Keen to maximise their spacious plot, Ash and Nancy Rogers extended their existing property to create the family home of their dreams

WORDS ANAMIKA TALWARIA

PHOTOS TOM HARGREAVES

Ash and Nancy Rogers had been living in their compact family home for 10 years before deciding to upgrade. “We really loved the house, the area, and all of our neighbours. Plus, our daughter, Mabyn, was settled in at the local school, so we didn’t want to move away” says Nancy. “But we’d had another child, so we needed more space.” The Rogers searched for a larger property in the local Exeter area, but to no avail.

So, rather than settle for less than ideal, they decided to add more space their existing abode; they loved the location and were happy to stay. “We always thought we might extend, because the house has got a really decent plot of land, but the building itself is quite compact,” says Ash. “Yet it never seemed to be the right time.” That was until one Christmas, after their son, Seth, was born. “We had some family over and had that revelation: it’s just too small,” says Ash.

www.self-build.co.uk

Taking the plunge

Nancy’s parents had self built before, when she was a child, and she remembers the experience being fun, but very stressful: “That was always a risk going in, even though our project was on a much smaller scale,” she says. “We basically put it off until we absolutely had to!” The couple were also worried about financing the build, but as they had been paying off their mortgage for the last 10 years, they were able to fund the project by renegotiating this.

Armed with a budget of about £150,000, they headed to Google to find the right team. Ash and Nancy invited a few architects to come up with a solution for their strangelyshaped plot, with a wedge-style extension in mind already. There’s no real vernacular on their cul-de-sac, with a range of conventional semis and angular modern builds. They wanted to maximise their plot and found that Emmet Hanley from Barc Architects understood exactly what they were looking to achieve. “He was very positive about the area and the higgledy-piggledy townhouses, and was really creative with his ideas,” says Nancy. “We immediately knew that he would be great at coming up with a solution to the strange shape of our building plot.”