New build floorplans - opinions welcome

[Indy]

Newbie to the forum but have been lurking and reading for a long time, as this forum is quite the font of knowledge.

 

Bought our place at the end of June with a view to redevelop. Its currently a 2 bed bungalow that we wanted to extend to a 4/5 bed house. After several discussions with our architects and many other people, the clear direction was to demolish and rebuild rather than refurb as the VAT savings and thermal efficiency/new design would mean we end up with a very similar cost outlay, but a better house overall.

 

Been through a couple of iterations and we're very close to signing off the final version of the floorplans so we can get them submitted for planning. Wanted to get others' opinions on how you would change/tweak these.

 

Inhabitants of the house will be:
 - Grandparents living on the ground floor
 - 2 very young boys taking up the front rooms on the 1st floor
 - Wife and I in the master suite. Both WFH and therefore need a dedicated office/study area.

 

Going from this:

 

 

 

 

To this:

 

[Mr Punter]

That is a huge step up in floor space.  Have you costed it?

[Olf]

What is the rationale for the size of the house? Bedrooms 1, 2 & 3 are large, but will that space ever be used? You could probably trim a good meter without any loss of function. 10sqm less > £10k saved?

You will likely be asked to provide parking space for 2 cars, is there enough room at the front?

Interesting to see the space for heat pump pre-planned, I wonder how much it will cost vs straight wall. 

[the_r_sole]

It just looks like someone has looked at the plot and but something on to fill it, the master bed looks huge!

there's windows front and back but it doesn't look like there's any way of light penetrating deeper into the plan, maybe post up the elevations too so it might make more sense

 

[Dave Jones]

separate lounge, not a fan of the canteen style setup.

[Indy]

3 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

That is a huge step up in floor space.  Have you costed it?

Not yet, but that is the next step after we agree on the plans. I was going to use this forum for an early indication but also go down the route of engaging a QS to come up with a costing plan. 

[Indy]

3 hours ago, Olf said:

What is the rationale for the size of the house? Bedrooms 1, 2 & 3 are large, but will that space ever be used? You could probably trim a good meter without any loss of function. 10sqm less > £10k saved?

You will likely be asked to provide parking space for 2 cars, is there enough room at the front?

Interesting to see the space for heat pump pre-planned, I wonder how much it will cost vs straight wall. 

Bedroom 1 is for my (elderly) parents who will be moving in with us, and help out with childcare as the kids are very young (both under 3). Wanted a space for them on the ground floor and the door openings on the GF have been kept to be wheelchair compatible for future proofing. 

 

 Bedrooms 2 and 3 are for the boys and spaced large enough so that they can go grow into them. The house started off as being a 10yr place for us but given the investment required, will most likely be where we stay until they’re both packed off to university.

 

Parking spaces, yes we have room in the front. It’s about 40foot at the front and 120foot back garden, which has been the main reason why we bought the plot. Even then, I keep getting told by the architects that’s it’s quite a narrow one and to really have larger rooms we would have needed a wider plot! 

Edited October 6, 2021 by Indy

[Indy]

3 hours ago, the_r_sole said:

It just looks like someone has looked at the plot and but something on to fill it, the master bed looks huge!

there's windows front and back but it doesn't look like there's any way of light penetrating deeper into the plan, maybe post up the elevations too so it might make more sense

 

Agreed, that was very much our brief - I.e maximise the space on the plot by going edge to edge. Was told to keep 1m on either side to (a) give it a detached look and feel, and (b) allow access from both sides for building it and maintenance in the future.

 

Light wise, agreed but that’s one of the disadvantages I guess of having a narrow but long plot. Have tried to keep windows and glazing in each room to maximise light and airiness but the central/service rooms will be affected somewhat. 
 

For the overall size, I’ve actually reined it in somewhat to 280m2, as one of the drafts was about 50m2 bigger. Looked awesome but I had to compromise to keep the build costs in check. 

[Indy]

2 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

separate lounge, not a fan of the canteen style setup.

This is an area where I disagree. In our current house (1930s semi), I almost never use the front lounge and end up spending most of the time in the kitchen/dining area.

 

I still have the option of converting the front study back to a reception when we come to sell it on in the future, which hopefully satisfies that need but for my own purposes, can’t see needing a separate reception room. Want to be able to keep an eye on the kids which is easier in a large open space, even if it does mean extra work keeping it tidy all the time. 

[Indy]

One change I’m considering making seriously is increasing the size of the family snug from 3m to 3.4m, so that it becomes a large enough room to enjoy with the kids. It also doubles up as a good sized bedroom making the house a proper 5 double bedroom property for the future, but am unsure of giving up space from the master bedroom as it would reduce the width somewhat and make it smaller than the kids bedrooms?

