Devonshire Feb 16

An old reservoir and a married couple!
The story of how an old water reservoir made way for a spacious, low energy home
The dream house - coming along nicely
Russ and Emma
Bob the Builder territory here
M
aybe it’s not so unusual
these days to find a
former service manager
for Porsche and a performing arts
teacher willing to give up their jobs
in order to build a house, but for
Russell and Emma this was no dream;
they set out with determination to
achieve a build, not only spacious but
inexpensive as well as economical to
run. Oh - and to build it themselves!
This house had to have decent sized
rooms that would be light and warm
with a system that slashed those
soaring energy bills.
“So often you find people living in, say,
the kitchen and having to heat the
whole house to stay warm, paying
maybe £200 a month on energy
bills - it just doesn’t make sense”
The only piece of affordable land
they could find was an old water
reservoir, one of a few that used
to supply houses in Sidmouth. In
use between 1933‒1968 the water
tank itself is 22 meters square and
2.5 meters deep, situated at the top
of a hill within a tree protected area.
“We decided to incorporate the tank
into the design rather than build
on the lid or fill the whole thing in,
it seemed such a waste of space
otherwise.”
In order to maximise light in the
house and sunshine in the garden
the building was to be pushed up
against the very back of the tank,
making it South facing; the South
West facing side of the roof being
perfect for solar panels.
The oak cruck frame being erected
to form the main living area/kitchen
Russell and Emma worked with a
local architect to complete their
ideas, deciding to keep the main
living area at ground level with a
lower ground floor of equal size plus
another living space at mezzanine
level. Nestling the building within
the original walls of the tank meant
extra protection and warmth from
winter winds.
Russ and Em needed a system
for building walls that was super
insulative, avoided any brick laying
and less expensive than any timber
frame set-up with all the extra costs
of membranes and layers inside
the walls.
Extensive research led them to a
local specialist for Insulated Concrete
Forms. Polarwall is based in Exeter
"and was by far the best option for
us because we were able to cut the
blocks to any size we needed, rather
than be dictated to by the modular
blocks that are produced by other
companies".
Using the plastic rails, polystyrene
blocks and metal rebar Em and
Russ reached the first concrete
pour in under six weeks. The walls
were then braced with metal bars
and the concrete trucks arrived.
Using a boom pump they poured
systematically around the building
down between the polystyrene and
rebar to create the walls.
“We had 3 concrete pours in all, 4
trucks each time, that’s a lot of
concrete! At the end of every pour
there is a huge sense of achievement,
the building is extremely solid with
incredibly warm insulation inside
and out. We would often stand
against the polystyrene walls in
the sunshine and feel the immense
heat being reflected back into our
bodies, how cosy this building was
going to be”
Once the walls were to full height
and the first floor in place, the green
oak frame could be erected.
“ the oak cruck frame is the beautiful
bit you want to live in; the Polarwall
is the amazingly practical bit you
build with that keeps you warm
The only piece of
affordable land they
could find was an old
water reservoir, one
of a few that used
to supply houses in
Sidmouth
and the house airtight.”
One of the aims of this build was to
keep the energy costs to a minimum,
“not just to save the planet but to
save our pocket” says Russ. Again,
after exhaustive research, the couple
found the best method for heating
this building and providing hot water
turned out to be a state of the art air
source heat pump along with under-
64 Countryside, History, Walks, the Arts, Events & all things Devon at: DEVONSHIRE magazine.co.uk