SelfBuild & Design June 2015 | 9

“We worked up gradually to building a new house for ourselves – starting off with buying part of a converted malt-

house off-plan, and working with the developer on the finishes,” says Simon Kiddle. “Our next house was bought as a new build shell, and we organised fitting out the interiors, so we wrongly believed that building a whole house wouldn’t be that different. In fact it was far more work.”

Simon and his wife, Meg Joyce, have lived in Bristol since Meg moved to the UK from California, and the couple had spent several years searching for the perfect plot of land on which to build.

“It’s quite difficult to get planning consent to build in some of the areas around Bristol, but in Abbots Leigh there are a number of older houses and bungalows which were built on large plots, so there’s been a trend of people knocking them down and building larger houses – which is what we ended up doing,” explains Simon, a patent attorney.

In October 2011 Simon and Meg purchased a 1920s property, situated on 1.5 acres at the end

Homes New build

Simon Kiddle and Meg Joyce have built a contemporary,

high-tech and energy-efficient family home in Bristol.

STORY: DEBBIE JEFFERY PicTuReS: gREEnhEaRt

Beautifully crafted

exteriorThe new house has been orientated to face south-west, and was designed as two distinct wings – one clad in render the other in timber and zinc.

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Case study

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Homes New build

THE projectLOCATION BristolPROPERTY Passivhaus standard contemporary family home with two distinctive wings OWNERS Simon Kiddle and Meg JoycebASIC COSTSLand with existing house .......................................................£800,000Spent .....................................................................................................................................£1.3mValued at ..........................................................................................................£1.9m plus

ContACtSPROJECTBuilder Greenheart construction: greenheartuk.comarchitect S2 Design Architects: s2architects.co.ukgarden landscaping Reckless Orchard: recklessorchard.com Environmental consultant Alan clarke

STRUCTUREInsulation Warmcel: warmcel.co.uk

FIXTURES & FITTINGSRoyal Forest Pennant sandstone paving Forest of Dean Stone: fodstone.co.ukBulthaup kitchen Hobson’s choice: hobsonschoice.uk.com Sanitaryware Ripples: ripples.ltd.uk Bath Teuco: teuco.comSolar heat store consolar uK: consolar.co.ukFloor tiles Royal Mosa: mosa.nlMusic system Sonos: sonos.comWiFi and music system exmoor Technology: exmoor-tech.co.ukWood-burners: Hwam: hwam.com and Wodkte: wodkte.comgreenhouse: Gabriel Ash: gabrielash.com

SImON’S top tipListen to the experts – it took our architect, builder and eco specialist working together as a team to come up with solutions. We were all friends at the end of the build.

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of a no-through-road and bordered by fields and open countryside. The house stood high on a spur of land, with the ground falling away to private woodland, and on a fine day north-facing views can be enjoyed across the Bristol Channel to Wales.

The couple consulted their architect, Jeremy Dain of S2 Design in Bristol, who had been involved in assessing various potential plots with them. They also talked to the local planners, and purchased the house with the intention of demolishing it and building a larger, more contemporary home.

“Our architect was keen to design an energy-efficient house, based on Passivhaus principles of airtightness, and worked with us to devise a five-bedroom home with large, open-plan living areas,” recalls Meg. “We collected images of properties we liked, including contemporary homes in America and Japan, and as I’d lived in some modern homes in California this also influenced our choices.”

The house has been designed in two distinct blocks: one a single-storey, white rendered living wing, with a planted roof and extensive glazing shaded by overhanging eaves – the other a two-storey bedroom wing clad externally in sweet chestnut and zinc. A balcony at first floor level on the wood and metal clad wing affords a panoramic view of the garden.

The existing house was north facing, but by designing the single-storey wing to create a courtyard effect, with primary rooms facing inwards onto the plot, the new house is more favourably orientated south and west – making full use of passive solar gain through large sections of glazing.

Internally, kitchen/dining/living spaces have been zoned by introducing partial walls, with sliding doors into the snug and playroom to the north of the plan, where the roof drops down to create lower

KitChen Caesarstone was chosen for the kitchen island worktop. Helen Norrvallof Hobson’s Choice designed the kitchen using Bulthaup furniture, with a wall of dark grey brushed aluminium cabinets housing appliances, and grey Mosa floor tiles laid over underfloor heating.

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“Our architect was keen to design an energy-efficient house, based on Passivhaus principles of airtightness, and worked with us to devise a five-bedroom house with large open-plan living areas.”

12 | June 2015 SelfBuild & Design

Homes New build

ceilings. A study and three of the five bedrooms are located on the ground floor, overlooking the terrace, with two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, en suite and library area upstairs.

