New build - an accessible home

Open house

This case study is from SelfBuild & Design March 2021 | Buy this issue | Subscribe

Caroline Gregg has built for herself and her four children an ambitious contemporary home designed to be fully accessible for disability.

Story: Debbie Jeffery Pictures: Paul Leach Photography

In Brief

After spending more than seven years embroiled in a complex legal battle, which she finally won, the last thing that mother of four, Caroline Gregg, wanted to do was to take on a new challenge.

“My son, Jake, was negligently starved of oxygen during his birth, which resulted in severe brain damage,” she explains. “He’s wheelchair bound, can’t speak, and has a limited life expectancy, so now he has a 24-hour care package following admission of liability.”

The family’s previous home was not suitable for a wheelchair user, and Caroline contacted Martin Bell of Transform Architects, who specialises in designing for disability, to help her assess potential houses which could be adapted. Unable to find anything appropriate in the area, she was forced to consider taking on her first self-build project.

“Martin was recommended to me and tackled a small adaptation on our previous home,” explains Caroline, a building surveyor by profession. “Over the course of several months we went on house viewings together, but with such specific needs to meet there was nothing that fitted the bill, even with an enormous amount of adaptation. Then a plot of land was identified, and – very reluctantly – I concluded that the only thing for it was to build my own house.”

Martin Bell started designing from the inside out, discussing the household’s needs, which included accommodating the 24-hour care team, who provide Jake with line-of-sight supervision.

The brief was that Jake should have easy access to every room in the house, using his powerchair, while the care team should be able to work as discretely as possible to avoid impacting on other members of the family.

“Jake needs a therapy room, a specialist bathroom, hoists and equipment storage,” says Caroline. “At first, I assumed we’d be building a bungalow on one level, but the plot of land just wasn’t large enough, so we decided to build over two storeys with a lift to access upper rooms.”

Level thresholds, wide doorways, and wheelchair turning spaces were all vital, as was an integral garage and a store for equipment. Jake’s bedroom, bathroom and therapy room are on the ground floor, together with a spacious hallway, the carers’ accommodation, and an open plan living/dining/kitchen with glass doors onto the terrace and a pyramid roof lantern. Upstairs, the three other children and Caroline have en suite bedrooms, and there is also a private lounge.

The ground floor contains an integral garage, spacious entrance, a lift, store, carer’s accommodation, bathroom, kitchen/dining/living room and a bedroom, bathroom and playroom. On the first floor are four en suite bedrooms, a study and a balcony.

“We knew that this would be our home for life, so it had to include everything the children will need as they grow older,” says Caroline. “I also told Martin that the two girls’ bedrooms had to be exactly the same size to avoid any arguments!” With current ages ranging from thirteen down to seven, care was taken to plan ahead, ensuring the house would adapt as needed.

The plot of land is located in a valley in a small North Yorkshire village, and previously belonged to the house next-door, whose owners sold off their tennis court, complete with planning approval for a new four-bedroom dwelling.

“The plans were for a square box, so we knew that Martin would be redesigning the whole house,” says Caroline. “I didn’t want the building to look too large from the street, and the wrap-around single-storey extension at the back is hidden from view but doubles the size of the ground floor accommodation.”

Carolyn told her architect she didn’t want a shiny white box, opting instead for stone and timber cladding

Overall, the contemporary new building covers more than 500m², but was sympathetically designed to suit the village setting, which meant that gaining planning permission proved straightforward. The family continued to live in their home four miles away during the design and build process, so they were still close to the children’s schools.

“Not only did I give Martin a difficult brief for the accommodation, but I also had strong ideas about the external look of the building,” says Caroline. “I told him that I definitely didn’t want a shiny white house, and he took that on board and suggested stone and timber cladding instead.”

Exterior finish Stone slips and cedar boarding clad the blockwork walls of the new detached house.

Built from cavity blockwork, with 75mm of insulation, the external walls are faced in either untreated vertical cedar cladding or stone slips, which were individually attached to the blocks. Aluminium-framed windows and doors were installed, and solar thermal panels and photovoltaics are mounted on the steel standing seam roof, providing both electricity and hot water.

“After all the years of legal battles and moving, we needed a homely house that would be a place of safety and refuge,” says Caroline, who decided not to tender for the build. Instead, she chose a large Yorkshire building contractor, HACS Construction, who could deliver the project in under a year. “The children had moved around so much, and I was sick of fighting,” she explains. “I knew that we could properly start to live only once we were all settled, and therefore time was a priority for me.”

The single-storey kitchen/dining/living area overlooks the rear garden through glazed doors and features roof lantern and a wood-burning stove.

Work started on site in June 2017 and was completed in May the following year. Not only that, but the previous family home needed to be adapted while they were still living there, meaning that the two projects ran concurrently – both designed and overseen by Martin Bell.

“We try not to think too much about that time,” laughs Caroline. “I could never have imagined what was required for me in terms of all the decisions to make for things like door handles, tiles, and blinds. I have to say that Martin was brilliant, as he not only managed the contractors, but he also managed me, and walked me through every decision.”

A culvert running across the site dictated the orientation of the property, which is located on the more level former tennis court, and a long first floor balcony enjoys country views across fields to the rear.

This outdoor terrace may be accessed from the principal bedroom and private lounge, where level thresholds make wheelchair access possible. “In order to have flat access out onto the balcony, the whole house had to be raised by around 300mm,” explains Caroline. “It was an extravagance, but that space is somewhere for me to relax and have some quiet time, so it’s been absolutely worth the money.”

Architect, Martin Bell, accompanied Caroline to search for items such as the fireplace. “I think as a client you don’t want to disappoint the architect,” she says. “They put so much effort into creating this amazing space that you don’t want to ruin it.”