Heather Dixon looks at how professional property developer Charlie Walker took on the design and development of his own dream house
Yorkshire – not least a fully kitted out home gym. The martial arts expert spends hours pumping iron to competitive levels to counter the stress of running his own property development business, so when he designed and built a three-bedroom home for himself, a basement gym was a must-have. Second on his wish-list was a games room, complete with a mini bar. “It’s a bit of a man-pad,” says Charlie. “I was
F
creating this house for me, to suit my particular lifestyle, so I didn’t hold back. I was also keen to have a black gloss kitchen and a hot tub in the garden.” But when Charlie bought the half-acre garden
plot for just £50,000 through his business Beck House Developments, his initial plans were to build a house to sell. The plot was created from the lower section
of a steep garden belonging to a large Victorian hillside property, overlooking a sweep- ing valley on the outskirts of Keighley. Charlie liked the views, its location and the heavily wooded land so much that rather than build to sell, he decided to build the house for himself.
I was creating this house for me, to suit my particular lifestyle, so I didnt hold back –Charlie Walker
ormer Taekwondo world champion Charlie Walker wanted to include a few ‘extras’ in his self-built house near Keighley, West
He already had planning permission for a
basic four-bedroom detached house on the site, but once he made the decision to make it personal he redesigned the whole property. Instead of four bedrooms, there would be three bedrooms and a spacious, flexible ground floor living space. “The basement currently contains a gym,
shower room and a games room, but I wanted it to have potential for other uses,” says Charlie. “There is enough room and services for a kitchen, so the basement floor could become a
selfbuilder & homemaker
www.sbhonline.co.uk Continued on page 21...
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