New Build - small and irregular plot

Space invaders

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

Despite a tight budget and an even tighter site, Tom Miller and Fi Conington have built a quirky and imaginative home which creates the illusion of space.

Story: Debbie Jeffery Pictures: Alex Board

In Brief

“We named our new house The Oak Shed because people often joke that it resembles a rural outbuilding - which was the whole point, as it disappears into the site,” explains Tom Miller. “A collection of derelict barns and sheds stood on the land when we bought it, with a brook making access tricky. In many ways we were naïve because we bought the plot before fully addressing all its challenges.”

Tom and his partner, Fi Conington, an NHS psychotherapist, previously lived in a traditional but chilly Devon cob and thatch cottage and had been discussing the idea of building a more energy-efficient home.

Located in the centre of a Devon village, the small site was previously garden space belonging to an adjacent house, and the proximity of neighbours created complex issues, with a brook making access tricky.

“I grew up in Minnesota in the US, where contemporary timber-framed homes are popular and there’s a strong Scandinavian influence,” says Tom. “We’ve always had an interest in architecture and design, so when I retired from the health service it seemed like the ideal opportunity to build a small, well-designed and affordable home, suitable for the next stage in our lives.”

The couple preferred to develop a brownfield site in a Devon village, rather than taking greenfield land, and found their centrally located plot which was occupied by a ramshackle collection of outbuildings. Outline planning permission had already been granted to build a new dwelling on the awkward scrap of land, which was being sold for £100,000.

We had absolutely no idea about the additional problems of building on a very small, closed-in site

“We had absolutely no idea about the additional problems of building on a very small, closed-in site with water at the front,” admits Tom, “and bought the plot before giving any serious thought to what we might build – then began looking for an architect.”

Owning a listed cob and thatch cottage meant that Tom and Fi had dealings with a local historic building officer, and he recommended architect Rob Hilton, whose practice, Hilton Barnfield Architects, is based nearby in Exeter. “Rob suggested design ideas we could never have imagined, and we got on well from the start – it was a shared vision,” says Tom.

Rob worked with Tom and Fi to design a modest two-bedroom home with an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, a utility, two bathrooms and a dedicated workshop, where Tom would have space for his hobby of restoring vintage bicycles.

“Originally, we planned to have a first-floor bedroom and en suite in one portion of the house, but eventually this became a mezzanine storage area for books, with the rest of the rooms located on the ground floor to drop the roofline for planning,” Fi explains.

Building a contemporary house in the middle of a village of traditional buildings was challenging, especially as the brook which separates the tapering L-shaped plot from the road required bridging. With these hurdles and the ambitious brief to consider, Hilton Barnfield Architects devised a thoughtful solution.

The house is mostly single storey, with three distinct areas: a living space, study and utility, which connects to two bedrooms, a study and bathroom at the other end of the plan via a kitchen/diner. The mezzanine storage level is accessed via a ladder.

The unusual form of the building took its shape from the need to provide privacy, and the front elevation marks the more public spaces of entrance, workshop, living room and kitchen. Pockets of outdoor space are accessible, which open the bedrooms and kitchen to views while still retaining privacy. “There was some debate about whether we needed piled foundations, because of the brook, but after trial pits were dug our engineer specified conventional concrete strip foundations, with a step up into the house,” says Tom. “The stream does swell in heavy rain, and the water level can rise quite dramatically, but it also goes down again very quickly.”

Pockets of outdoor space are accessible, which open the bedrooms and kitchen to views while still retaining privacy.

Local company AR Boland Ltd was engaged to build the new house and to bridge the brook. “We talked to several contractors who were anxious about access and storing materials on such a small site,” says Fi. “Our builders didn’t seem fazed at all and made a temporary structure from railway sleepers to span the stream. They used smaller equipment, so we didn’t ever have a full-sized JCB on the plot, and some materials were stored off-site until they were needed.”

The agricultural sheds which originally stood on the village site were constructed from corrugated steel, cob, brick and stone, with openings to the south-west. Inspired by these structures, one section of the new house was built in timber frame, with structural steelwork in the roof left exposed internally and painted oxide red.

A central section was constructed in brick and blockwork, where a brick and cob barn had once stood, with an exposed internal brick wall, the end of which protrudes out of the front elevation, running the length of this part of the house and extending at a jaunty angle along the site boundary.

“We wanted some sections of oak cladding, which isn’t that common,” says Fi. “Interestingly, right opposite our house there’s a small red-brick barn, with a rusting galvanised roof and some feather-edge oak cladding, weathered silver-grey. That little barn was a major influence on our architect’s design.”

Conceived as three distinct volumes to respond to the site, and negate issues of massing and overlooking, the design combines oak cladding, exposed brickwork and a combination of roofing materials.

The material palette becomes more refined in private bedroom and bathroom spaces to the rear, where slate roofing replaces the corrugated steel and, instead of rough-sawn horizontal oak boards, the timber cladding has been planed and treated before being hung vertically. This further accentuates the change in height from the central flat-roofed section, which will eventually be planted as a green roof.

An open corridor, flanked by sliding glass doors, connects the kitchen/living/dining area to the bedroom wing. “With so much glass we decided to buy the best double glazing we could afford, with composite timber and aluminium frames, instead of specifying lesser-quality triple glazing,” says Tom.

Fi was keen to introduce splashes of colour throughout the white interior, with bright bedroom doors and other details. An oak ladder leads up to the mezzanine.

Part of a crumbling stone boundary wall was removed to enable easier site access, with new mixed hedging planted later to create a natural rural screen. An engineer-designed, three-metre-wide beam-and-block bridge was also constructed at the end of the project, which has been reinforced with steel and finished with concrete.

After selling their previous home, Tom and Fi rented a small modern house for almost three years during the design and build, becoming physically involved with the interior fit-out.

We’re not minimalists, and like our home to feel comfortable and lived in

“We have an air source heat pump powering our underfloor heating, and originally planned to lay polished screed floors, but the finish just wasn’t good enough,” says Tom. “In the end, Fi taught herself to cut and lay large slate floor tiles throughout, while we were living in the house, and we also tackled all the decorating ourselves.”

Instead of blowing their budget on a bespoke kitchen, the couple purchased standard Ikea carcasses, which have been re-imagined using architect-designed drawer and door fronts purchased from a firm in Denmark.

“Our plan was to reduce our mortgage, so it was important to find ways to express ourselves without overspending,” says Tom. “We’re not minimalists, and like our home to feel comfortable and lived in, displaying ceramics and artwork alongside a piano which belonged to Fi’s great-grandmother. Beautiful things should have a functional purpose, and it’s definitely not a show house, but somewhere we can enjoy relaxing with family and friends.”

Final Word

What were the high points?

The builders cursed us, as there are a few unexpected angles in the house and everything is slightly askew, but seeing the design growing exactly as we’d imagined was thrilling.

…and the low points?

Site access, storage, and bad weather!

Your best buy?

The oak cladding was more expensive than other timbers, but we love the soft grey colour as it weathers and will need no treatment for years. Also, customising our Ikea kitchen with Danish doors has transformed it.

Biggest extravagance?

We didn’t want to scrimp on the bathroom fittings and chose Duravit sanitaryware, designed by Philippe Starck, which was well worth the extra expense.

Currently used as a workshop for vintage bikes, this space has been fitted with underfloor heating and could easily be re-purposed.