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arren Rayner had longed to create his own unique
home since he was 21. “I used to read Build It each
month and kept back issues for years – in the end I had
piles of magazines that I used for reference,” he says. “A
career in catering allowed me to work shifts and I tackled a few
refurbishment projects in my spare time, but until recently I had
never built a new house from scratch.”
As Darren’s career progressed he became a shareholder in a
sandwich business in North Yorkshire, where he and his wife Jane
lived for several years with their three sons – Charlie, Jack and Oli.
The opportunity to purchase a cottage on an amazing plot near
Pangbourne in Berkshire led them to relocate – they were enticed by
incredible views from the elevated site. In an area of outstanding
natural beauty, the lightly wooded 1.7 acre plot enjoys panoramic
views across the Thames Valley and the Chilterns. “I went to have a
look at the cottage and was blown away by the setting,” says Darren,
who first spotted the property on the internet. “When I called Jane
to tell her about the location she immediately told me to buy it –
even before seeing it herself. We didn’t bother viewing any other
plots because this one was just so perfect.”
The couple purchased the small three-bedroom cottage in August
2004 for £590,000, and initially spoke to the council about the
possibility of extending the 250m2 building to create a five-bedroom
family house. “Planning was a nightmare, even though we had the
support of our local councillor,” says Jane. “After much consultation
we were advised that we would be better off applying to build a
replacement house. We realised that not only would we end up with
exactly the home we wanted but it would also be exempt from VAT,
which made good financial sense.”
Focus on design
Natural
BEauTY
Darren and Jane Rayner have built a stunning oakframe house on a wooded site overlooking the Chilterns
Words DEBBIE JEFFERy Photos oakwrights
Build It July 2014
Darren and Jane approached a specialist oak framing company and
met with one of the designers for a four-hour consultation about
their requirements. “We’ve always loved Tudor-style houses, and the
idea of living in an oak-framed building that looks old but has all the
latest home comforts was appealing,” says Darren. “The team at
Oakwrights understood what we wanted straight away, and the
design was forwarded to us within weeks.”
All the bedrooms have vaulted ceilings, therefore no roof void, so
storage was a concern. The couple made the decision to create a
partial basement level, accessed by an internal staircase, which
would contain a garage, laundry/plant room, storeroom and a
general purpose space. “There were a few minor tweaks made to the
www.self-build.co.uk
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‘‘
THE RAYNER FILE
After so many
years dreaming
about building
a house we have
finally achieved
our goal, and
the end result is
far better than
anything we could
have imagined
’’
plans and then it was time to approach West Berkshire council
again. Our design was initially rejected, so we decided to go to
committee,” says Darren, who stood up to speak at the meeting.
“With the aid of our councillor, the application was finally passed,
but we were very glad when this stage of the process was over.”
The couple and their sons then needed to find somewhere else to
live while their new home was built and, after dismissing the
possibility of life in a caravan, they
purchased a small run-down property two
miles away from their site. Darren gave up
work for eight months while he renovated
this stop-gap home and the Rayners moved
in during the summer of 2006.
Meanwhile, on the nearby self build, the
demolition work was completed by that
Christmas – the old cottage was a pile of
bricks and hardcore that would later be
reused in the new house. “At this point we
invited an estate agent to appraise the plot,
to establish whether we were doing the right
thing by building on it,” says Jane. “He valued
the land at around £1,000,000 and we were
so stunned by this figure that we
immediately decided to sell the land. We
even found a buyer, but then a conversation
with a builder friend changed our minds
and we chose to carry on with the project
as planned, which was the best decision
we could have made.”
Build It July 2014
Names Darren & Jane Rayner
OCCUPATIONS The couple own a
Fairtrade coffee wholesale company
Location Lower Basildon, Berkshire
Type of build New build
STYLE Tudor
construction method
Oak frame
Plot size 1.7 acres
LAND COST (with existing
cottage) £590,000
house size 469m² (5,048ft²)
build cost £754,000
cost per m2 £1,608 (£149 per ft²)
total cost
£1,344,000
vat reclaim £35,000
building work commenced
May 2007
current value
£2,700,000 +
In the kitchen, handpainted cabinets
in cream and soft
green contrast with
the highly polished
black granite worktop
In the spring of 2007, a friend asked Darren to lend a hand with
his failing coffee business. “I helped out until May, which was when
we started to dig the foundations for our new house,” Darren says.
