The UK’s Best New Homes Revealed!
In our annual awards special, we reveal 2018’s most inspiring self-build, conversion and renovation projects
We reveal the winners of The Daily Telegraph Homebuilding & Renovating Awards 2018
For over two and a half decades, The Daily Telegraph and Homebuilding & Renovating have teamed up in search of the finest individual homes the UK has to offer. The projects on this year’s shortlist, showcased over these pages, have been wonderfully varied — from amazing transformations, extraordinary conversions and cutting-edge self-builds. What’s more, our Awards do not simply commend incredible architecture, but celebrate the wonderful people behind these projects.
Which brings us onto the Overall Winner for 2018: Meadowmead is a modern oak frame country home lovingly built by Merry and Ben Albright, after a lengthy (four-year!) planning process.
“The couple have used skill and determination to unlock a dream site on the edge of a village and built a home that any family would covet,” says judge Jason Orme. “It’s generous and well-planned inside, with the flexibility required to meet the needs of modern family life. Outside, it is the perfect example of a modern barnstyle country home — grand and impressive but also honest and homely. It has been designed to perfection, both down to the detail and also in terms of the overall form and shape. Ultimately it is why we build individual homes — and this is a perfect example of the difference building your own home can make to your life.”
The category winners this year also include an array of stunning builds: a contemporary Passivhaus built for £250k in London; a sympathetic renovation of a steading building — which had no vehicular access, electricity, fuel, water supply or telecommunication infrastructure when purchased; and a church conversion with an eclectic interior delivered to an impressive budget by its owner.
We hope you enjoy reading about this year’s shortlist of amazing and inspiring projects, and we look forward to seeing your home in next year’s crop!
location Herefordshire project Oak Frame Self-build homeowners Merry and Ben Albright designer Border Oak
Merry and Ben Albright (who both work for the oak frame company that was used in the final build) set their hearts on trying to find the perfect site for their dream home. Four years later, after numerous planning skirmishes, the couple secured a six-acre plot for their two-storey, four-bed house.
Judge Jason Orme commented: “We desperately tried to count their occupations against them, but this is a story about years of hard work, and about how people push themselves to build homes that will make the perfect background to family life.
“Merry and Ben went through all the things that the rest of us experience: the budget constraints, stress and strains. We were sufficiently assured that anyone, given the same determination and skill shown, could learn from their story and achieve their own dream home for themselves.”
location London project Green Self-build homeowner Elizabeth Sharp designer RDA Architects
Proving that you can self-build one of the country’s most energy-efficient homes on a construction budget of just £250,000, the architects of this 110m2 Passivhaus-certified home also managed to design in a garage and swimming pool.
Downsizer Elizabeth Sharp has achieved everything she set out to do, and now enjoys her thermally comfortable, quiet and supremely cheap-to-run home. In keeping with its London mews location, the design nods to an industrial aesthetic, with a light, clean interior designed to showcase the homeowner’s collection of antique furniture. (See page 58 for more details on this self-build.)
Location Usan, Scotland Project Conversion and Extension of a Coastguard Tower Homeowner Mr and Mrs Pullar designer GAAP Architects
Usan Tower has been brought back to life after spending four decades in an increasingly derelict state. Once a sentinel, standing guard over the North Sea, the Tower has been reborn as a brilliant first-time family home — bought for just £35,000 and converted and extended for £120,000.
The design emphasises the incredible views out to sea, while the modern, zinc-clad extension marks the evolution of the building. Given its position, site access was tricky, and care has been taken to ensure that the home remained as low-maintenance as possible — and that it can withstand the harsh wind and driving rain of the Scottish east coast. location Ely, Cambridgeshire project Contemporary Home homeowner Lucy Cook designer Mole Architects
Situated in a conservation area in the East Anglian town of Ely, this striking timber-framed home is notable for its steeply pitched gable-fronted roof and serrated white brickwork façade. Inspiration for the unusual brickwork was drawn from nearby Ely Cathedral and the neighbouring Edwardian homes, where bricks are used decoratively on the street-facing elevations. Inside, the layout offers flexibility, with options for open spaces for entertaining and acoustic separation between rooms for daily use.
location Hampshire project Traditional Oak Frame Self-build homeowner Shelagh Krasno designer Frank Dowling
When her circumstances changed, Shelagh Krasno decided to build in the garden of her former house to create an idyllic home in a location she loved. First-time self-builder Shelagh found inspiration for her new home in the pages of a gardening magazine. The result: a one-and-a-half storey oakframe, cedar-clad home. After a battle to gain planning permission, progress was swift, with Shelagh taking on the role of project manager. She recruited trades based on their character and has created a new-build home that looks as though it has stood for decades.
location Loch Lomond, Argyll & Bute project Renovation and Extension of a Steading Building designer Paterson Gordon Architecture
Purchased with no vehicular access, electricity, fuel, water supply or telecommunication infrastructure, the site – with its glorious loch views – was the redeeming factor for this steading, which had long stood derelict. The striking extensions linked to the rear and side of the steading are contemporary in form, but sympathetic in design, while the original building has been faithfully renovated — the memory of the agricultural nature of the building preserved through the carefully specified materials.
location London project Renovation and Extension designer Amos Goldreich Architecture
With a brief to turn this home into a larger, more family-friendly space, Amos Goldreich Architecture responded with zinc-clad side and roof extensions that have transformed this Victorian home in London. The extensive internal refurbishments included rearranging the floorplan and changing levels to help with the flow of the interiors and to allow borrowed light to travel. The result is a spacious, light-filled family home that perfectly blends old with new — and a worthy winner of our Readers’ Choice Award.
location South Devon project Contemporary Self-build homeowner James Risebero designer Field Studio Architects
Commanding an elevated position with far-reaching views across the Devon countryside, this new family home marries contemporary architecture with honest materials. Constructed almost entirely from CLT (cross-laminated timber), the panels have been left exposed internally to give a raw finish, and provide warmth to the minimalist spaces.
This new home features high levels of insulation and airtightness while walls of sliding glass offer a seamless connection with the outdoors; vaulted ceilings and mezzanines add drama to the internal spaces.
location Pucon, Chile project Contemporary New Build homeowner Javier Ampuero designer Ampuero Yutronic
Great care was taken when deciding how best to create a home that worked with its surroundings and made the most of the incredible mountain views. The result is a striking contemporary home, clad in blackened timber to create the impression of a shadow within the landscape. The dynamic, angular form of the home has been cleverly positioned so that all the principal rooms benefit from the views, and the window sizes and positioning have been tailored to make the best use of solar gain. A pared-back interior of timber-clad walls lends a rustic charm to this modernist cabin.
location Devon project Extension and Renovation homeowners Mr and Mrs Hall designer Roderick James Architect LLP
This once dated 1920s four-bed house has been completely transformed, thanks to the addition of an oak frame extension and extensive renovation work. From the new kitchen/family room, new and reorientated openings, re-slated roof and timber cladding, the house is barely recognisable from its former self. The scheme was also designed to improve the property’s thermal performance, while high-quality materials were chosen that will naturally weather over time and enhance the building’s character.
location Gloucestershire project Church Conversion homeowner/designer Az Jasat
Az Jasat took on the role of principal designer and project manager in order to stick to his tight build budget when converting a Victorian Methodist church into an eclectic family home. Judge Darren Bray commended the individuality of the interior, describing it as: “A reflection of the owner’s spirit in many respects! “This is a wonderful example of how to take a redundant Victorian church and give it new purpose as a home,” he continues. (See page 46 for the full story.)