The brief for this project was to provide a year-round building that could be used for a variety of purposes, from a guest bedroom to a peaceful summer lounge. The siting of the structure needed to take advantage of a different view to that of the main dwelling whilst maximising the available sunlight.
Access to the site was difficult and the garden ground was quite soft so it was decided to build the structure on concrete piles. A dozen holes were dug by hand until a level was reached that was hardpan. The bottom of the holes was compacted and then a 300mm base of concrete was poured into each. Once set the piers were then built up with dense concrete blocks and levelled to a tolerance of 5mm at the desired height. The floor sections were placed onto these piers and levelled to within 1mm across the entire width of the structure.
The outlook of the building was to take advantage of the afternoon and evening sun which meant that a deck was required to lounge on. In total the deck was 3m wide with steps added where appropriate to take into account the fall of the garden ground.
In total the build took just over 5 weeks to complete and has been used subsequently for bed and breakfast having had a shower room fitted retrospectively.
