The Bailey file - HUF HAUS

Kit & caboodle
The Baileys had a real battle on their hands to prove to the council that their plans for a
replacement dwelling were in the best interests of the local neighbourhood
Words & Photos AnThony hArrison
34 Build it | october 2011

eaders’ readers’ homes homes homes new build | new build
Method brick and block Build cost £400,000 Location
Kit home
We had to be sympathetic
to the surroundings, but
richmond council wasn’t
averse to modern design
‘‘ Method
Build cost £1,060,000
Location richmond upon thames
‘‘
Welsh for ‘forked tree trunk’ is ‘Twyntre’. It’s
an apt metaphor for the Baileys’ self built
home: they parted company with their
architect and the house he’d designed –
and branched off in a different direction.
Like many self builders, Nick and Julia Bailey weighed
up the pros and cons of a bespoke in comparison to a
kit built home. With the help of an expert firm, the
couple have built a property that’s different, stylish and
very high quality.
“We were living near Richmond in an 18th century
cottage, but we really wanted to live in a more modern
home that we had created ourselves,” says Julia. “We
noticed a lovely half acre plot with an old bunglaow in the
middle of it, and instantly fell in love with the location.”
Soon after, the couple went to meet the elderly lady who
owned the land, and asked her to let them know if she ever
thought of moving. “She had quite a few uninvited visitors
enquiring about buying her place over the years. They
were often quite aggressive, so when she decided to
move a couple of years later she invited us to make an
offer first,” says Julia.
Perfect fit
Initially the couple thought of renovating the old house,
but examination showed it was only the brick framework
holding the place together – all the timbers were rotten.
Nick and Julia then proposed building a large
prefabricated house in its place, but this was turned down
by the planning office on the grounds that it might
overshadow the Grade II listed house next door. “We
became aware that anything we put forward had to be
very sympathetic to its surroundings, though it was
encouraging that Richmond Council wasn’t adverse to
modern styling,” says Julia.
“We commissioned an architect to design a house for us,
a long elegant home that wrapped around the magnolia
tree – a key feature for us,” she says. “We liked this, but they
couldn’t tell us how much it would cost: we had to engage a
quantity surveyor, who calculated it would take
us way over budget. The architect felt he hadn’t met the
brief in keeping to a stated budget, and so put us in touch
with Huf Haus.”
Despite Richmond Council’s appreciation for modern
design, the Baileys’ decision to go with Huf was far from
the end of their planning saga. “This was the biggest
unforeseen factor,” says Nick. “Because our plot was
comparatively large at half an acre, the urban
development policy required us to build more than one
house in place of the old bungalow; but we just wanted to
live here in our own home.” g
october 2011 | Build it 35

eaders’ homes | new build
36 Build it | october 2011
This page: Timber decking
extends from the front door
outward beyond a porched area
to the front path. opposite:
From the street entrance, the
garage block occupies the
foreground while the house
itself is screened effectively by
trees and shrubbery

“We fell victim to urban development policy on
‘substantial housing gain’, a legacy of the John Prescott
years: if you demolish a house, you have to rebuild more
than one replacement – not what we wanted at all,” says
Julia. “I don’t blame the council for bringing up this policy,
but they said our narrow half-acre would hold six houses!
Though in practice they’d be happy with two.”
This issue helped the Baileys gain letters of support from
all the neighbours, since they were aware that in lieu of the
couple’s single home, a different owner might happily build
half a dozen units on the plot. “We had to go to committee
after our plan was rejected. We engaged a planning
consultant, whose arguments concentrating on the traffic
saving with just one house didn’t work,” says Julia. “So we
appealed: we had the neighbourhood’s letters of support,
and the local conservation society got involved too –
understandably, they favoured our proposal for one quality
home rather than the larger number the council wanted.
This gained us favour. The council advised our planning
officer disregard the substantial housing policy on the
condition that we build an extremely sustainable home with
a significant reduction in carbon footprint in comparison
to the existing bungalow.”
Julia continues: “Huf hadn’t had to deal with the sort of
demands we were making due to planning. They had to
involve themselves in maximising solar gain, boosting
insulation levels, using recycled materials and so on. We
also had to account for solar panels for water heating, a
rainwater harvesting system, low energy lighting (70% of
the interior lighting is like this, and 100% of the exterior);
all the front forecourt area had to be permeable so as not
to increase runoff; our front path could not be wider than
one meter, and so on. After complying with a long list of
such requirements, and after three years, in October 2007
we received planning permission. The following spring we
signed the final papers confirming the design, with Huf.”
Personal design
The Baileys’ original drawings had been for something
square and angular, and since Huf uses modular design it
was easy for them to reproduce something remarkably
similar to what they had planned.
“We worked with Huf to make the original designs
more affordable. The living space between the garage and
the annex area was removed and we brought the back wall
inwards by a meter, which also improved our garden view.
Huf completely remodelled the interior layout, too,” says
Nick. “They were really very good to deal with. Chief
architect Peter Huf said he wanted to build us a house that
suited our needs. So in discussing the design, we’d tell
Peter what we wanted, he’d submit every modification to
the technical people, and they’d return the amended
design to us – though we needed to check carefully that
they’d interpreted our requirements properly.”
Huf Haus offers everything as a turnkey package, but their
primary quote excludes the kitchen and the lighting scheme.
Although they offer these elements, they recognise that
many buyers want to specify their own. The initial quote is
for a ‘standard’ product, and there’s a vast range of options
and add ons for clients to choose from in the routine visit to
Huf HQ in Germany. Fixtures and fittings can be selected
and the price goes up or down accordingly.
g
october 2011 | Build it 37

