L-R: Barry McCullough of Levitt Bernstein with Simon Chouffot and Rachel Bagenal of Naked House displaying their £5,000 prize, with Kevin McCloud and British Gas’ Head of Housing Ande Pickering
9 October 2014
A London-based team has won the top prize in the annual Self Build on a Shoestring competition, sponsored by British Gas and announced today at Grand Designs Live Birmingham. Its solution – called SHELL – provides a professionally built, highly-insulated timber framed ‘envelope’ that individual self builders can then adapt and complete themselves.
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The basic SHELL is made using structurally insulated timber panels that are manufactured in a factory and then bolted together on site by a main contractor. This basic waterproof structure also has all the utilities installed, and the SHELL can be ‘lived in’ while the self builders finish off the interiors.
Once the SHELL has been built the home owners complete their apartments to their preferred layout and design, fitting the internal walls, and installing the bathrooms and kitchens. In the plans, owners will also be responsible for the decorating and some other elements of the work.
The team calculate that the average construction cost of each home built according to this plan would be just £70,076 (plus the cost of the land).
The winning team included architect Levitt Bernstein, housing provider Circle Housing and a recently formed self build community group, Naked House, which is currently trying to progress plans to collectively build their own homes in this way.
One of the leading features of the design was deemed by the judges to be its flexibility. A one person apartment can easily be extended so that it can accommodate two people; or a couple can bolt on a simple extension if they need extra bedrooms for a growing family.
The team received their £5,000 prize at the Grand Designs Live exhibition at the NEC this afternoon. The competition was organised by the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) and Grand Designs Live, and the prize fund has been generously sponsored by British Gas.
The judges included Grand Designs presenter and self build champion Kevin McCloud and the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on self/custom build – Richard Bacon MP.
McCloud, who also joined in presenting the prize winners, said: “I was very taken by the way this solution delivered the best of all worlds. The basic structure was professionally built to a good standard, so that the families could then finish off the homes to their own designs and tastes. The design was also very clever in that it allowed people to almost seamlessly add or subtract extensions – so the development could adapt to match the needs of the people who lived there.”
The 2014 ‘in the City’ competition challenged architects, designers and others to submit innovative ways of building a range of varying sized low cost and easy-to-construct homes on a typical urban site. On average the homes had to be buildable for less than £75,000 each. And the competition brief called for solutions that were aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly. More than 30 entries were received from the UK and abroad.
An exhibition of some of the best entries is on display at the Grand Designs Live exhibition at the NEC until Sunday evening. And the full entry submissions of the top 17 finalists will be available to inspect on the National Custom and Self Build Association’s website shortly after.
