Amber and Lee Wilmot jumped at the chance to build their dream property in the back garden of Amber’s childhood home in West Sussex

WORDS SOPHIE VENING

The house is clad in Olde Coach House handmade bricks from Traditional Brick and Stone, with an element of oak boarding, and topped with Sandtoft Alban Sussex Blend roof tiles from Weinerberger

PHOTOS THE HOUSE AGENCY/MATT CHISNALL

Even the homeowners on our road who initially objected to our planning application tell us they’re pleased with how it turned out ‘‘

One of the council’s initial concerns was to do with the existence of a tree preservation order (TPO) on the plot, but the couple had already worked out that a build wouldn’t interfere with any of the protected trees. Yet getting affirmation for the principle of a project remained elusive. To try to get things moving, the pair spoke with their local councillor, explaining Amber had grown up on the road, her father still lived next door and this was about a couple returning to their roots. “He was really positive and supportive,” says Amber.

Joined-up thinking

Fuelled by renewed enthusiasm, the couple got in touch with timber frame self build home specialist Scandia-Hus and paid the company a fee to help them get through the planning stage. “We worked closely with project manager Aron Turney at Scandia, who came along to all the pre-planning meetings,” says Amber. “He was really hands-on, even getting wind that our first proposal was going to be refused and advising us to pull the project out to avoid getting a black mark against our application process.”

Aron liaised with the couple, the planners and Scandia’s in-house design team to push forward a scheme that all parties would be able to agree on. “He suggested that if we went in with something a little bigger than we’d originally envisaged, we could then negotiate down to a more realistic scheme and make it exactly as we wanted,” says Amber. “He was talking to the council all the time trying to work out what their requirements were for the project.”