This self-contained section to right of the
front door is used for guests. The large
horizontal blinds are a huf item, and
control solar gain very effectively
38 Build it | october 2011

“As an integral part of the selection process we visited
Huf in Germany for two days. Whilst there we chose tiles,
taps, washbasins – everything,” says Julia. “Surprisingly
not all their kit is German, and they’re flexible too: they’re
happy to try and source something different if that’s what
you want. They led us through a well managed
programme to establish where lighting would be, the
electrical layout including the location of power sockets –
every last detail. After this, you can’t change anything
major, so you have to be decisive!”
The Baileys feel their experience of Huf was wholly
positive. “They’re not cheap, but they deliver exactly what
they promise – they’re deservedly at the top end of the kit
house niche,” says Julia. “And our single week of major site
traffic was vastly different from the weeks and months we
would have experienced with a conventional build, which
delighted one particular neighbour who had voiced
concerns about this!”
Huf Haus took care of the entire build process and
managed everything for the Baileys. Preliminary work –
including demolition of the old bungalow – took place in
Nick & Julia’s finances
•
our build was self-financed
through the sale of investments
• Although we parted with our
architects after engaging huf
we still had to pay the royalty in order to
transfer the original design to huf; it was very
expensive! When you use huf, architectural
fees are incorporated within the package;
February 2008. “We had to recycle 15% of the existing
fabric of the old bungalow into the new house. The cross
beam on the pergola base is part of the original property!
It made demolition more complex because everything
had to be sorted through.”
Once Huf’s team were on site in June 2008 it took them
just two weeks to complete the structure.
Final thoughts
Unlike the design and build, the project’s planning was
drawn out, stressful and expensive. Julia says, “It cost us a
lot to meet the planning criteria: I calculated that the
unusually stringent, time consuming requirements we
were subjected to added between £80,000 and £100,000 to
our costs. Doing all this from the start through Huf might
have cost us half as much!
“To be fair to Richmond Council, they had central
government demands to meet; and ultimately we’re
glad they rejected our original plan. But we only got
our way by being obstinate and refusing to roll over.
We felt that Richmond were using us as guinea pigs g
but we’d already paid architects, quantity
surveyors, structural surveyors.
• huf give you a budget based on area.
It is broken down into costs per ft2 , as part of
the estimation process
• We had a good idea what the break-even
figure should be when we were calculating
our budget; we researched property values in
Woody Allen’s autograph sits
proudly on one of the beams
next to the large kitchen. The
couple like the semi-industrial
feel that the exposed steel
and shiny bolt-heads provide
this area and worked out what sort of house
you got for various cost figures per ft2 , and
during the project we checked our costs
against these figures constantly. Probably
the most expensive in our immediate vicinity
is about £800 per ft2 • We haven’t had the house valued, as we
built it to live in – and we’re staying
october 2011 | Build it 39

