Demolition starts

On Monday the project started and the site began to take shape.  We are using T.G.Sowerby Developments from Scunthorpe as we have worked with them before and have full confidence in the team.  I know this sounds obvious but, it is really important to have a team of architects and builders with whom you can have a good relationship, so many problems that develop in building projects come when the builder client relationship breaks down. 

There has been a long process of costings, re-costings and planning revisions before the final specification was settled.  Some things, sedum roof for example, have had to go because of the cost but other exciting things have developed as ideas flowed!!   It is also vital to be clear about the plans and the budget before starting and we now have a building contract in place signed by all parties. 

From 8am onwards the site hut, toilets, equipment... oh and the all important skip all began to arrive.

The first job for the builders is to demolish the existing garden room which is to be rebuilt and knocked through into the main house to provide a new, spacious, light living room. This will have a large triple glazed corner of windows overlooking the garden. These windows are useful for passive solar gain but could also cause overheating so they will have thermal glazing and an overhang has been designed into the flat roof to shade the room from height of summer sun.

The windows are a hugely important part of this project and the subject of endless discussions, meetings, emails, costings and drawings!  We are using Olsen and really like the quality of the aluminium and wood triple glazed units they supply.  I am quite sure I will return to this in more detail in a future post.

Demolition of the garden room begins

The garden room timbers were quite rotten and the roof structure stuffed with polystyrene blocks as insulation - not very effective and a nightmare to get rid of. However progress is good and as I look out now the garden room has completely gone. Tomorrow the concrete slab will come up and the new room can begin to take shape.

   

In the beginning...

The house South/West elevations 2015

Original drawing from 1967/8 West elevation

Original drawing from 1967/8 South elevation

In the the beginning there was a house - designed by Architect Eirikur Walton of Brown and Buttrick Scunthorpe and built in 1968.  When I say designed, I mean designed, as every detail of this then state of the art 1960s home was designed and drawn by the architect - even the fire guards! 

Original drawing for detail of fire screen

We are fortunate to have the original documents, a veritable archive, including artist's impressions, the architect's annotated drawings and the bill of quantities so we know every aspect of the construction and details of all the finishes that were used. 

.....and here is a picture of the house today in its slightly faded glory - for example the single glazed garden room is collapsing and leaking badly and some of the original single glazed windows and the cladding have been replaced by UPVC.

Front entrance 2015

So...with the help of Century Architects, plans have been hatched to bring this lovely home, in its fabulous setting, into the 21st century without losing its mid-century feel. 

There are a few guiding principles for this work - 'Reduce, Re-use, Recycle' and sensitivity to the original design.

First, Reduce - we want to make this house as energy efficient as we can - it has an existing very new and efficient oil fired boiler for the heating and hot water and the aim is to keep it, but get its use down to an absolute minimum by wrapping the house in insulation and aiming for a pretty airtight envelope. We also want to replace lighting with LED and look for energy efficiencies where we can.  Solar PV has been ruled out in the short term because of uncertainties about the tariff.  More about all of this as we go on as there are so many things to consider when doing a retrofit rather than new build...

Secondly, there are some great features and fittings in this house and we don't want to get rid of them so Recycle and Re-use where we can. We hope to sell/give away some of the things that we don't need to keep and have already taken quite a lot of things, like blinds curtain poles and curtains, to charity shops.

Finally, sensitivity to the design - and this links with the last point as this is not an exercise in ripping out all that wonderful 1960s period interior but rather using and adapting it to fit with today's lifestyle. 

Well this week the builders arrived and the project has begun...but more about that in my next post.