PROJECT REPORT: SELFBUILD & CUSTOM BUILD PROJECTS 29


In actual building time, the project took six months but in ‘real time,’ 10 months. Working with a small team of tradesmen, Jane took on a further role – site foreman. The build was carried out in three two- month stints. “The team would leave the island for two months and then back for another two and so on.”


For Jane it was the ideal solution, as it gave her time to plan the work, order materials and to keep her architect’s business going. “It also worked with drying out time. I’m an architect – I don’t usually worry about ordering materials or have to deal with shortages and delays – that’s usually someone else’s problem but in this instance, it was mine!” Fortunately, there was only one real hold


up. “We needed a specific weight of Spanish slate, and a particular setting out for the nail holes, as we’re in an area with high winds. They had to be specially ordered and took forever to come.”


The building also had to stand up to occasionally horizontal rain (when combined with 60 mph winds). After some research, Jane came across Illbruck


ADF JULY 2022


tape which she likens to a strip of wetsuit material glued onto the window frame and masonry walls. “We’ve been here two years, and no leaks.”


Other problems that were posed by building on an island included things that Jane completely took for granted on the mainland, and she had to resort to manual labour. “Bringing a crane on to the island for a day to lift precast slabs would have been prohibitively expensive, and there was no concrete pump on the island either for the screed.” The solution was concrete T-beams and blocks for the first floor which had to be lifted by hand, and the screeds were mixed on site, lifted in buckets on a homemade pulley system and levelled by hand. This was a vital part of the construction, as the heavyweight floors were important “not only for thermal mass and sound proofing between floors, but their weight loaded onto the steel frame made the whole structure stronger.” When the dirty work was finally complete, Jane’s transformation into an interior designer began. In the kitchen she chose a concrete effect for the doors to the


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