RECLAIMED MATERIALS The house uses 100 metres of redwood timber from a demolished railway bridge
HIGH POINT
“When we wake up and open the external shutters on the large window, it’s amazing to see the view of the Cleveland Hills.” – Pete Smith
PETE’S
RENOVATION ADVICE
“Don't wander around scrap yards unbidden wearing flip flops and a bandana! Wear all the safety gear and go to the office first and tell them what you are looking for. They will send you to a place you certainly won't find but you can have a good scout round while you are lost. Get to know the staff, and take cash.”
april/may 2020
remarkable, seeing as he was a shepherd in a remote village in Eritrea where all the buildings were of adobe, and there was no electricity,” says Pete. Meheri now works as an Uber taxi driver in Birmingham. Pete sourced the rest of his build team as locally as possible, speaking to people in the Middlesbrough building trade for recommendations; an electrician, Ecodan (under-floor heating) installers, a tiler and plasterer, excavator driver, and a layer and polisher of the floating concrete floor. Pete’s son William did some first fix plumbing, but the rest he did himself, along with brickwork, joinery, dry lining, insulation and window and door installation. In the early stages of his project, Pete engaged the services of Phil Bixby of Constructive Individuals, a ‘Passive House’ specialist architect, to help him devise a low- energy building designed using the Passive House Planning Package. He also engaged a structural engineer to check the load-bearing capacity of the recycled beams, and The Green Building Store in Huddersfield, west Yorkshire, to advise on and supply the kit, including an MVHR system. However, he undertook the design and planning of the building and service routes for the two-storey, 220 m2
house himself.
How did he organise such a complex project without becoming overwhelmed? “Psychologically I found it very helpful to divide the project into small discrete components which when they were complete, I could stand back and admire the end result,” he replies.
They built a 16 x 9 metre portal frame barn – the frame recycled from a previous agricultural building – plus an outdoor stage, a wood-fired hot-tub and a secret log cabin
Downstairs there is an open-plan double-height living and music area, a kitchen, dining room, circulation area, staircase –hand-built by Pete out of reclaimed Dutch elm, like some of the internal doors –and a lobby. Also on the ground floor is a fully accessible bedroom/play room, wetroom and utility room housing the MVHR and other technical apparatus. Upstairs, the main bedroom has an ensuite and wide access to the internal balcony, where 4.5 metre external shutters open to a fine view
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