The 1930s derelict water works Chris and Leanne fell in love with was huge and its design had clearly been inspired by Gilbert Scott's Bankside power station, now better known as the Tate Modern. But nothing would deter the couple. 'We looked at it,' said Chris, 'and saw our home.'
Budget And Build
Cost of building & land: £40,000
Budget for build: £105,000
Final cost of build: £110,000
Total cost of project: £150,000
Estimated value of finished house: £350,000
It was just as well that Chris and Leanne were mad about the place, because purchasing it was horribly complicated. The building, which stood in four acres of land, was subject to several leases and a covenant. It took two years to buy (for £40,000) and another year to get planning permission.
They designed the conversion themselves, opting to keep the main space as a vast, double-height - over 20 feet (six metres) - living area, with one end subdivided to make four bedrooms. Two existing storerooms would become bathrooms, and further partitions would create a large kitchen and a study - Chris and Leanne run a mail-order record company, so they needed a dedicated work area at home. Twenty-nine tall windows, long since bricked up, would be reinstated to march right round the building.
The build started in November, and they hoped to move in the following June. The budget was strictly limited so Leanne managed the project and finances, while Chris did much of the physical work in his spare time. His first, mammoth, task was to take off the rotting plaster from the interior. Meanwhile, roofing experts came to seal the flat roof with a thick rubber membrane - a job that was held up by freezing temperatures stopping the glue setting.
Once the plaster was off the interior walls and ceiling, Chris and Leanne hired specialists to sandblast the exposed bricks, which turned a gratifyingly rich orange-red. They also discovered marble terrazzo tiles on the lower walls, as well as oak joinery. The build now gathered pace and became extremely complicated, with hundreds of individual tasks competing for attention.
They chose to spend money on materials that would match the existing building. When they closed up a huge double doorway, they had 800 bricks specially made to match the originals. And Chris sold his classic Jaguar to pay for the steel-framed windows - made to the original design, but in a double-glazed and insulated version.
The result was a loving restoration of the industrial building that created a huge, loft-like space, alive with light. An unavoidable delay set them back two months, so they used the time to lay all the wood floors themselves. This saved them enough money to buy high-quality kitchen and bathroom fittings. Their finished home (four months late and just £5,000 over budget) is an unusual combination of industrial architecture and domestic comfort.
Leanne and Chris score well on sustainability by converting an existing building, and reusing so many materials.
They have also chosen under-floor heating, added roof insulation and fitted high-performance double-glazed windows - all of which help to insulate the building. But then, they need all the insulation they can get, because this is a vast space for two people to inhabit, and bound to require high fuel consumption to keep it warm. And quite a lot of concrete has been used in the floors and walls, which means that the build will have caused yet more carbon dioxide to be pumped into the atmosphere.
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