For Carys and her family, their project has been an ongoing journey from a bungalow fi t for retirement to a complete demolition and rebuild, all the while knowing that the value is in the plot rather than the bricks...


selfbuilder Diaries


2013. It was a standard, retirement style bungalow with questionable decor and it certainly wasn’t what we had imagined as our fi rst home together. owever, it was in a beautiful rural location and my father wisely told us that the value was in the plot, not the bricks, and encouraged us to imagine its potential. We enjoyed updating its interior, knowing that one day we would like to extend. Seven years and two children later we enlisted the help of Matthew Jones Architects to draw up some plans for an extension. Despite coming up with a


W 10


e had absolutely no intention of demolishing our bungalow when we fi rst bought it in


great design we realised that this would not satisfy our wish list without major structural work. After considering our options we went back to atthew several months later and asked him to design a new replacement dwelling. Matthew immediately recognised our vision and designed our perfect house at fi rst attempt, with only a few minor changes required. To our surprise the planning process was smooth and we were granted permission in ovember . eing complete novices to building, we took guidance from Matthew and his team and the following months were taken up waiting for structural design drawings and sustainable drainage


designs (SuDS). avigating the SuS process


has probably been one of the most frustrating and stressful aspects so far. The initial proposed design would have taken a considerable chunk of our budget. Being in a rural location with no immediate neighbours, and having experience of living there for a decade, we did not agree with the proposed changes. After several discussions with the design engineer we were unable to reach an agreement and we made the decision to approach another engineer for a second opinion and another design. Following realistic discussions about the options and involving the


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