5,900 sqft contemporary home in West Sussex

Planning consent was granted yesterday for Dwell’s 250th project – a large contemporary home in Crawley Down, West Sussex.

Our clients approached us initially with a request to extend the 1960s chalet bungalow they had recently purchased; whilst the plot and location were ideal for their needs, the house lacked many of the features that they wished to incorporate in their lifetime family home and fell short of the internal floorspace that they had in mind.

The project budget was generous, and whilst scope to extend the property existed, Dwell felt the budget sufficient to enable a replacement home to be constructed instead, helped by the zero-rating of VAT on new-build homes.  The practice initially prepared a financial model to test extension and refurbishment versus demolition and replacement. This study revealed that due to the extensive project brief, a new build replacement would cost just £30,000 more but provide the opportunity for a bespoke home to their exacting requirements, rather than a compromise resulting from the constraints of the original building.  It would also offer excellent improvements in the energy performance of the house over simply improving the existing building fabric, which helped bridge the gap in sustainability terms resulting from the loss of embodied energy of the building through demolition.

In the context of the project budget, the benefits were felt to greatly exceed the modest cost differential, and this alternative route was selected.  Admittedly, having just purchased the property, the decision to demolish was at first difficult to comprehend, but one which was eased by the excitement of embarking on the design journey.

The house, which replaces the modest chalet bungalow offers luxury accommodation across three floors, with contemporary open-plan kitchen family room at the rear, with vaulted double-height space and extensive glazing to the rear garden.  Six bedrooms, including a master suite with commanding views over the rear garden and farmland beyond occupy the first and second floors, together with a good complement of bathrooms, all accessed by a gently sweeping staircase in a lofty entrance hall enclosed by a glazed tower addressing the driveway.  An attached swimming pool and changing rooms will form part of a second phase of work at the rear, whilst garaging, a ‘grannexe’ border the site to the north, whilst a new landscaped forecourt will mark the entrance from the private lane.

July bought with it planning approval and the end to a rather protracted planning saga as consent was granted for a new four bedroom home in Ardingly.

Dwell identified the potential site earlier this year after clients Ben and Katie Rogers approached the practice seeking improvements to their home to increase its value, with a view to re-sale as a stepping-stone to their final ‘lifetime home’ for their young family.  Their large garden and corner site meant that a new separate road access could be formed, and with careful attention to the sloping site levels, part of the garden set aside for another dwelling.

Concept sketches were presented to MSDC for pre-application advice, and whilst the Council found the principle of development appropriate, they were insistent that the site would only accommodate a chalet bungalow, rather than a conventional two-storey house, on the grounds of adversely affecting neighbouring properties.

Nevertheless, the team at Dwell remained convinced that a two-storey house was a practical and reasonable proposal.  However, following several objections from local neighbours and the Parish Council the first planning application for a two-storey dwelling was withdrawn for the clients’ fear of refusal, the Council being seemingly unmovable on their bungalow position.  Dwell recommended that a second application with minor amendments to the full two-storey scheme was made.

To present the best case from the outset, Dwell prepared extensive drawings of the site context, including street scene elevations illustrating the gradient of the road, garden, and heights of neighbouring buildings to show how comfortably the larger house would sit on the site.  Following extensive negotiations, and conclusion of a Section 106 legal agreement for financial contribution to support local services, Mid Sussex District Council approved the proposal on the case officer’s recommendation stating:

“…it is considered that the principle of developing a house in this location accords with policy H3 of the MSLP and policies ARD1, ARD2 and ARD3 of the NP.  It is considered that the design of the proposed house is acceptable and complies with policy B1 of the MSLP, policies ARD3 and ARD5 of the Ardingly Neighbourhood Plan, policy DP24 of the draft District Plan and paragraph 53 and the general provisions of the NPPF.  It is not felt that there would be a significant impact on the amenities of the occupiers of neighbouring properties or that there would be a highway safety issue arising from the application.”

The approval gives the garden plot significant financial value, and much greater than could be realised by altering and extending the existing house, greatly helping Ben and Katie’s quest for their new home without the inconvenience or dust involved with a domestic building project!

The plot with consent is now available for purchase and interested parties should contact Dwell in the first instance.

Planning consent was received today for Dwell’s contemporary proposal to double the floorspace of a 1980’s bungalow in Haywards Heath with an adventurous new storey.

The bold proposal, which sits behind the houses and flats of Sunnywood Drive, turns the small bungalow into a large and well-appointed family home.  A modest extension at ground floor level supports a new timber-framed and timber-clad volume housing all the bedrooms and bathrooms, allowing the ground floor to be dedicated to living spaces.

By taking a thorough site survey, including topographic levels of the existing house, site, and surrounding buildings, the design response ensured that potential harm to surrounding neighbours was eliminated.  Projecting timber ‘gills’ condition the views from the new first floor level, ensuring that direct overlooking of neighbouring gardens is not possible, whilst still allowing daylight and solar access to create light and airy interior spaces.  Attention to detail from an early stage provided large contemporary bay windows with integral window seats; a perfect place to sit and read, or watch the wildlife in the woodland beyond.

The new first floor shell will be supplied in truss form, with structural members fabricated off-site and lifted in to position, to expedite completion of the project.  As well as being fast and cost-effective, the timber-frame shell enables thicker insulation to be installed, resulting in a very efficient thermal building envelope, which will help to reduce energy consumption.

Work now begins on the detailed design and construction drawing package necessary to progress the project, which our clients intend to self-build with the Dwell’s support.

Dwell negotiates planning hurdles to secure a second consent for a proposal originally destined for refusal, whilst allowing the project process to continue seamlessly in the background.

In February this year, Dwell was pleased to secure planning consent for a large two storey rear extension in Burgess Hill to provide a ‘granny annexe’.  Approval was granted by modifying the scheme following negative pre-application advice from Lewes District Council.  The changes meant eliminating the annexe kitchen and one of the two bedrooms to mitigate the planners’ concerns that another dwelling was being created and therefore contravene planning policy.

Dwell recommended making the changes and securing the consent which enabled the project to move forward securely with construction information and tender process, whilst negotiations for the desired internal layout and a contentious Juliet balcony were to follow.

Dwell submitted a further planning application which replicated exactly the original sketch scheme which was viewed so negatively.  Consent for this application was granted today, by frank negotiation with the case officer, and through leveraging planning policy and permitted development legislation against the precedent set by the first approval.

Tender prices will shortly be returned, at which point construction can begin without any undue delay.

We were pleased to be able to advise our clients today that planning consent had been granted for their large annexe extension, despite the Council’s initial feedback being negative.

The scheme, a large two-storey rear extension in Theobalds Road, Burgess Hill, provides additional bedroom accommodation to the first floor, and accessible ground floor bedroom and facilities for our clients’ parents.  The approval means that they will be able to remain in their home under the care of their extended family rather than having to relocate.

Early feedback to our initial sketch schemes from Lewes District Council considered the proposal to be too large, and they saw principle of effectively creating a separate dwelling was unacceptable.  Alterations to the mix of accommodation were made prior to submission of the planning application, and a well-researched planning statement played a key part in securing the consent.