We visited the Courtyard House site last week, located in the New Forest near the village of Burley, and were delighted to see that the building is now ‘watertight’; an important milestone in the construction process.
With the glazing fully installed and the roof now tiled, the project is now completely enclosed and protected from the elements. This marks a key transition on site, allowing the construction team to move their focus to the internal works, including plumbing, electrics, and finishes. From this stage on, the scheme will begins to feel more like a home and less like a building site.
Internally, the house feels spacious and filled with natural light, something we have worked incredibly hard to achieve on this narrow site. The internal courtyards, carefully cut into the building form, respond to the constraints of the elongated plot by drawing daylight deep into the plan and strengthening the connection between inside and out.
We look forward to sharing further updates as this New Forest residential project continues to take shape.
In this month’s update we have put together some frequently asked questions to help explain the SIPs build system following the onsite success at our Courtyard House project, we are celebrating our shortlist in the Build It Awards, and have an update from The Granary.
We often get asked questions from our clients about SIP’s as a potential method for building. To help you get a better idea about the benefits of this system, we have answered a few of the most frequently asked questions; including what are the benefits, what are the disadvantages, and is the system cheaper to build with.
Our Brockenhurst House has been shortlisted in this year’s Build It Awards, in the ‘Best Architect or Designer for a Conservation or Renovation Project’. The annual industry awards that celebrate the most inspiring architectural projects and inventive products in the self-build sector, judged by industry leaders.
Brockenhurst House exemplifies how thoughtful, design-led architecture can elevate everyday living. What began as a tired 1970s chalet-style property has been transformed into a refined, low-carbon contemporary home, designed to support its owners’ evolving needs while treading lightly on the planet.
It was great to see such positive progress on site at The Granary, our heritage project in the New Forest National Park set within the curtilage of a listed building.
The project has thoughtfully designed a scheme which converts and infills an existing open carport space on the ground floor aspect of the building, providing an additional bedroom on the first floor and extending the living accommodation on the ground floor.
As autumn begins, we’ve seen exciting progress across several projects. There have been dramatic changes on site in the New Forest, we’ve once again supported the Homebuilding & Renovating Awards, and our Allegra’s Ambition public art commission has now been installed in Winchester.
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Courtyard House, SIPs Structure
It was fantastic to see the significant progress at Courtyard House during our recent site visit. This exciting project is delivering a striking contemporary home near Burley, in the heart of the New Forest National Park.
The property is being constructed using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), a high-performance composite building system that offers a modern alternative to traditional construction methods. Fabricated off-site, these panels greatly reduce on-site construction time. For this project, it has meant that all walls and the majority of the roofing structure has been erected in under a month!
Judging Industry Awards
Darren was once again invited to join the judging panel for the prestigious Homebuilding & Renovating Awards, held in partnership with The Times and The Sunday Times.
The panel of eight expert judges had the enjoyable, but challenging, task of reviewing all the entries and narrowing them down to a shortlist of just 25 outstanding properties. From this shortlist, the panel will now work together to select the winners for each category.
Have your say! You can also get involved by voting for your favourite project in the Readers’ Choice Award – just click here to vote.
Allegras Ambition Public Artwork Installed
We’re very proud to see the public art we designed for Allegras Ambition now installed outside Winchester Sports Centre.
Our team won the public art competition last year with a well concieved design that incorporates the charity’s logo into a beautifully tactile wooden seat sculpture. The shape of the structure forms a welcoming enclosure, inviting people to gather, sit, lounge, or even climb and crawl across its undulating surface.
This month we are celebrating the groundbreaking at the Courtyard House; a new build contemporary home located in Burley, at the heart of the New Forest National Park.
The design of the replacement dwelling offers a greatly improved spatial plan for the tight, elongated site. The scheme enhances the site constraints, by organising the internal spaces around two cut-outs made in the form of courtyards, breaking up the linear nature of the single storey home.
Due to issues around retrofitting the previous property, as it was so poorly constructed and not at all energy efficient, it was decided that it was better way forward to replace the building rather than renovating.
This month has seen the construction start in earnest on our Regency Villa project, located in central Southampton, Hampshire. At this early stage, the focus is on carefully stripping back the modern alterations; carefully removing incongruous additions, taking internal stud partitions out, and clearing out the poorly built extension, to reveal the bones of the original period property.
This four-storey listed townhouse, originally built circa 1835, has lost much of its former grandeur over the years, something we are aiming to restore through this deep renovation and reimagining. Most recently, the property had been converted into a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO), which obscured much of the original character and has compromised the proportions of its rooms.
We’re thoroughly enjoying site visits at this point in the project. It’s exciting to see what the talented team at Tuakana is uncovering, such as original floorboards that had been covered over, and concealed, fireplaces. With the modern partitions removed, we can now fully appreciate the true dimensions of each room. Standing in these newly opened spaces and witnessing the natural light interact with the architecture is genuinely inspiring.
