Building our new home in Malvern
I was born and raised in Malvern and, after living away from the area for many years, I wanted to return with my husband, Andrew, to build a home and settle there.
The posts listed below describe the stage-by-stage building of, and our living in, our Passivhaus. There are many links in each which we hope will be of interest. There is also a link below to a podcast where we talk about our experiences.
For many, the most difficult step with a self-build home is finding a suitable building plot.
It took us a year to find the right site; success due more to persistence than luck. Getting the right plot is a key aspect of a self-build project; no matter how good the house design and build, it needs the right location if it is to fulfill ‘the dream’ home idea.
It’s also important to consider orientation: the main facade should, ideally, be generally south-facing. And consider what you want to see from the windows. We chose to build our house ‘upside down’, with our living area upstairs, to take advantage of the views.
The structural oak frame is only visible from inside: this is a view of it shortly before the erection of the structural insulation panels which would completely cover it
We site we found was a somewhat neglected part of a former fruit farm in Storridge, Malvern. We worked with the Hereford-based company Oakwrights, and builders Furber Young Developments Ltd, to build an oak-frame home to the Passivhaus Institut standard.
We also spent a lot of time clearing 10+ years’ of untamed brambles, self-sown saplings and full-height grass from the plum and pear orchards. Keeping this under control is now a much easier but necessary, and very enjoyable, job.
Looking north-east from the pear orchard to the Suckley Hills
Passive houses can be designed and built in many ways; we chose oak because we like the style, but you can also achieve the passive house standard with a variety of styles and ways of building. You can see some examples in our post Building a Passive House.
In the posts below, we describe the various stages of building our award-winning, Passivhaus Institut-certified oak-framed house. We hope this may be of interest whether you are planning to build a passive house, an oak frame home, or self-build in another style. And we’d be delighted to tell you more: just click here to arrange to experience the Passivhaus difference!
You can also listen to a podcast discussion between us and Tim Crump, the founder of Oakwrights, about building and living in an oak-frame passive house by clicking the button below.
Our Passive House Story
