CASE STUDY


BUILDING A NEW FUTURE


After a car accident devastated her family, Merula Frankel put all plans for a self-build on hold – but a few years later life took a new turn when she came across a company that shared her sustainable ethos


TEXT EMMA HEDGES IMAGES BAUFRITZ M


erula and Richard Frankel had lived in their beloved Grade II listed Hampshire home since 1977, but over the years


they had begun to dream that perhaps one day, when their four children had grown up and left home, they might build a new house for themselves in their 3.5-acre garden. Located in an East Hampshire conservation area, the 16th- century village property had extensive grounds, including a paddock and an old swimming pool, and the couple felt they could see the perfect plot for a new house on their tennis court, positioned next to a slope that led down to a stream. In the early 2000s they decided to turn their dream into a reality, and engaged a local architect. “We were pretty ignorant, but I was never


entirely happy with what the architect suggested,” says Merula. “It was certainly not a system build – it was a traditional build – and it was far too big. I also didn’t think he embraced environmental and sustainable matters in the


34 www.sbhonline.co.uk


“I just put the whole LOW POINT project to bed, as I, and my family, tried to grapple with what had happened”


way that I wanted. So at this point I was dragging my feet about it.” Planning consent was initially refused, so they modified the plan, and then went to appeal and won. Just as they were on the point of committing to the project, tragedy struck – Richard, together with the couple’s seven-year- old grandchild, were killed in a car accident. “I made an executive decision. I paid off the architect, and thanked him for what he had


Any of the small problems I had tended to be when I wasn’t dealing with Baufritz. We did however have one issue that was spotted by their architect when he first came to the site, and that was how to get a 38-tonne crane down the lane to the plot. We ended up having to demolish an old flint wall where the


entrance is – and then rebuild it using lime and mortar.


issue 02 2021


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