-
How to Save Money on Your Project
-
How to... turn your home into a hi-tech hideaway
-
About the magazine
-
Kitchen appliances
-
Planning Process Explained
How-to Videos
Take a look at our how to videos for advice on DIY tasks
Company Listings
 qpc ceramics ltd www.qpcceramics.co.uk Category: Flooring |
New Digital Version Click the cover!
Grand Designs Live
The story so far...
Who?
Architect Marcus Lee of practice FLACQ, his partner, Rachel Hart, and their three young daughters.
Where?
Hackney, east London.
What?
Timber-framed home, informed by Japanese residential architecture, with plentiful glazing and timber screens.
When?
The site was purchased in 2000. The building was started in 2005, and completed in 2007.
How much?
The land cost £70,000 and the build cost around £300,000, although Marcus is ‘still going through the receipts’.
High point?
‘August Bank Holiday 2005, when we first moved in. It wasn’t finished until 2007, but it felt like home’.
Low point?
‘Starting the work without having confirmation of planning, and the planning refusal we got in 2003’.
Tip
‘Despite what I said about being the high point, I’d recommend not to move in until the job’s completed,’ says Marcus.
Biomass boilers
The couple chose the biomass boiler partly for environmental reasons. ‘But the main reason we did it is because the house isn’t plumbed for gas and we were quoted £25,000 to get connected.’
The Baxi biomass boiler was installed by Green Systems and cost £6,500, alleviated by a £1,500 grant. It runs on compressed sawdust pellets, from suppliers such as Welsh Biofuels (www.welsh-biofuels.co.uk).
The pellets are loaded from a ‘silo’ into the boiler and Marcus checks on their progress. ‘Unlike gas, you know how much fuel you go through.’ The pellets burn within the boiler, which heats the water and the house via underfloor heating. ‘It’s very efficient,’ he says.
