Taking the Plunge
Clever design has allowed downsizer Elizabeth Sharp to build a super energy-efficient mews house in south London on a modest budget, complete with a swimming pool in the rear courtyard
A stunning Passivhaus home, built on the site of a garage in London, shows that downsizing doesn’t mean downgrading
if you’re going to self-build, it helps to know exactly what your absolute ‘must-have’ is — regardless of what your family or architect think.
For London-based physiotherapist and downsizer Elizabeth Sharp, the numberone item was a swimming pool. “Everyone was aghast at the idea, but the pool is the jewel in the crown for me — it’s an absolute joy and I know myself that exercise is a very important part of getting older,” she says.
Not surprisingly, given her obvious enthusiasm, she swims in her outdoor hydrotherapy pool every day. The loadbearing pool cover doubles as decking in her rear courtyard, while four solar PV panels on the roof provide most of the energy needed to heat the water via a standalone heat pump.
Elizabeth’s other top motivation for building her own home is more familiar to many HB&R readers, but just as personal. She spent four happy decades living in a five-storey, Grade II-listed Georgian house before deciding to self-build on the site of her old home’s garage and rear garden. “The house was beautiful but the heat was going straight through the windows,” she says. “I have poor circulation and I was really worried about being cold. If I was going to downsize I didn’t want something that would cost a lot of money to heat.”
Luckily, she chose to work with RDA Architects (who had already redeveloped a gym for the family-owned fitness business) and they were keen to build a Passivhauscertified home for her. Coincidentally, they’d already built one in the same street five years previously (see page 68 for more on the German standard for eco homes). At the time, Elizabeth knew little about this ultra low-energy building option, which is characterised by massive amounts of insulation, triple glazing (and in this case, quadruple for the skylights), strict attention to airtightness, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR).
She was soon sold on the idea though, once it became clear that she could achieve the standard for a modest build budget of £250,000. As far as costs went, it helped that the house is relatively simple in form, and small — at around 110m2, it’s less than half the size of the average 247m2 self-build in the UK*. Another bonus: the architects were able to buy hardwearing commercial-grade vinyl flooring,
porcelain tiles and other materials at rates considerably cheaper than retail prices, on the back of projects they had already completed, including the physiotherapy practice and gym that Elizabeth runs with her family. They also designed and ordered the bespoke Italian kitchen direct from the manufacturers, another useful saving.
Some elements of the build were more expensive than expected, however. This is a prime London conservation area, so the planners insisted on brick for the exterior of the SIPs (structural insulated panels) home, rather than the cheaper render option first specified. So, as a compromise to both planners and budget, the architects chose to clad the exterior in brick slips, which also saved valuable space by reducing the width of the walls.
Surprisingly, building to Passivhaus standards was not the most challenging or expensive part of this build. That dubious accolade went to the moment the original contractors went bust, leaving Elizabeth halfway through the project with no obvious way forward. Elizabeth describes this period as “nail-biting,” — something of an understatement as at the time she was financing the build through a bridging loan while waiting for her original house to sell. Luckily, one of her sons, Alexei, a novice developer at the time, stepped in to finish off the house with plenty of support from the architects and from the original build crew, who were keen to stay.
“The construction workers were honest, decent guys — that was important to them, it wasn’t just about a job and money,” remembers Alexei. “It was about finishing a project and feeling good about that.” The crisis did strain the budget, though, and meant that the original project timeline slipped by a good two months.
Nevertheless, the end result is undoubtedly worth it. Internally, the architects have made the most of the modest space, with an open plan kitchen and living space across the ground floor, three bedrooms upstairs, masses of discreet storage space throughout, two roof lanterns at the front and back of the house, and a garage large enough for an electric car with plug-in point. “I came from a home where every room had a function, such as the music room, and I was concerned about what it would feel like with it all being in one space,” says Elizabeth. She needn’t have worried: “RDA have designed a very clever layout and given me three bedrooms in a house not much bigger than my old garage.”
She’s also been pleasantly surprised by the whole business of downsizing. “I’ve been getting rid of clutter and that’s very cathartic. I sold my old house last week and that’s a good feeling,” she says.
While Elizabeth now has the warm home she craved, with annual energy bills of around £300, it’s also cool during the hot summer months. “I can open the rooflights and the windows front and back, and get a lovely through draught,” she says. “If it gets very hot, I can also pull down the blinds.” Another unexpected bonus of the super-insulated and airtight structure is its excellent sound insulation. “It’s incredibly peaceful here, even with construction going on next door,” she says. “I can shut the front door and feel happy to be in this very comfortable and calm environment.”