Fast track

Chris and Sheila Marwood’s new prefabricated German kit home took just twelve weeks to build, despite their sloping Cornish site

WORDS DEBBIE JEFFERY PHOTOS JAMES FRENCH

THE MARWOOD FILE

NAMES Chris & Sheila Marwood

OCCUPATIONS Retired

LOCATION Cornwall

TYPE OF BUILD Self build

STYLE Contemporary

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Timber frame with insulating concrete formwork (ICF) lower ground fl oor

PLOT SIZE 1.4 acres

LAND COST £480,000 (bungalow on site later sold for £280,000)

BOUGHT 2009

HOUSE SIZE 340m2

PROJECT COST £550,000

PROJECT COST PER M2 £1,618

TOTAL COST £750,000

VAT RECLAIM £3,500

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED August 2012

BUILDING WORK TOOK 12 weeks (for shell & main fit-out)

CURRENT VALUE £900,000

When retired couple Chris and Sheila Marwood began their search for a house with plenty of sun and views in Cornwall, they struggled to find something that fitted the bill. “Eventually we decided to look for a plot of land instead,” says Sheila. Although they had never built a house from scratch before, they weren’t complete newcomers to the process. “We’ve altered every property we’ve ever owned and always lived in them while the work was completed,” she adds.

The couple registered online to receive plot alerts and spotted a 1960s bungalow on 1.4 acres of land in Lostwithiel – a familiar location, as they had holidayed there before. this ancient stannary town is located in a beautiful wooded valley right in the centre of the county, positioned between the coast and the moors. “We took our retired architect friend, Peter, along to view the bungalow with us,” Chris explains. “the property sat in one corner of a field, overlooking the small town and down towards the river Fowey. As soon as we witnessed the south-facing views from the site, we knew we’d found something special.”

New project

Chris and Sheila briefl y considered the idea of upgrading the bungalow, but their friend intervened. He explained that the outdated construction techniques used in the 1960s were guaranteed to be far less energy efficient than modern building methods. So he sketched out a rough design for a new house on the large site. “It was a fantastic-looking dwelling, although later we had to tweak the plans to reduce it in size,” says Chris.