“When you design a house there’s a natural tendency to label every room, but we also have more flexible spaces, which will suit our needs in the future,” says Simon. “Our first planning application for a larger 500 sqm house with an integral garage was rejected, and there were several letters of objection, so we separated the garage from the house to reduce the overall mass and made another application, which was approved.”

The couple and their daughter Cara, now seven, were able to remain living in their previous home for much of the build, before selling this and spending a year in rented accommodation. They chose Greenheart Sustainable Construction as their main contractor - a partnership practising and promoting environmentally responsible, energy-efficient building, who have gathered together a team who enjoy working together and who share their values of sustainability and quality.

“Greenheart shares office space with our architect Jeremy, and we automatically put them on the tender list,” says Simon. “We were impressed by the quality of the work, and they’re also a lovely bunch of guys. Our Greenheart project manager, Liam, was absolutely superb, and the house has been built to incredibly high standards.”

The existing house was demolished and the site cleared, with trench foundations excavated which also support the main spine wall in the single-storey element of the house. Constructed in a combination of externally insulated blockwork and glass for the ground floor, with a timber-framed upper storey, the house has a single-ply membrane roof, which was fitted over 200mm of rigid insulation – allowing the building to be made watertight at an early stage.

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Large areas of south-west facing triple glazing, including automated sliding doors in the kitchen/diner, maximise natural daylight and warmth, and the building is super insulated using PU foam board and Warmcel cellulose fibre insulation manufactured from waste paper.

“As often seems to be the case we had a few problems with the glazing company, and the windows and doors were delivered early and left in a lay-by about half a mile away from the site,” says Simon. “We had deer and owls living in the building by the time they were fitted in the January, and there were some installation problems with the sliding glass doors, which needed to be corrected.”

Overall the house has a very low U-value, with a high degree of airtightness, which is complemented by a full mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system. Solar PVs produce electricity and a large array of solar water panels on the single-storey roof provides hot water, with a thermal heat store installed in the plant room. “The solar panels produce all our hot water for around nine months of the year,” says Meg, “and there’s a back-up gas boiler for the colder months.”

Simon and Meg were responsible for finding the kitchen designer and bathroom company, although architect Jeremy remained involved throughout.

Dining AreAEngineered walnut flooring has been laid in the dining area, which is divided from the kitchen by a partial wall.

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ASk SimonWhat was the high point of the project?We enjoyed choosing things for the house, and seeing the design brought to life. The process of working with Jeremy, the architect, was a great learning experience.…and the low point?Having to make decisions early on for things like first-fix electrics means that you need to be extremely organised and know where furniture and sockets will go. Also the window suppliers taking three years to come and fix a product fault with the sliding doors which was identified before completion.Your best buy?Having Greenheart as our builders and Jeremy Dain as our architect were definitely the best buy, as they worked together superbly well. Greenheart’s workmanship was fantastic.and your biggest extravagance?The glass cost around £150,000, but was a necessary expense, and our freeform bath in the master en suite was £5,000.any future plans?We still need to install a catflap!

“The build took about 18 months, and also included extensively landscaping the garden,” says Meg, who works as an administrator at Bristol University.

Soft and hard landscaping have been designed to complement the architecture and enhance the environmental attributes of the house, with Royal Forest Pennant sandstone chosen for its green credentials. The sandstone is processed using energy produced by a micro-hydro turbine, and is one of the lowest carbon-rated natural stone products on the market. It was used to create the patio and pathways which wrap around the property, as well as for dry stone wall copings and steps leading up to the lawned area.

Living AreAThe main living area is contained in the highly contemporary single-storey wing which has large glazed sections.

BAthroomSRipples in Bristol designed the simple and contemporary bathrooms.

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Homes New build

Landscape architect Reckless Orchard was tasked with designing an outdoor space which would maximise the full-height glazed doors running the length of the single-storey living space. A key part of the brief was the distinction of social, play and growing areas, which would work for the whole family – including a lawned area for the children, a rill running along the side of the bedroom wing, and raised beds made from weathered sleepers.

“Access along our narrow lane was difficult when it came to landscaping, because of the sheer volume of materials,” says Simon. “The ground here is very rocky, with almost no soil, so this needed to be brought in, but now we’re growing our own fruit, herbs and flowers. Building a new house was harder than we’d imagined, but it’s totally changed the way we live, and there’s very little that we would alter. It really is a wonderful place to live.”

gArDenThe garden has been extensively landscaped using sandstone paving, with reclaimed sleepers forming raised growing beds.

THE FLOORPLANThe majority of the house is single storey, with a 332 sqm ground floor and a 115

sqm first floor area. The ground floor is divided into

a living wing and a bedroom wing, with two further

bedrooms, a library, en suite and bathroom above.

grounD FLoor FirSt FLoor