House Plan: Striking Contemporary Self-Build on a Garden Site

When a friend approached them with an offer of a garden plot for sale, John and Judith Turner seized the opportunity to fulfil a long-held dream of self-building their own home.

Having only ever lived in period properties, the couple’s new home, with its contemporary design, flat roof, swathes of glazing and timber cladding was a very different prospect.

The completed two-storey house is broadly rectangular, with the entrance at the north accessed from the road, alongside the bottom of the old garden. A double-storey glazed porch is at half-landing level, linked by a stairwell that leads up to the bedrooms and down to an enclosed hallway.

All the main living space is at the rear of the property, facing south, and the amount of natural light this gives was a huge draw for the Turners.