John and Judith Turner had always lived in period properties, but an unexpected phone call led to them revising their retirement plans and self-building an energy efficient, contemporary home in an old walled garden

WORDS JANE CRITTENDEN PHOTOS ALISTAIR NICHOLLS

The bedroom’s glazed doors are fitted to a cantilevered, angled section, preserving privacy

The original garden site sloped upwards at the back, shaping the raised entrance into the Turners’ new home. The double-height glass-and-steel porch was custom-made by Benchmark Windows

FACT FILE

NAMES John & Judith Turner

OCCUPATIONS Consultant chartered quantity surveyor & retired

LOCATION West Sussex

TYPE OF PROJECT Self-build

STYLE Contemporary

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Brick & block and timber-frame

PROJECT ROUTE Architect-managed

PLOT SIZE 0.25 acres

LAND COST £250,000

BOUGHT 2015

HOUSE SIZE 200m2

PROJECT COST £450,000

PROJECT COST PER M2 £2,250

TOTAL COST £700,000

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED March 2016

BUILDING WORK TOOK 11 months

CURRENT VALUE £950,000

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John and Judith Turner had almost given up hope that they would ever be able to build their own house.Their planning application to do just that on their previous East Sussex home’s tennis courts had been refused in 2009, so when John retired a couple of years later, they decided to up sticks.They moved to Wales to be nearer their daughter and her family, and bought a Georgian farmhouse to renovate.The couple hadn’t long finished the project when, in summer 2014, architect and friend Nick Lomax, from LCE Architects, called John out of the blue with a proposal.

“I’ve known Nick for years through my quantity surveying consultancy”, John explains. “He asked me if I was still looking for a plot, as he was selling off the bottom of his mother-in-law’s garden. It wasn’t far from where we used to live, so Judith and I came to have a look. Even though the site was really overgrown, we liked the walled garden, and of course we still knew people in the area.”

Choosing a plot

Nick had plans to build two houses on the site. He offered John and Judith their choice of the two sites, with an outline design for a contemporary property on each. A flint wall ran between them – a legacy perhaps of a separate orchard or vegetable garden – creating one linear plot and one that was more rectangular. The Turners chose the latter, preferring the layout of the garden, the garage and the character of the surrounding three flint walls. They could also see how building a fourth wall would completely enclose their plot and make a pleasing boundary between them and the original house.