“The height and the variation of the angled roof has been designed to give distinction to the different areas within the open-plan living room” – Paul Testa
Paul combined this highly-insulated approach with high levels of air tightness, triple-glazed windows and an MVHR system. This means that the building is very energy-efficient, with what Paul calls “an incredibly low energy demand.” He says Alison and Jonathan told him that since moving into their finished house in the autumn of 2021, they have only switched on a radiator once; there are just two, one in the living room and a heated towel rail in the bathroom. Is this really true? “Well, put it this way,” laughs Alison. “Last night it was about minus five outside, we got up this morning and the living room was 17 degrees. We have a gas boiler, a gas hob and an electric oven. Our energy use is certainly very low. Our monthly bills are somewhere between £50 and £70.” Delays and supply chain hold-ups “caused by
Brexit and Covid”, according to Alison, meant that the build took around three months longer than the planned six months. However, the biggest challenge was creating a liveable home within such tight constraints. “It’s certainly the smallest one we’ve ever built and designed – kitchens are bigger than this!” says Paul. “Unlike some people, however, Alison and Jonathan didn’t have unrealistic expectations of what could be achieved in a small space.” He believes that although turning 50.4 m2 into a liveable home tested his design powers, the end result feels generous and spacious. It’s laid out on a simple plan; the main open-plan living/dining/kitchen space measures 30.24 m2
. The shower room and bedroom stack up mar/apr 2023
neatly beside each other, with the bathroom and kitchen walls adjacent to make fitting the services simple and cost-effective. BB Grade birch plywood (the general commercial grade) was used as internal cladding for the exposed-beam internal roof/ceilings – and to face the fitted kitchen and bedroom furniture the main contractors built. Paul says it “helps to pull the internal space; it tricks the eye into making the area seem larger.” He adds: “I’m really glad that Alison and Jonathan like the idea of plywood,” Paul says. “It’s been around for a long time, but also it has that mid-century thing of being modern but not fashionable.” The walls have been plastered and painted white to complement the plywood.
The house has an open-plan living room and kitchen, plus a bedroom and a bathroom. Not a centimetre of space has been wasted. The white- tiled bathroom (white being chosen to enhance the sense of space) has a step-free, walk-in shower. This is a way to maximise the tight proportions of the room, and is also designed as a future-proofing measure to help Alison and Jonathan with any future mobility needs. Full-height cupboards and wardrobes in the
bedroom store all the couple’s immediately- needed clothes and footwear, but other items are kept elsewhere in the main house or in storage. There are a number of outbuildings in the garden, plus the motorhome for overspill, which means in-built storage in the new house could be kept to a practical minimum. The kitchen cabinetry, also designed by the
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