FUTUREPROOFED NEW BUILD
Built in the garden of her listed cottage, Sally Robinson’s contemporary new detached house was studiously designed to be a fully accessible lifetime home
HOMEOWNER Sally Robinson
LOCATION Northamptonshire
PROJECT New build
HOUSE TYPE Detached, two-storey, five-bedroom house
SIZE 298m²
BUILD ROUTE Builder and subcontractors
BUILD TIME 20 months
BUILD COST £820,000
VALUE £1.35 million +
After Sally Robinson’s husband Paul was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2015, the couple were suddenly presented with new and enormous challenges, one of which was that their historic family home was highly unsuitable for someone who would inevitably become increasingly disabled. “As a listed 16th-century thatched cottage, with many different levels and narrow doorways, it simply wasn’t possible to make all the adaptations we needed,” says Sally
Although they were reluctant to move away from the Northamptonshire village where Paul had lived and farmed all his life, particularly at such a traumatic time, the Robinsons immediately began searching for a more accessible new home that would cater for Paul’s needs, but soon discovered there was nothing suitable available. Instead, the ambitious decision was taken to use part of their own cottage garden to build a state-ofthe-art, highly accessible and sustainable new house with the input of MND specialists.
A FAMILY COLLABORATION
“Fortunately, my eldest son Duncan is an architect, and he began designing the house for us when the whole family went away on holiday shortly after Paul received his diagnosis,” recalls Sally, who has three other adult children. “We all sat around – each of us putting forward our own ideas for the new house –and Duncan then came up with adesign that met all our needs. My preference is for straight lines and plenty of glass, so the new house is far more my style.”
Long views through the interior into the garden and to farmland beyond were planned as a way of visually connecting each of the rooms with the outdoors and nature, whether occupants are standing, sitting or lying down —obviously an important consideration for Paul.
AN EPIC PLANNING BATTLE
Sitting within aconservation area, on the edge of arural village and beside alisted thatched cottage, the garden plot is also behind aGrade II*-listed medieval church, making the planning application aparticularly tricky process.
“The T-shaped footprint for the new house was inspired by the village’s historic pattern of development, made up of tightly clustered barns,” explains Duncan, whose practice,
