A corner site overlooking woodland could give us the opportunity to create a truly wow-factor home

One of the golden rules of self building is that the design should always start with the site, so selecting the right plot was inevitably going to be a critical part of our scheme. If you draw up plans for your dream house before you’ve got land to build it on, you’ll only be narrowing down your plot hunting options. In fact, you’ll struggle to gain planning consent for a scheme that doesn’t take its surroundings into account; plus you can never be sure of vital details such as the best orientation on a plot, access locations, ground conditions etc until you’ve investigated it thoroughly.

Things are a little more straightforward at Graven Hill. Through the Plot Passports (see the box, opposite), you get an early-stage glimpse at the main design parameters for each site, including the number of bedrooms you can have, the orientation of the building and the likely ground conditions. This makes it far easier to visualise what you might be able to achieve on the plot you’re considering.

What’s more, aspects such as services and access are already taken care of. So there’s no risk of issues such as ransom strips (pieces of privately owned land) or restrictive covenants derailing a project. You also know you’ll be getting a clear, level plot – with foundations supplied according to your design.

The location plan for our plot, in a Community Streets zone at Graven Hill. Above right: This site plan, prepared by Lapd Architects, shows the outline of our plot, with the build zone shaded in solid red