40 Build it | october 2011

This page: Upstairs are
three bedrooms, one is
nick’s office while another
is for guests. The master
bedroom is approached
through a lobby, filled with
extensive storage. Left: The
staircase is a standard huf
item which Julia & nick
customised with chrome
rails and glass panels
readers’ homes | new build
to see how far down the whole sustainability route
they could push self build planning applicants. To our
knowledge they had never previously given others
such a hard time. Maybe they thought if they pushed
us hard enough we’d give up and accept the demand for
multiple housing.”
“I’m all for eco homes, but some of the ‘carbon
footprint’ criteria is nonsense! We were even required to
demonstrate that we had storage for bicycles, for example.
I pointed out that we had half an acre, with plenty of room
to lean bikes against a fence or something; but no, we had
to have dedicated bicycle storage. Complete nonsense!,”
says Julia. “I had a call one day from the planning
department to ask if I’d go and measure the garage to
prove we could get two cars in there; I asked what size cars
– they didn’t know. I assured them that while it wouldn’t
hold two large SUVs a pair of small cars would fit easily.
They seemed to be making it up as they went along!
Arbitrary demands based on box ticking, not any real
common-sense criteria.”
In the end Nick & Julia got their lovely Huf Haus which
sits comfortably on half an acre, twice the size of the
previous house – yet it consumes one-third less energy.
Their new home already boasts a characterful history,
but has a Hollywood connection, too. Woody Allen’s
recent film set in London, You Will Meet A Tall Dark
Stranger, initially used the house for a couple of scenes –
though sadly these ended up on the cutting room
floor. An agent had called at the house asking Julia and
Nick whether they’d be interested, since a large modern
open-plan interior was needed for the film. “Not only
did I host Woody Allen but I had Sir Anthony Hopkins
make a pass at a woman in my bedroom – all in the
script of course! Not many people can say that,” says Julia.
“With cast and crew there were 60-70 people
here, for five days. It was a lot of disruption, but the fee
paid for our greenhouse – and we got Woody Allen’s
autograph on one of the kitchen beams, too!” z
Useful contacts
desIgn & buIld huf haus UK 01932 586550
www.huf-haus.com lAnd surveyors AD horner
01386 555486 adhorner.co.uk demolItIon
& groundWorKs Danny Galvin of DG site
Preparation 01753 549402, www.dgsp.co.uk cArPets
sunninghill Carpets 01344 622022 www.sunninghillcarpets.
com securIty systems Armour security 0800 592776
www.armour-security.co.uk drAInAge PlAnnIng
Gary Gabriel Associates 01732 460142 www.ggauk.com
flood rIsK Assessment White young Green 020 7250
7500 www.wyg.com ground APPrAIsAl (soIl survey)
Geo-Environmental services Ltd 01273 699 399
www.gesl.net trAIler cArAvAn rentAl Golden sands
Caravans, 01970 626920 www.goldensandscaravans.co.uk
bAdger consultAncy Warwick reynolds Associates
020 8688 9905 KItchen desIgn & constructIon Michael
Lucas 01932 821448 lIghtIng Mr resistor 020 8874 2234
www.mr-resistor.co.uk
october 2011 | Build it 41

eaders’ homes | new build
Floor plans
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Build timetable
nick and Julia bought the plot in early 2004. they submitted two planning
applications which were unsuccessful. After a two year battle, their third
application was granted with numerous conditions attached.
Schedule of the build
2008 JAn
Preliminaries 08 08
Foundations 08 08
External walls & windows 08 08
roof structure & covering 08 08
internal walls & doors 08 08
Floors, walls & ceiling finishes 08 08
Joinery & fittings 08 08
Plumbing & heating 08 08
Electrics 08 08
Decorating 08 08
08 Work in progress by year and month
42 Build it | october 2011
FEB
MAr
APr
MAy
JUn
JUL
AUG
sEP
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noV
DEC
The Bailey file
owners nicholas &
Julia bailey
occupations risk manager
in health & safety and
account executive with a
computer manufacturer
Location near richmond
upon thames
Type of build
modular
kit house
style contemporary
Method of construction
steel & timber framed with
prefabricated panels
Build cost breakdown
house size 347m 2
(1,722ft 2 )
Plot size 0.5 acre
plot with existing house
£1.2 million
Total cost Approx
£2.261 million
Build cost
£1,060,000
Cost per ft 2 £315
Date work commenced
february 2008
Construction time
four months (huf took
just two weeks)
Elements of the build Cost % Cost m 2 Total cost*
huf haus/Build 72% £2,201 £764,000
stil Art (built in
cupboards etc)
2% £57 £20,000
Demolition & groundworks 7% £216 £75,000
Drainage & sewers 1% £8 £3,000
Mains (utilities)services 1% £14 £5,000
Kitchen
Landscaping & external
4% £127 £44,000
works (driveway, lawn
and fencing)
12% £368 £128,000
Lighting 1% £40 £14,000
Furnishings 1% £20 £7,000
Grand total £1,060,000
OUr verdict
The Baileys had a really tough time persuading
the planning department that their plans for
awere what was best for the plot and the
neighbourhood. They could have easily given
up, but they stuck to their guns and now have
the house they desired. The contemporary
home is elegant in design and has been created
with sustainability in mind – even if this is a sore
point with the owners!