Following a pattern

Cheryl Hitchcock and Dudley Thompson turned to Passivhaus principles when creating their highly energy efficient and economical home in Cumbria

WORDS HEATHER DIXON PHOTOS KATIE LEE

The local planners wanted the house to include Cumbrian stone, but Cheryl and Dudley were reluctant to use it as a complete cladding system, so they compromised by including it on the porch and garden walls

THE HITCHCOCK & THOMPSON FILE

NAMES Dudley Thompson & Cheryl Hitchcock

OCCUPATIONS Technical authors

LOCATION Cumbria

TYPE OF BUILD Self build

STYLE Traditional

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Timber frame

PLOT SIZE 353m²

LAND COST £77,400

BOUGHT 2013

HOUSE SIZE 142m²

PROJECT COST £271,019

PROJECT COST PER M2 £1,909

TOTAL COST £348,419

VAT RECLAIM £3,371

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED September 2014

BUILDING WORK TOOK Eight months

CURRENT VALUE £380,000

Cheryl Hitchcock and Dudley Thompson’s last house – a large Victorian villa – was so cold and draughty that sometimes Cheryl would work in her home office wrapped up in a sleeping bag. “We had reinsulated the loft and added double glazing in some rooms, but the amount of gas and electricity we were using was obscene,” says Dudley. “We were becoming more ecologically aware and wanted to achieve a better work/life balance, so we agreed it was time to move.” Top of the wish-list for their new eco-home was packing in plenty of insulation and achieving a consistent year-round temperature.

Initially, they signed up for the Lancaster co-housing project – a well publicised co-operative of sustainable properties. But just as they were at the point of signing the contract, they had a change in personal circumstances that forced them to re-think. Reluctantly, they pulled out of the project, but were still keen to embrace the highly efficient, Passivhaus ethos. Searching for a new plot led them to some land on a brownfield stoneworks site in a village in the Eden Valley, which had planning permission for a conventional bungalow.