess

    There’s no two ways about it, this will be an uphill struggle. In a worst case scenario selling the site is a possibility. You may come out of it having lost money but at least you will not have the ongoing torment of a half finished project.

    If your project is still ahead of you and you’re worried you could get into trouble then get your budget as detailed as possible upfront. And keep refining… it’s never finished.

    Always make sure you’ve got a contingency. In addition to a contingency fund, if the worst comes to the worst, is there an asset you could sell or a wealthy relative who might consider loaning you some money?

    Think about whether there are any parts of the project that could be phased. For example, don’t build the house and the garage together if you think you won’t have the money to finish the house. Make the house the priority.

    2. A relationship break down

    Building a house is a team sport and that means dealing with people. In addition to professionals you may be building with a partner and have a balancing act there, too! And not forgetting where you’re building: it is possible your new neighbours may not be too keen on what you’re up to.

    The important thing to mention here is communication. Most relationships turn sour due to some communication breakdown and this rarely happens overnight. So keep the conversation going and make sure everyone is up to speed. If someone feels alienated or undervalued then problems are brewing.

    Some of the biggest challenges with architects/builders etc. come with issues around quality or reliability. Or, on the flip side, perhaps you as the client are being unrealistic or too demanding.

    There’s no doubt that friction in relationships can leave a bitter taste. And it can go beyond the point of no return. Even if it is for the best going your separate ways, there will inevitably be knock-on effects such as delays and additional cost.

    3. Stress overload

    Even on a project that goes well, you can get fatigue towards the end. So when everything goes against you, stress can mount.

    In the worst case scenario this can result in a total breakdown, which will leave you out of action on your project and hating your house for months or even years to come.

    Heed the warning signs

    Again, this isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s normally to do with seeing a lack of progress and feeling out of control. You may be anxious and the situation could even be triggered by one of the situations we’ve already talked about (money, people).

    If you feel you have taken on too much and you can’t see a way out then this is a warning sign to make a change.

    Bring in reinforcement

    Normally you can change something. Sometimes you see self-builders embark on a project, wanting to do it all themselves. It’s perhaps a romantic view of what it should be like.

    If you’re able to get back-up, even in a small way, it can make a lot of difference.

    And it may seem like you can’t get away, but taking a break – even for a day – can clear your mind. You’ve really got to pinpoint what is causing the stress.

    4. Rushing the process

    Most self-builders get to the end of the process with a sense of achievement and pride. Yes, there will always be things they could have done differently but overall they have stayed the course and created a far better home than anything available on the open market.

    For some, though, the completed house is a disappointment and doesn’t meet their expectations.

    And this regret is almost always caused by rushing the design process and then making up a lot of it as you go.

    Invest in good design

    It’s amazing the money you can save by doing things yourself, but you are unlikely to get the same outcome as if you’d hired a professional. So unless you bring skills to the table, leave it to the professionals. And as with so many things in life, you get what you pay for.

    Develop a comprehensive brief!

    Any professionals you bring on board are not psychic (well, you can’t expect this as part of the service!). Therefore your brief needs to be crystal clear. Rather than being desperate to get building, enjoy spending time developing your plans.

    Make sure you understand what you’re building. To those who aren’t familiar with 2D drawings it can be tricky to get a sense of space, so use all visualisation tools at your disposal.

    And again, get your project specified properly in the design process. If you’re doing it during construction phase then you’re adding to your workload.

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  • HPH243 : Embracing the “Not So Big” philosophy – with Sarah Susanka

    HPH243 : Embracing the “Not So Big” philosophy – with Sarah Susanka

    Architect and author Sarah Susanka explains why bigger isn’t always better when it comes to building a house.

    Interview with Sarah Susanka

    As his house plans grew larger than he had originally intended, Ben found himself often thinking back to Sarah Susanka’s advice about only building as big as you need.

    Sarah is an architect, and author of The Not So Big House and The Not So Big Life series of books. As well as helping clients, she has re-modelled her own life and found a happy balance where she is able to commit time to doing the things she loves.

