Our client for this project said his neighbour had planning permission to build a new house in front of his home in Cornwall. This meant his bungalow would lose the view of the ocean.
The client was introduced to us by a friend of his with whom we had designed developments around North Cornwall. We were developing multiple housing on a sloping site when he enquired about a single residential property in New Polzeath.
He said he wanted to replace it with something more contemporary that would take advantage of the views over the beach. There was already a lot of building work going on in the street and his bungalow was reaching the end of its useful life. It was agreed the existing bungalow would need to be demolished and the new property would be two storey.
To establish the minimum height of the new second storey, we assembled a mobile scaffold tower in the garden. This meant we could properly test the exact level we needed to reach to maintain a view of the sea horizon over the proposed ridge height of the new property below. Once we established that, we began the design.
Key Facts
Client: Private
Location: New Polzeath, Cornwall, UK
Sector: private residence
Procurement: self-build
Duration: 9 years
Practical Completion: October 2017
Contractor: owner
Structural Engineer: Chris Wright
Gross Floor Area: 280 sqm
Site Area: 950 sqm
The owner wanted us to have due regard for his neighbour opposite on the upper side of the road. With the neighbour’s permission we surveyed their window locations and overlaid them onto our elevation drawings. This is how we could consider gaps to allow them to maintain a view of the sea. This influenced the low pitched, hipped roof used in the design.
After we obtained planning permission we were instructed to prepare technical drawings to obtain building control approval (RIBA Stage 4). We also produced construction drawings in stages to suit his self-build programme, initially to allow the groundworks to be set out. Then for the timber frame company to pre-fabricate the walls and roof. Finally the detailed drawings for the stairs, balcony, kitchens and bathrooms etc.
The owner was intending to build the new property himself with the help of a carpenter from the timber frame company and an experienced builder. He was fortunate to have another property to stay in during the works to tackle building in his own time. This meant the building took approximately six years to complete, but we think it was worth it.
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