S


earching high and low for a plot to build a house where he could be closer to his grandchildren and his beloved sailing boat in Chichester harbour, Philip Westcott had almost given up on his dream.


After 12 months looking, and scouring the


propert portals et again e finall spotted te perfect plot, nestled in a commanding position just south of the pretty Surrey town of Haslemere in the South Downs National Park. The problem was, the plot contained a 1960s bungalow well past its prime. As a legal professional Philip admits it took a calculated risk to go ahead and buy, given National Park planning rules might prevent him from building the contemporary home he wished for. Philip, a semi-retired lawyer practising as one of only around 800 Notaries Public in the UK – specialist practitioners who can draw up deeds and act as intermediaries – and his son Jeremy (director of his own Portsmouth-based construction company, Westcott Construction), were intrigued  te possiilities te fit o an acre plot offered.


 adit  was a it doutul at first ecause of what it was,” says Philip. “It hadn’t had much done to it for years, the owner had lived there alone after his wife had died. I couldn’t quite see how it could deliver the modern, low- maintenance house I had in mind.” However, he was impressed by property conversions Jeremy had completed in the past – “in fact I was amazed at the transformations” – so e did eel confident to step orward and see what was possible. ow fie ears ater ilip signed on te dotted line and completed contracts, clad in


22 www.sbhonline.co.uk


fashionable Russwood cedar cladding stained grey, with brickwork painted in Dulux Masonry paint mixed to basalt grey (RAL 7012) to match, tis new ersion o arfield ouse is totall unrecognisable from what stood here before. Jeremy recommended architect Paul Cashin, who has a practice in Winchester and had worked on many projects in the South Downs. As soon as Philip met Paul he was convinced that he was the man for the job, and went ahead and purchased the bungalow in May 2019 for £670,000.


This was a big leap of faith. Philip would be


relocating more than 200 miles from his previous home in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, where he had lived for 25 years, renting nearby whilst his new home was built.


“In addition to the fact my son had


recommended him, at a very early stage, Paul met with me at the property,” Philip recalls. “It was a bright sunny day. We stood on the back lawn as it then was, and as we chatted through, he asked me what it was I wanted and he came up with a design.” It was this early understanding and enthusiasm that impressed Paul’s putative client and got him the job. Philip admits that everything he now knows about sustainable building methods (in particular, retaining as much of an original structure as possible to keep the carbon footprint low) he’s learned during this build. However he says it was always his aim not to “knock the whole thing down and start again.” Paul proposed a house over two storeys that would retain the original bungalow, adding an extra storey to include an open-plan kitchen/ dining/living room leading onto a terrace to


jul/aug 2024


LOW POINT


“When we got bogged down a bit with Covid during the build, living in a rental place became quite expensive. More money was going out in rent than I would have liked a ourfigure su every month.” – Philip Westcott


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