 

Any suggestions/comments?

Edited October 6, 2021 by Indy

[ETC]

Sorry for being negative but I think you’ve missed an opportunity to do something quite out of the ordinary with the plan and massing of the house rather than just plonking a rectangular block onto the site.

 

Just because you have only got light from the front and back (albeit with roof lights to the sides) doesn’t mean that with a little design flair light and views cannot be achieved to most if not all rooms.

 

I agree with a number of posters that some of the rooms are rather large - but I also think that the ground floor bedroom for the grandparents is a bit on the small side. A master suite with adequate storage would be more appropriate. I also think that if you are trying to future proof the ground floor bedroom (and en-suite) for possible wheelchair access you may wish to consider how a wheelchair will access the bed, the wardrobes and the en-suite.

 

 I also think the Kitchen is in the wrong place and is taking up prime space that could be used for the lounge which on your plan will never get sunlight.

 

I’d also move the staircase centrally rather than having it to the side. It will give you more space an perhaps allow the building to be shortened.

 

From a BC perspective the porch walls will need steel and you will need to make the WC wheelchair friendly.

 

I presume you have thought about having limited access to each side of the house. What would happen if you needed to bring a large piece of furniture to the back garden, a hot tub, ride on lawn mower not to mention any large piece of plant or equipment? It’s also very tight to wheel your bins through.

I’d also be interested in seeing how the roof and elevations work.

 

Rambling thoughts.

 

 

[Indy]

Sorry for being negative but I think you’ve missed an opportunity to do something quite out of the ordinary with the plan and massing of the house rather than just plonking a rectangular block onto the site.

Just because you have only got light from the front and back (albeit with roof lights to the sides) doesn’t mean that with a little design flair light and views cannot be achieved to most if not all rooms.

I'm genuinely interested to hear of any ideas that we can incorporate to either make it more interesting or get more light in. Light and airiness has been a big driving factor in all of the discussions, and we've tried a few things like wide main door, wide hallway, views through to garden and glazing which would make the light flood in from both sides when standing in the hallway. 

I agree with a number of posters that some of the rooms are rather large - but I also think that the ground floor bedroom for the grandparents is a bit on the small side. A master suite with adequate storage would be more appropriate. 
The options we have on this regard are:
(a) Make the hallway smaller - it started at 1.6m (rather than 2m) but I've deliberately made that wider as I want to get an open feeling when entering the house. 
(b) Build out to the boundary on one side to get another meter. Not sure if we're allowed to and how that would play with maintenance issues. 
(c) Lose the symmetrical nature and make the study smaller, and give up say 0.5m of width in that room to the bedroom.

 

I also think that if you are trying to future proof the ground floor bedroom (and en-suite) for possible wheelchair access you may wish to consider how a wheelchair will access the bed, the wardrobes and the en-suite.
I'm not the expert but the architect did describe 3 levels of wheelchair access. IIRC, they are (a) Accessible, (b) Compatible, (c) Compliant. We're going with the middle level which means that the doorway into the house, into their room, en suite, main living area and the hallway are wide enough for wheelchair access. Luckily, they are both healthy and mobile, but given the future - I wanted to make sure we had this accounted for. I think its only the doors on the 1st floor which are a standard width (826mm?) which may struggle with wheelchair access. 

I also think the Kitchen is in the wrong place and is taking up prime space that could be used for the lounge which on your plan will never get sunlight.
I would have to think hard about this one. The layout we've got is one I've seen in quite a few houses when property searching and we liked overall. We also do quite a bit of outdoor cooking (grill, pizza oven) and there is a plan to have a stepless patio area that acts as an extension of the living space. This is why I'd like to have the kitchen closer, making food prep and cleanup easier. 
Swapping the kitchen and living room would mean we do get a lot more sunlight in the living room, but it could be quite blinding, and we'd have to deal with glare on a TV screen if we were to have a wallmounted one? Our current plot is much the same orientation (West, South West) and the light does stream into the dining area and into your eyes which makes it quite hard on sunny days. 

 

I presume you have thought about having limited access to each side of the house. What would happen if you needed to bring a large piece of furniture to the back garden, a hot tub, ride on lawn mower not to mention any large piece of plant or equipment? It’s also very tight to wheel your bins through.
The width at either side of the house is about 1.3m at the front and then narrows to just over 1m at the back (as the plot tapers in overall slightly). I think that should allow us to move most things but if there's anything wider than that, it would either have to go on the side, in pieces, or through the house. 