Our design vision is to return the house to a single-family dwelling, one that celebrates its period features while introducing a contemporary glass extension to the rear. The result will be a comfortable, elegant home that brings together the history of the home with the comforts of modern living.
Get in touch if you have a project you would like to discuss with the design team.
Thinking about starting a new project, but not sure where to start?
If you are thinking of starting a self-build project, we understand that it can often feel daunting and you might not quite know where to begin. The team here at Studio BAD have over 50 years’ collective architectural experience designing self-build houses and extensions; we are perfectly placed to help you understand the process a little deeper to ensure you get your project started on the right foot.
Here we sharing some of the most FAQ’s we get from clients at the start of the process, but do get in touch if you have any further questions that we have not covered here.
How do I find a suitable plot of land or property?
If you don’t already have a property that you are looking to transform, then this is a good starting point. This is not always an easy process to find a suitable site, if you haven’t already we would suggest you narrow down your geographical search area and use online databases (for plots of land you can use PlotBrowser). It can also help to get friendly with local estate agents, to help you find that perfect site that can be transformed to perfectly suit you.
Ideally don’t buy any land before you have planning approval in place. Once you have found a potential site, this is a good time to speak with an architect or specialist planning consultant. This gives you an opportunity to check for any restrictions which might impinge on your vision, and arrange to a purchase subject to planning approval.
How much will a self build cost?
Before you commit to buying any property or land, and before you engage with architects too deeply, it is wise to put a realistic budget together on what you have to deliver your project. A very rough guide for a standard domestic construction can cost anywhere between £2,500 and £5,000 + per square meter, depending on the work involved, the level of the finish, complication of the scheme and the quality of the finished fixtures.
Do remember to keep around 15 – 20% in the budget for contingency. This is essential for any unexpected issues, even with the most well experienced team there will be some surprises along the way, especially when working with an existing property.
How do I design a house?
Once you have your site and budget sorted, it is now time to think properly about what you want to achieve. Obviously, it is good to understand the practical needs of the property, such as number of bedrooms, bathrooms and if you need any space to work from.
We would also suggest you think about how you want to live, and how this might adapt over time. For example, do you like open plan kitchens that form a social hub of the house, or do you prefer keeping the kitchen mess out of sight from the rest of the home? If you have children, it is worth planning for their evolving needs; a home suitable for living with a toddler is very different to living with a teenager. A good design should build in flexibility, so the property can support your needs easily as they change over time.
The better idea you have of what you want to achieve, the easier the design process will be. If you are not sure exactly what you want the end result to be, we would strongly suggest you take some time to consider this properly, as otherwise it can create a long and costly design process to get to a point you are comfortable with.
Do I need to work with an architect?
Although you don’t technically need to work with an architect, we strongly advise that you do for most projects. If the scheme is quite simple to explain and doesn’t need high degree of design work, then you might be able to work directly with a skilled contractor and get results you are happy with.
If your vision is more complex, either looking to design a new home or reimagine an existing property, the years of training an architect undertakes can ensure we can get the most from the design, increasing the value of the property in terms of personal value and monetary value. An architect can unlock the potential of a property, or site, to create a home that perfectly fits your needs and maximises the potential of its setting.
When looking for an architect we believe it is important to look for a team who have relevant experience to your project. For example, if you are looking to add a basement extension or are working on a listed heritage building (read more about working on listed building here), it is best if you can work with a team who already have completed experience of these complex projects.
As designing your dream home can be an emotional project, it is important that you actually like and enjoy working with your architect! We would always advise you to work with someone who’s design work you admire, but also that you want to spend the next 6 / 12 months talking to.
What other benefits are there of working with an architect?
Architects don’t just help create a beautifully designed homes and buildings, there is so much more that they can do to support your self-build project to make the process easier at each step.
During the planning process an experienced architectural team can help guide you, this is especially important if there should be any issues or objections to the application. The designs might need to be revised, or the application might be taken to planning appeal and then the architectural team will be able to systematically approach this to help achieve a positive outcome.
Architects’ co-ordinate other professionals needed on your project, such as the structural engineers, party wall surveyors and building control, ensuring all aspects of design are brought together and the design meets with building regulations and local restrictions.
At the tender process your architect can help you to reviewing contractor quotes, to check all aspects of the build are included as you might expect, to help you understand which option might be the best fit for you and your project.
Throughout the onsite construction stages having an architect involved can be hugely beneficial. By closely collaborating with your contractor, they can check the build is progressing in line with the design, to make sure the finished product turns out just as you imagined it. Additionally, they can be help to deal with any unexpected changes which often happen during a build, helping to quickly resolve design complications or material changes, so the end design is still in line with the concept designs.
If you are looking to start a self build project get in touch to see how we can help, at Studio BAD we are a talented team that are as excited in your project as you are.