    The site impacts on the character of the house

    Sarah explains that it is very rare that a pre-made plan for a house is going to automatically be suitable for a site that you acquire. She sees part of her job as helping to make a house grow out of the site very naturally.

    Use all of the space every day

    From seeing more houses being built with ever greater square footage, Sarah embraces building smaller houses where all the rooms get used. One way of doing this is to have convertible spaces, such as a home office that can double as a guest bedroom.

    “We don’t buy a bigger piece of clothing just because we can. In the same way, we don’t need a bigger house just because we can. Let’s tailor it so that it really fits us. “

    ‘Bigger is better’ is a misconception

    Sarah explains that when people want a better house, they often equate that with being a bigger house.

    She gives the example of one of her clients, who could afford pretty much whatever he wanted to build. On seeing his original house designs from another architect, she challenged him by saying she could design a house that was half the size but be the most interesting and appealing of houses that people would want to visit because it would be so enjoyable to be in.

    Despite his reservations he ended up loving the house, which became the talk of the neighbourhood.

    “Once people see what you can do when you spend money effectively rather than just on more, they’re sold. It’s instant. It’s obvious.”

    Client expectations were often unrealistic

    Sarah’s clients would come to her with images of what they wanted their dream home to look like, but would not have the budget to match. This common dilemma for most of her clients is where The Not So Big House movement began.

    “Obviously, the budget was not likely to change. The quality of what they could build could change or the quantity. And of course, most people who are coming to an architect, they cared about the quality. So, I had to figure out a way to show them how to build less quantity but get a better house.”

    She says that helping people understand their use of spaces allows them to think outside the box and create a house that’s tailored to them, rather than a generic idea of how they should be living.

    Build ‘safety values’ into the design

    These are places where cutbacks can be made if necessary. For example, if money needs to be saved then a porch could be added at a later date, or granite worktops can be substituted for a cheaper alternative and then be upgraded several years later.

    “So, you just have to be realistic. There’s a huge part of realism in this whole process and I think when we are thinking about either building new or really rethinking the existing house, we think, ‘this is my dream and it’s got to be perfect.’ And I try to help people see that there are incremental steps that you can take to making it just the way you want it.”

    Don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board

    Even with these safety values, sometimes a project may still come in way over budget. It is at this point that Sarah says you shouldn’t be afraid to treat it as an expensive lesson and start over again with the designs. As painful as that can be when your dreams have been embodied in a plan that you can’t then afford to progress, sometimes a re-design is just what’s required.

    Embrace the learning from the process

    Sarah explains that sometimes we think the point of building a house is the end product, but actually going through the process is really the point, as it is such an immense learning experience.

    To her the point is living through whatever it is that we’re making, and that applies whether it’s building a house, writing a book or raising a child. They are about how you are as you engage in the process, and even when there are frustrations you can look at what you are able to learn from the situation.

    Life doesn’t inherently have to be too busy

    As well as writing her Not So Big House books, Sarah has also written about the Not So Big Life.

    Spending time re-modelling her life she became aware that she was often describing herself as being too busy, and questioned why that was and what her beliefs and fears were that made her feel she should be going ever faster.

    “But it’s really about learning what it means to be present in what you’re doing. When you’re completely present, it’s vibrantly alive. So, no matter what’s happening, you can be having a very frustrating day, but it can also be vibrantly alive because you’re learning and you’re seeing things about yourself that you couldn’t see if you weren’t present in the process.

    Going through that process helped her to recognise that her true passion was for writing, and subsequently made time to write. By putting effort into something you love, Sarah says that your world organises around that.

    “So, I’ve got fingers in a lot of pies, but I am not nearly as busy as I used to be. That’s the big one. It sounds like, ‘how can she do all those things?’ But I’m doing them in a much, much more balanced way. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

    Find out more

    Visit the website of Sarah Susanka

    Follow Sarah on Twitter

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Sarah Susanka

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  • HPH234 : How well did I do on my self build? – with Ben Adam-Smith

    HPH234 : How well did I do on my self build? – with Ben Adam-Smith

    Having completed his house build this year, Ben Adam-Smith evaluates his own performance as a self-builder.

