“The central steel column is concealed within a partition at the first oor, and due to the nature of the steel design, the need to have any steelwork breaking up the ground oor accommodation was avoided,” says Dan. This deeply rural village has no mains gas, but Mark didn’t want to blight the pretty front garden with an oil or LPG tank. Mark also ruled out the fashionable option of an air source heat pump, as the only possible location for the exterior unit was underneath a neighbour’s window and “heat pumps don’t do well in this area, as they rot out,” he says. The solution was an electric boiler, coupled with underoor heating on both oors, as they didn’t want to lose space to radiators. Mark installed a super- thick engineered oor upstairs to accommodate


46 www.sbhonline.co.uk


the underoor heating pipes. The old cottage never had a bathroom – the


previous owners used a tin bath in front of the fire  and Mark was pleased to fit two ensuite bedrooms upstairs in the newly extended cottage, although both are shower rooms, not bathrooms. Quality and longevity were Mark’s priorities throughout the cottage’s internal fit- out, including in the shower rooms, where all fittings are sourced from uravit. Downstairs in the kitchen, the same approach meant Mark selected a countertop from Minerva, which makes solid work surfaces. These manufactured surfaces look and feel like stone, but are robust, don’t require specialist installation, and offer plenty of exibility with seamless joints.


may/jun 2024


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68