“It was at this time that we also decided to buy into the coffee
business, which meant that we now had a struggling company
and a self build to undertake at the same time. With an enormous
amount of help from Jane, I spent weekdays on the project and
weekends and evenings working on the
company. This continued for two years and
they were the hardest two years I have ever
worked. Not only did we manage to build
the main structure of the house but we also
turned the company around. It was very
slow but so fulfilling.”
Making the basement
Around 2,000 tons of soil needed to be
excavated on the Rayners’ site to
accommodate the foundations and basement
level – a process that took two weeks in all to
complete. Darren again got hands-on, driving
a dumper truck while his friend operated the
JCB. A reinforced concrete raft slab was then
constructed, and the walls of the basement
were reinforced with steel both horizontally
and vertically, as well as being tanked with
bitumen. Additional steel beams and pillars
were incorporated, and a beam and block
floor was erected on to this structure.
“Once all the drainage had been completed we used the hardcore
from the original cottage to back-fill around the basement,” says
Darren. “The next layer of brick and blockwork needed to be
absolutely exact as this was the base on which Oakwrights would be
erecting our frame. Any mistakes could mean that it would not fit
once it reached the site.”
In December 2007 the oak frame – made from around a hundred
trees – was delivered from Hereford, and took five weeks to
assemble using a crane. Darren worked alongside the team of five
experienced Oakwrights carpenters, which he found to be the high
point of the whole project. A topping-out ceremony was performed
when the final piece of oak was placed on the building.
The open-plan kitchen
is big enough for an
additional seating area.
Large-format tiles have
been laid over
underfloor heating
“I love the impressive beams and vaulted ceilings, which somehow
still manage to create a cosy, homely feel,” says Darren.
The roof structure was battened out and a mixed blend of heritage
clay tiles was selected to create an instantly aged appearance. Darren
had pre-ordered the leaded-light windows, which were a condition of
the planning permission; they were expertly fitted by a local company.
Inside the house, the walls were built and plastered, floors were tiled
and the bathrooms and kitchen installed.
Building a basement drastically increased the internal space of the
Rayners’ new home without visually impacting on the sensitive site.
The shell of this subterranean level cost around £60,000 to build
(without internal fit-out) and contains a large garage, plant room,
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A structural beam in the
master bedroom shows
the traditional pegs that
hold the frame together.
The oak beams have
been left untreated
cinema/playroom/gym, a cloakroom and hallway – freeing up space
in the rest of the house and enabling all bedrooms to have vaulted
ceilings, despite the loss of attic space. The well insulated tanked
concrete and steel structure remains at a relatively constant
temperature year-round, making it highly thermally efficient, and
additional light is brought into the space through panels of
structural glass set into the ground floor above.
The Rayners project managed the entire build themselves and
were involved at every stage. Darren worked closely with the various
trades and learnt the art of laying bricks, in addition to plumbing
and first-fix electrics. “The workforce was mainly made up of people
I had employed for previous renovation projects, which made the
whole process great fun,” he says. “I tried to remain very flexible and
didn’t impose strict deadlines, and in fact the trades respected this
and all worked really hard. We’ve definitely forged some good
friendships during the project.”
Selling up, moving in
The staircases, oak
doors and joinery were
made by a local
carpenter, perfectly
complementing the
exposed beams
Build It July 2014
The Rayners chose to take out an NHBC warranty, and say they
found the inspector extremely helpful, and a valuable source of
advice throughout the project. In summer 2010, Darren and Jane
sold at a profit the cottage they had renovated and moved into
their new home – releasing funds that they could then use to
complete the interiors over the ensuing 18 months.
“We were very naive about the budget, and originally thought that
the build would cost in the region of £590,000, but the figure just
kept growing along with our specification,” says Jane. “We sold our
sandwich company to help finance the build and had no choice but
to do as much of the work as possible ourselves.”
Despite keeping a close eye on costs the couple were determined
not to cut corners on any of the technology they wanted to include,
such as the LED lighting, a built-in vacuum system and groundsource heat pump. A heat recovery and ventilation system was also
installed, which enabled the Rayners to do away with unsightly
trickle vents in the windows, while still meeting Building Regs.