    It’s sometimes tricky to draw a line and say that you are at end of a self build. While there are lots of little tweaks to decor and a lot of work to do in the garden, our contract has been fulfilled and everything is functional.

    So for the last two podcasts of 2018 I’m going to reflect on my build. Then in 2019 I’ll wipe the slate clean!

    In this podcast I’m going to analyse how well I did as a self-builder. What did I get right and what could have been better.

    Ben Adam-Smith on site

    What went well

    We have created a home that we love

    Until you move into your house you can never guarantee it’ll feel like a home. When we moved in, almost immediately it felt like we’d lived there for years. Our children didn’t even blink when they were introduced to their new bedrooms. The layout is instinctive. We want for nothing.

    We hired a competent team

    From architecture firm to main contractor and interior designer, everyone delivered for us. Sometimes it feels like we got lucky! But I think spending time hiring the right people was one of the smartest moves we made.

    We paid for a full service

    Not everyone can afford to do this, but it was within our means to get all the work carried out by a main contractor with the architecture firm overseeing the project.

    Of course this is not the cheapest way of doing things but with two young kids we did not have lots of time to play with. Also, I think we knew ourselves. In fact I classify myself as a DIY disaster, so it was an obvious choice to let the professionals get on with things. That left us to ‘be the client’.

    We have built to Passivhaus standard

    Right at the top of our brief was to build a house to Passivhaus standard. Although it’s too early to look at the bills our home is certainly comfortable, with the even heat synonymous with Passivhaus. It also has all the other benefits you would come to expect. There’s no condensation on the inside of the windows. We have constant fresh air and the smells created from cooking disappear.

    My wife and I worked well as a team

    We brought different skills to the table, which is always handy. Kay had project managed marketing campaigns before so was comfortable with staying on top of emails, listing priorities and updating budgets. I had the more technical insights as to what we should be doing… and I liked to focus on the big decisions.

    While we probably had momentary disputes, I can’t really remember many of them now! And I even won the odd discussion.

    What could have been better

    There are always things to learn on a project, but I think it must be a good sign that I can’t think of a single clanger.

    The project is not as ecological as I would have liked

    This is probably my biggest regret of the project but I made all these decisions with my eyes open.

    One challenge we had was that my wife did not want to live in a ‘new house’ with a roof full of solar PV! I, on the other hand, was really keen to try not to copy a style from the past. I wanted to build a house fit for the 21st century. That meant we had to find the middle ground.

    So we built a Passivhaus that has traditional form and uses traditional materials.

    We went down a masonry route to keep things cost effective. I was also keen to understand more about building with masonry (as it is one of the main construction methods in the UK).

    So we have no renewables and we are a masonry build. I know why we ended up here, but I do look at other projects and get slightly envious about what they have achieved!

    We increased our budget

    Some people say a budget is the budget. When we went out to tender we got a bit of a shock!

    Plenty of value engineering suggestions were made but we didn’t feel comfortable compromising on what we wanted. Fortunately we were in a position to pay more.

    But the point here is that overall we have spent massively more than we were planning on day one!

    Our cost-cutting didn’t always work!

    After the shock of our tender returns, we had to make some cutbacks. Some of these I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what they were now.

    However there are a few that I would like to revert (as soon as is financially possible). The driveway is top of that list. We changed from a resin surface to shingle. This saved us over £20,000. The downside is we have a noisy driveway, with stones go everywhere and it’s tricky to walk on.

    The shingle driveway is incredibly noisy to drive across

    Following on from this we also got rid of the paving around the house and put shingle down there too. There’s no doubt that this also saved a lot of money. We had always anticipated using this back door most of the time. That doesn’t really happen. We almost exclusively use the front door… and I do wonder whether a large part of that is the surface.

