Eco House

Why it won!

Philip and Margaret might be first-time self-builders, but their fresh outlook is an inspiration to anyone daunted by the process of ‘starting from scratch’. A mature angle to housebuilding – taking the best that the eco market has to offer and placing it hand - in - hand with a deeply analytical approach to specification – resulted in several innovative solutions, not least the remarkable glass downpipe. H&R loved the post and beam system too. Whilst being unashamedly dominant throughout the interior, it also retains a certain subtlety, and its floor-floating bottom is a clever design touch. This remarkable property, set on a magnificent site, isn’t just green for green’s sake either. The house complements Philip and Margaret’s sustainable lifestyle perfectly — they have a growing veggie patch and spend lots of time outdoors.

RoofKrete is ideal for designs where minimal or no falls have been designed into the building. RoofKrete can remain permanently submerged without any detrimental effect to the nature of the material.

With this design having numerous fixings on the flat roof, RoofKrete’s system of using small built up plinths ensure fixings do not penetrate the waterproofing membrane.

The roof is predominantly clad in zinc, with a flat section of Roofkrete above the main living space on which the solar panels are sited, and an overhanging brise soleil shades the west facade where glazing maximises solar gain in the winter.

In essence, the couple envisaged a light, open house designed for the 21st century — contemporary in style and ecologically sound but not overtly ‘eco’ in appearance. They wanted rooms which could connect to the garden and would lend themselves to entertaining — making the most of the views.

The couple scheduled a meeting with Paul Humphries Architects, an award-winning practice specialising in contemporary and eco friendly property designs. “We’d renovated several period houses, and loved the character of these old buildings, but we were tired of trying to heat them and fed up of having cold feet every winter,” Philip explains, “so a new build really was a total change of direction and we wanted to include as many ecological elements as possible.”

The resulting design was so carefully considered that Philip and Margaret’s new home barely deviates from the practice’s initial sketch proposal. “We loved it from the word go,” says Margaret. “In fact, we were quite overwhelmed, and the planners were extremely supportive of the design.”