The quality of workmanship throughout the new house is of the
highest standard, and the whole family thoroughly enjoyed the self
build process. “We had such great fun and many, many laughs,” says
Darren. “When I look back at what we have accomplished I still can’t
believe it. In fact, I miss working in a team so much that I will
definitely do it all again at some point. After so many years dreaming
about building a house we have finally achieved our goal, and the
end result is far better than anything we could have imagined.”
we learned...
accept that some parts of the build
might not work out quite as you’d hope.
It’s about learning to compromise, and
quickly finding a suitable alternative in
order to keep on track.
working alongside every trade not
only saved us money but meant we were
fully involved in the entire process and
could take advice from the professionals.
installing a central vacuum was a
great idea – it makes very little noise, is
lightweight to operate and the dirt is
collected in a unit housed in our garage,
which means the air in the house is
cleaner and healthier.
we specified ‘warm white’ LEDs
instead of the more cold and clinical
conventional versions. We think they give
off a far more pleasant light.
www.self-build.co.uk
40
readers’ homes
closer look
Renewable energy…
The Rayners’ planning permission stipulated that they couldn’t
continue to use oil for their heating, as the original cottage on the site
had done. This prompted them to look at renewable energy options,
and they eventually chose a ground source heat pump (GSHP) from
Ice Energy. Their back garden was dug up to lay three beds of pipes, in
Bu ried p ipe w
o rk
trenches 2.5m wide x 18m long. All the pipework leads to a manifold,
which is connected to the heat-pump exchanger. The pipes were
covered with a layer of sand and then soil, with the work taking just three days to
complete. Inside, instead of radiators Nu-Heat’s underfloor system was installed on all three levels.
The setup serves the Rayners’ heating and hot water requirements, and for every 1kW of electricity
used to run the GSHP, more than 4kW of useful warmth can be generated.
Total build cost breakdown
Floor plans
Elements
Ground floor
First floor
Cost m2 Cost %
<1%
Total cost
Demolition of old house
£10
Preliminaries
£302% £14,000
Foundations & basement
£128
8%
£60,000
External walls & windows
£767
48%
£360,000
Roof structure, covering
& gutters
£83
5%
£39,000
Internal walls, stone
£70
4%
£33,000
Floor, wall & ceiling finishes
£57
4%
£27,000
Joinery & fitting
£83
5%
£39,000
Plumbing, heating
& bathrooms
£126
8%
£59,000
Kitchen
£755% £35,000
Electrics
£533% £25,000
Decorating
£6
<1%£3,000
Insurance, NHBC warranty
£10
<1%
£5,000
External works
£106
6%
£50,000
Grand total
£5,000
£754,000
Useful contacts
House plans re-created using ARCON 3D Home Design
Software. www.3darchitect.co.uk
Tel: 01252 267788 Email: [email protected]
Build It July 2014
DESIGN, PLANNING & OAK FRAME Oakwrights 01432 353353
www.oakwrights.co.uk WINDOWS Mike Honour Windows 01386
701079 www.mikehonourwindows.co.uk LIGHTING DESIGN Lewis Electrical
01488 648658 www.lewiselectrical.net HEAT PUMP Ice Energy 0808 145 2340
www.iceenergy.co.uk BUILDING MATERIALS, BRICKS, STONE Buildbase
0118 932 3700 www.buildbase.co.uk HERITAGE HANDMADE CLAY ROOF
TILES Tudor Roof Tile Co 01797 320202 www.tudorrooftiles.co.uk KITCHEN
Thomas & Thomas 01235 851144 www.thomasthomas.net BATHROOMS
Concept Virtual Design Partnership 01628 777122 www.conceptvirtualdesign.
com WARRANTY NHBC 0844 633 1000 www.nhbc.co.uk SITE INSURANCE
Self-Builder 0800 018 7660 www.self-builder.com UNDERFLOOR HEATING
Nu-Heat 0800 731 1976 www.nu-heat.co.uk SANITARYWARE Villeroy &
Boch www.villeroy-boch.co.uk OFFICE FURNITURE Neville Johnson 0161
873 8333 www.nevillejohnson.co.uk