    I didn’t catch the little things in time

    The more you are on site, the more you can spot little things that might be about to go wrong. I was on site every couple of days but it’s amazing how much progress can be made in that time.

    I’ll give you an example. In the guest en-suite bathroom we wanted the following tiling pattern.

    The tiler did not get this information and tiled it horizontally.

    This was his error and we could have got him to redo it. However, it would mean half a bathroom’s worth of tiles would go in the bin and he’d be out of pocket £1000.

    Needless to say the conventional tiling pattern still looks pretty damn good, so we decided to leave it that.

    If I’d been on site when the first few tiles were going up, we could easily have corrected course.

    I got tired by the end of the project

    Self build fatigue is real. As it got towards the end of the project I perhaps got a little casual with some of the furniture purchases. It would have been lovely to dig into the specifications and find out what was in them and where they’d come from.

    Instead we would take a cursory glance and if it looked like it would fit the bill, then we’d go for it!

    Overall, we did really well

    I’m in a fortunate position to get to see lots of eco homes and hear first hand from the self-builders what it’s really been like. As such, I think we’ve got a lot to celebrate.

    Funnily enough the majority of the ‘little niggles’ get forgotten. After all, life moves on.

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  • HPH228 : What is a site meeting? – with Ben Adam-Smith

    HPH228 : What is a site meeting? – with Ben Adam-Smith

    Having had his last site meeting this month, Ben Adam-Smith explains what they are and how they fit into the construction process when building a new house.

    What is a site meeting?

    As with any project, you want to keep track of things and make sure everything is running smoothly. And that’s what this is all about: getting the key team members together on a regular basis. In our case that was once a month.

    Clients – Ben Adam-Smith and Kay Adam-Smith

    Architects – Chris Parsons, boss of Parsons + Whittley

    Main contractor – Mark Feldman from Mars Builders.

    Chris Parsons says: “A site meeting is a regular meeting that’s held to try to keep an eye on progress, keep an eye on issues that crop up and make sure everyone is well informed as we go through the process.”

    Mark Feldman adds: “Having all parties there at the same time, being able to discuss the issues, run through them and hopefully come up with solutions works very well. It’s much easier than doing it remotely, with emails flying backwards and forwards.”

     

    What gets discussed?

    Everyone knows that there are lots of decisions to be made during the course of a self build. Although they don’t all have to be made at once they do become more critical if left unresolved. So a site meeting can flag up the priorities (allowing you to keep ahead of the decision-making curve).

    A site meeting also helps everyone understand progress since the last meeting and what is planned to be achieved by the next meeting.

     

    The main benefits of a site meeting

    If you actually examine what you’re doing in these meetings a lot of it comes down to problem solving. There are countless issues that arise during construction so discussing the options and coming up with potential solutions is time well spent.

    Other than that it can be an opportunity for the architect or builder to explain something to the client.

     

    What is the format?

    In our case we had a walk around the site and then held a sit down meeting (typically lasting between 1 – 3 hours).

    1. Introduction/apologies
    2. Matters arising from previous meeting
    3. Contractor’s report
    4. Contractor administrator/architect/CDM matters
    5. Quantity surveyor matters
    6. Employers matters
    7. Any other business
    8. Date of next meeting

     

    Documenting meetings makes sure nothing is forgotten

    Chris Parsons comments: “I think minuting any meeting is probably sensible. The notes form a structure for the following meeting and make sure items that are discussed are not forgotten. So they are picked up and continually dealt with until such time as they are cleared.”

    Having minutes which have been agreed by all parties also provides a contractual record so that in the event of a dispute there is a bit more information about what went on.

    Extract from one of the first meetings

     

    Ben’s top tips

    – Make sure you don’t run out of biscuits!

    – Don’t attempt to look after young children and hold your meeting.

     

    Find out more

    Visit the website of Parsons + Whittley

    Visit the website of Mars Builders

    Please connect with me