 

I’d also be interested in seeing how the roof and elevations work.
Waiting on these to come through from the architect, they're now working on the elevations and 3D models so will share when I can. 

[ETC]

My attempt at a narrow house below. I’ll upload an image later.

 

 

[ETC]

And a quick image.

[ETC]

Just need to look at the amount of glazing to the side elevations where the boundary is quite close to the house.

[ETC]

All copyright ETC.

[Indy]

Wow, truly impressed at the effort you've put in and some really good ideas in there that I had considered (lots of glazing features) but then put to one side as it meant ££££

 

I take your point about creating something architecturally unique, but one thing I do like is symmetry from the front - i.e. entering the house through a central hallway and then having equal sized rooms on either side. This is the main reason why we're demolishing and rebuilding, as the current layout doesnt allow for that. I don't particularly fancy the long/narrow aspect tbh, as it feels like you have to travel through a lot of rooms to get to the garden and kids bedrooms upstairs.

 

Will send you a PM as well separately, but thank you again for the inputs. I will see what we can take away from this and try and incorporate.

 

One thing I didn't mention in the original post is that we're forced to keep it under 8m ridge height, as its a bungalow replacement and we have to be sympathetic to the neighbours rooflines as well (series of bungalows). On the 1st floor, we will therefore have 1.5m of usable height at the edges - making it 1.5 storeys rather than a full 2 storey house. Getting planning for a 2 storey house seems to be quite a challenge, that our neighbours tried and lost 3 years ago, so not keen on wasting months going and forth with the planning department only to be told no in the end.

[ETC]

Thanks for the reply - I do like to do a sketch or two from time to time - keeps me from going stir crazy.

 

I have no doubt that your own designers will come up with a fabulous design but If you don’t mind I’d like to do a symmetrical version for you - just for fun - what’s the width of the site?

 

FYI - just watch the distances of your external walls from the boundary - the closer you are the less “unprotected area” (openable non-fire-rated windows and doors) you can have.

[Mr Punter]

I have to say I much prefer the design from @ETC.

 

Loads more light coming in to the core of the house.  Grandparents suite no longer off a corridor.  Wraparound garden at the back.

 

The plot does not really lend itself to a double fronted house as it is only about 11m wide.  Food for thought.

[Ferdinand]

You may get some good ideas by looking at a few episodes of Your House Made Perfect, which gets 2 architects to do designs on a project and presents them in a virtual studio.

 

One architect is normalish, and the other is nutter-ish, so it is a good balance. And the client gets heard for once.

 

I recall one or two good ones long, narrow places.

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

5 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

You may get some good ideas by looking at a few episodes of Your House Made Perfect, which gets 2 architects to do designs on a project and presents them in a virtual studio.

 

One architect is normalish, and the other is nutter-ish, so it is a good balance. And the client gets heard for once.

 

I recall one or two good ones long, narrow places.

 

 

Oi Ferd. I like the Northern Irish geezer. The other One is so predictable.

[ETC]

Norn Iron all the way!

[Indy]

1 hour ago, ETC said:

Thanks for the reply - I do like to do a sketch or two from time to time - keeps me from going stir crazy.

 

I have no doubt that your own designers will come up with a fabulous design but If you don’t mind I’d like to do a symmetrical version for you - just for fun - what’s the width of the site?

 

FYI - just watch the distances of your external walls from the boundary - the closer you are the less “unprotected area” (openable non-fire-rated windows and doors) you can have.

 

Here's an old version of the GF Plan which shows the measurements edge to edge - comes out to ~12m. I have it in my head from looking at the old deeds that the plot was 45ft at the front and then narrows to 35ft at the bottom of the garden. 

 

[Indy]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

You may get some good ideas by looking at a few episodes of Your House Made Perfect, which gets 2 architects to do designs on a project and presents them in a virtual studio.

 

One architect is normalish, and the other is nutter-ish, so it is a good balance. And the client gets heard for once.

 

I recall one or two good ones long, narrow places.

 

 

Thanks, good shout and I never say no to more house building/architectural pron content

 

[puntloos]

Allow me to be somewhat contrarian here and note that it all depends on what you want in your house. Sure, having a nice looking house on the outside is cool and all, and some features (such as the wrap around garden) can be a benefit, if you like gardens..

 

 

But ..  Guy ate lunch every day in the eifel tower so he didn't have to see the eifel tower.

 

I think function is over form here. You don't actually see the outside of your house. (the council who have to approve it do.. so there's that) But there's certainly also some improvements to be made in the 'filling' design

Edited October 9, 2021 by puntloos