This beautiful self build home, constructed in Wallform by Chris Philipson, is set on the west coast of Scotland overlooking Loch Linnhe and has just turned 10 years old.
It features a splendid first-floor balcony to enjoy stunning views over the Loch, with a Wallform holiday cottage next door.
The brief was to design and construct a low energy retirement home, with the client project managing the building works. The site was somewhat restricted but the Architect, Nigel Johnston, made clever use of the natural surroundings to create a home with some unique features.
The dwelling was required to have low running and maintenance costs and, most importantly, to maximise the potential views over the Loch on the opposite side of the main road.
Having resolved the problem of re-routing the necessary utility services, the design was developed to use the rock face at the back of the plot to shelter the rear of the building from prevailing winds and provide balconies at the front to obscure the road from view. Siting the building close to the rock face released enough extra space to build a source of retirement income – a small cottage for holiday letting.
The Wallform 313 system was specified for construction of this self build home, achieving a U-value of 0.18 W/m2K when finished externally with a thin coat render system. The Wallform construction, as well as being practical and quick to build, also provides excellent levels of air tightness without cold bridging, both being factors which reduce comfort levels and increase energy bills. Heating is provided by an air source heat pump supplemented by solar heat gain from the south facing sun room.
Excluding the costs of forming the road access and re-routing utility services, the cost for construction of the new house and the holiday cottage was less than £750/m2 (at 2015 prices). The key reasons for achieving such good value for money rested with the client, who self-managed the project and assisted with the building works, and who also proved to be very astute with his purchasing decisions for materials and equipment.
The project went on to win the Best Value-for-Money Home Award at the 2015 Build It Awards.
