HIGH POINT


eeing the transformation from a cold, outdated chalet bungalow into a spacious, comfortable family home. ts the house  hope our three children will grow up in and that well enoy for many decades to come. early three years after moving in, were fi nally fi nishing the last room. uch of the transformation was completed by my husbands hard wor, which maes it feel even more personal. ts been a long ourney, but m incredibly proud of what weve created  and love being able to share it with friends and family on long, lively weeends.


of Passivhaus, the fact we werent drastically increasing the footprint and the Georgian-style exterior all probably ticed the right boxes with the planning authority. sing the existing structure, foundations and services helped mae it a simpler planning application and brought welcome cost savings too. sabel explains e believe the cost of demolishing the bungalow and starting again, even on a very cheap budget, would probably be near m. he retrofi t approach cost around ,  less than half the price. he couple put together the overall design themselves but then had the plans drawn up by design and technology company Beattie, which was the main contractor and Passivhaus consultant on the proect. hoosing Beattie was one of the easier decisions to mae as sabel is a Beattie director and also the daughter of the companys founder.


onstruction got underway in anuary  using a clever system that Beattie has developed for this sort of proect. n essence, and greatly simplifi ed, it involved constructing a timber shell that surrounds the existing bungalow and also provides the framewor for the new fi rst fl oor and side extension.


he panels of this shell, which of course includes openings to accommodate Passivhaus- standard triple-glaed windows and doors, are fi lled with a high-performance insulation material creating a continuous and airtight, thermal- bridge-free envelope.


he insulating material used is expanded polystyrene P beads made up of small round balls stuc together with a water-based additive.


“We have worked on other properties before – this is our fourth project – and Henry’s a quick learner”


hey are mostly full of air, typically composed of approximately  air and only  actual polystyrene plastic. hile the bungalows external walls have been


retained as an integral part of the new building, all the old internal walls, the original ground fl oor ceiling and the bungalows roof were removed at different stages of the wor.  new roof, using panish slate, was installed. sabel recalls that at one point a special purple paint was applied to help create the new buildings airtight envelope. he oes  thin our neighbours did worry for a while because they could see this purple-coloured house across the fi eld nevitably, as with any build proect, there


were some adustments as wor progressed. sabel says bout two months in we realised we hadnt factored in the suns path during the day. o, we moved the itchen, dining and living space to the other side of the house to get the best light. ortunately, the timber framewor system is very easy to change.


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