Sycamore Hall

John and Jean asked us to transform their small, dated bungalow into a future-proofed, sustainable retirement home. One that is full of light, warm, economic and easy to live in.

We fully reconfigured their home internally, added two small extensions and strategically placed rooflights to create the generous, light-filled living spaces they craved.

To make the most of their beautiful view we created three special windows. Two of these can be enjoyed from generous window seats giving you the feeling that you’re sat in the landscape.

An extremely thorough retrofit of insulation, triple glazed windows, air-tightness work and mechanical ventilation have made their home a wonderfully warm and quiet building to live in during their retirement.

We supported John & Jean throughout their project from planning right through to construction. We helped them to choose the right contractor, manage their costs and worked with their contractor to deliver this fantastic project to a very high standard.

“Much of the good design is summed up in the living room main window and box seat – economically enlarging an existing window space, and transforming it into one of the centre pieces of the building both visually and functionally. Young and old are drawn to it, they love it.”

John & Jean, Downsizers, Bolsterstone

Photo credit: Dug Wilders Photography

Location: Bolsterstone

Client: Private

Contractor: Terry Huggett Developments

Planning: June 2015

Site: Jan 2016

Completion: May 2017

Energy consumption: 48 kWh/m2.a

Construction Cost: £1300/m2

Awards: Homebuilding & Renovating Awards 2018 – Shortlisted

Greenbottom farm

A new build family home in the green belt

A new build in a large open field is a challenging, and all the restrictions of the site led to the house form being surrounded by stone boundary walls and shed-like forms rising out.

A generous home, upon entry a feature stair greets you and your eyes are drawn to the view through the home and out to the field. The house is open plan, and makes the most of the southerly sun by lifting the roof without losing too much heat through the north-facing glazing facing out to the views.

entrance hallway

mezzanine

living area

south-facing courtyard

Location: Barnsley

Client: Private

Planning: June 2017

Site: N/A

Completion: N/A

Gross internal floor area: 240 m2

Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a

Budget: N/A

thorncroft

New build house in the green belt

The new house replaces a large barn / shed structure that sits at the top of a steeply sloping site. The proposal takes the simple, single storey barn form and adapts it to the requirements of the brief and the form of the slender plateau on which it sits. The design incorporates a comfortable living/dining/kitchen area with a separate snug and three bedrooms. The long, slim plan takes full advantage of the great views to the south and ensures good winter solar gain, whilst the deep overhanging roof shelters the glazing from summer overheating and shelters the access route to the front door.

The house will be glad in dark timber with a sinusoidal steel roof. The interiors will be kept stripped back with polished screed floors, timber linings and exposed timber trusses.

As with all our projects, the Passivhaus design methodology is being adhered to and we will aim to achieve as close to Passivhaus as possible with the build, although the form factor will make this more challenging than usual.

development model

elevation

interior view

floor plan

Location: Lower Hague

Client: Private

Planning: Summer 2017

Site: N/A

Completion: N/A

Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a

Budget: £225,000

the paddock

New build house in the green belt

This project is at a very early stage working with the client to develop a scheme for pre-application discussions with the planning authority. The main living spaces are conceived as a timber box that emerges from the ground and extends to cantilever over the garage plinth below.

The project is aiming to be off-grid in terms of energy and the starting point for this is the best possible building fabric, so we will be aiming for full passivhaus as the basis for a very sustainable building.

concept diagram

massing model

Location: Devon

Client: Private

Planning: Late 2017

Site: N/A

Completion: N/A

Energy consumption: 15 kWh/m2.a

Budget: N/A

stringer barn conversion

Green belt barn conversion

This residential barn conversion is in a green belt overlooking rolling hills in the distance. The expansive views are framed by large stone wall ‘fins’, which separate the spaces and on the exterior provide a robust plinth between which timber shutters slide to modify the internal environment and to provide additional security.

The interior spaces include a double height kitchen flowing into a living space with a hearth included in one of the stone wall fins. The locally sourced stone will keep to the character of the area, but the timber, sliding shutters and glass infill gives it a contemporary feel.

The retrofit is to Enerphit energy standard.

Location: Emley, West Yorkshire

Client: Private

Planning: 2016

Site: 2018

Completion: N/A

Energy consumption: 25 kWh/m2.a

Budget: £400,000

Cinder Bridge Road

Mark and Clare asked us to turn their derelict cottage in the green belt into a light and spacious home that complemented the surrounding landscape.

The existing house had had several poor-quality extensions added over the years. Internally it was a series of small, dark spaces with poor views and daylight. The house was also visually unattractive as the extensions detracted from the original building.

The site is in green belt so we had significant restrictions on the size of any enlargements. The house was also subject to restrictive covenants that meant a number of late design changes. It’s also hard up against a busy and noisy main road. We worked within these tight constraints to deliver a home that surpassed our client’s expectations despite its modest size.

We organised the spaces with service spaces buffering living and sleeping spaces from the noise of the busy adjacent road. High-performance windows and a well-insulated building also help to keep out unwanted sound. As a result, the house is a quiet retreat from the noise outside.

Our first step was to demolish the existing extensions in order to create a space that would house the main living and sleeping areas. The open plan living, dining and kitchen area feels spacious with a double height slot lighting the space from above.

We added a concrete floor, SIPs panel walls and roof to provide good thermal mass, super insulation and excellent air-tightness. The original shell also has been improved. This high performance building also means that Mark and Clare have a warm and comfortable home with very low energy bills.

This is the project that triggered our popular stoves in air-tight houses blog post.

Although this was a lengthy project, we were committed to working closely with Mark and Clare to deliver the home they always wanted.

“Paul was always able and willing to help with whatever issues we faced. He remained in contact through the long period to completion. The space is perfect and exactly what we expressed in our brief to Paul.” Mark Gittins, Self-Builder, Rotherham

Cinder Bridge Road by Paul Testa Architecture

Location: Rotherham

Client: Private

Planning: 2012

Site: 2013

Completion: 2018

Energy consumption: N/A

Budget: £1,000/m2

Awards: Build Magazine – Best Rotherham Residential Extension 2018

Visit our Houzz profile to see more examples of our work.

The Burrows

Earth-sheltered NPPF55 Passivhaus home in the green belt

The burrows is a new-build earth sheltered house. It’s not often you get the opportunity to build a house from scratch for a client so committed to good design and to class leading sustainability. Despite being a new, isolated dwelling in the green belt, paul testa architecture achieved planning approval for the proposal at first attempt in September 2012, making this the first Passivhaus to achieve planning in South Yorkshire. It was also one of the earliest NPPF paragraph 55 planning approvals in the country.

The design is very simple, with a linear progression along the linear, hilltop site. All of the habitable rooms have good southerly orientation to make the most of winter passive solar gain, but the windows and eaves are designed so as it minimise summer overheating. This combined with thermal mass, super-insulated building envelope, triple glazed windows and the thick grassed roof will make for an incredibly comfortable and healthy house in which to live.

A simple pallet of local stone, timber windows and infill panels, and zinc clad entrance and eaves will give the building a simple, elegant and understated aesthetic that will sit well in it’s landscape.