Munstead Water Tower stands on top of a hill four miles south west of Guildford. Brick-built and 130ft high, it was erected in 1898 to supply water to the surrounding houses in Munstead and neighbouring villages and was in use for approximately 70 years.
The Water Tower had been out of use for nearly twenty years by the time that it was bought at auction by me (Elspeth Beard) in 1989. The only residents were a large colony of squatting birds whose droppings were several feet deep in the base of the tower.
The building works took seven years to complete. The first task was to remove all the redundant pipe work and the steel tank and start the repair works to the brickwork and roof. The brickwork repairs alone took nine months. By the time the new steel windows were fitted and the roof completed, it had taken two and a half years to achieve a waterproof shell.
Allowing this beautiful old water tower to be converted into a residence has assured its future and provided an appropriate alternative use. The water tower is still my own home. more information and pictures
The Threshing Barn is a Grade II listed Victorian barn, converted into a four-bedroom residence and featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs in March 2003 and on the cover of the first Grand Designs magazine.
After planning had been approved EBA became involved to produce the detail design and become the project architect. The project involved the restoration and up-grading of the existing building fabric of the barn and stables and at the same time the conversion of the buildings into a new residence. more information and pictures
Chalk Hill
The site occupies a hillside location in Guildford with panoramic views over the Wey valley and Guildford. The new building sits low and ‘dissolves’ into this magnificent setting. It is a series of single storey white boxes connected and punctuated with expanses of glass. Its influence is understated, and subliminal. Every space inside is visually connected to the outside; one is always aware of nature. Light floods the living spaces and flows through it as if the building was barely there. There is warmth, and stillness. The architecture is simple yet painstakingly uncompromising. The building remains comfortably cool in the summer and in winter the strategic glazing draws upon passive solar gains which provide for a balanced and a sustainable building. more information and pictures
Wishanger Lodge
My clients Barbara and Karen bought Wishanger in 2003 when it was little more than a cluster of semi-derelict buildings that had served as stables to the recently divided Wishanger Estate.
The mother and daughter team had almost given up hope of finding a property in the South of England within their price range which could accommodate themselves, Karen's three daughters and their horses. more information and pictures
King's Arms Mews
The site is located in Godalming town centre, just off the High Street in a small mews which was originally part of the King's Arms Hotel. The mews building formed part of the stables which opened onto a courtyard to the rear of the hotel.
The hotel and mews buildings were constructed in the mid-18th Century and later added to in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The mews building is Grade II listed and is situated within the town's Conservation Area. more information and pictures
Burnham High Lighthouse was constructed in 1830 for Trinity House and is approximately 30 metres (100 feet) high. It is a Grade II listed building, which we have recently converted into a three-bedroom house. The accommodation is arranged over eight floors. Uppermost is a top floor lantern room with a viewing platform on the seaward side. The kitchen and living spaces are situated on the floors directly below this. The bedrooms are on the first, second and third floors and finally the reception room is on the ground floor. Since the building tapers as it gets higher, the rooms at the top have been linked together by the removal of some of the floors. A new, lightweight suspended floor was utilised to accommodate the kitchen. Stairs have had to be installed replacing the original vertical steel ladder.
The owners of the lighthouse now rent it out as a holiday let and can be contacted via their web site at www.lighthouseholiday.com
Cockleshell Cottage is detached and located within a row of houses situated on The Ridge, a private track close to the sea at Winchelsea Beach near Rye, Sussex. All of the houses are set back 200 meters from the sea and separated from it by fields and a high bund or embankment at the back of the shingle beach to prevent flooding. The existing property consisted of a small two bedroom bungalow constructed in the 1950s.
The client’s brief was simple: to convert a bungalow into a family house and to provide panoramic views of the sea. The existing roof was stripped off and a new first floor constructed with a new extension at the rear. It was important to the client that the first floor bedroom should have panoramic views of the sea, a section of the roof was cut back to form a terrace. more information and pictures
This project involved the conversion of an existing church into a single residential dwelling. The Cranleigh Evangelical Free Church is situated in Cranleigh, Surrey and existed as a place of worship from 1918 till the end of the century and was finally closed down in November 2000. The site and building posed serious challenges for any potential purchaser as the site is small and there were planning restrictions imposed by the local council. The church was finally purchased by the current owners in June 2005 and the lengthy design and planning process started. The existing building consisted of a large open hall at the front with a single storey element at the rear. The bedroom accommodation was located on a new first floor and comprised four bedrooms with a family bathroom which was accessed off a new gallery open to the main living space below. more information and pictures
Worthing Dome is a Grade II* listed Edwardian cinema in Worthing, currently being refurbished, with the work due for completion in Autumn 2006. The building is a rare surviving example of an Edwardian 'kursaal'. Literally a 'Cure-hall' in German, the term kursaal was adopted by the British in the 1880s to refer to a building used by visitors at a health resort or watering place and became associated with fashionable leisure centres in a seaside or spa town. Kursaals offered many forms of entertainment under one roof. more information and pictures
The existing building consisted of the original farmhouse and barn which were constructed in the early 19th century. The barn had previously been converted with a link added to connect it to the original farmhouse. There had also been a series of extensions and additions to the property resulting in a number of self-contained flats. The new owners were keen to return the property to being a family home with the removal of many of the kitchens and bathrooms which had been added over the years. more information and pictures
The site is approximately 2.5 acres and is situated in Bosham, Nr Chichester. There was an existing dwelling on the site which was constructed some time in the 1960s but it was in very poor condition and had suffered from subsidence due to the wet ground conditions.
The clients wished to build a new replacement dwelling and had a very clear idea of the type and design of house they wanted. They had decided on a green English Oak framed house which was supplied and erected by Carpenter Oak and Woodland Co. Ltd. It was important that the new house had a very contemporary feel with large open spaces. Stainless steel tie rods and bolts were used in the construction of the timber frame to provide a more contemporary interior. The new dwelling is a simple gable-ended form clad in timber weatherboarding with a natural brick and flint plinth.
Construction started in February 2007 and was completed ten months later. more information and pictures
