Premier Construction

Dale House Derbyshire

Dale House
Written by Roma Publications

Dale House

In an elevated position overlooking a golf course to the west and the Derbyshire hills to the east, this house was designed predominantly for the views, and it has recently been nominated for the ‘Best Individual New Home’ in The LABC Building Excellence Awards, 2020.’

The brief was to create a family home for a couple, with sometimes absent adult children who would be able to enjoy the whole of the house, as a single space, but with each area defined by its own aspect and vantage point.  Each room has enormous windows, framing vistas of the hills or fairways, and the house itself is built to appear as a continuation of the rough stone wall that leads up from the main road, becoming the smooth ashlar front facade of the house.

The rear of the property overlooks the golf course and is predominantly glass and stone, to give an open, but visually protected feeling to all the private spaces to the back. The ground floor is generally open plan with the family living space of four main areas such as the garden room, kitchen, dining area and snug, all within the same space but characterised individually using different ceiling heights, curved glazing and a fireplace to define them. This allows flowing views to match those out to the garden.

Tsiantar Architects faced several challenges on-site. These ranged from the topography of

the land and the siting of the building, to the structural design and the corner-less structural support of the large feature windows which allows the spectacular view across the golf course and beyond to the rear and the Peak District National Park to the front, to be enjoyed.

Another obstacle was the number of steel posts required and cantilevering beams, to allow for the corner-less opening windows/ doors for uninterrupted views of the landscape from the main rooms.

The main issue with this steel and its position within the structure was cold bridging. The architects therefore carefully designed and provided working site details for both the builder and building control to ensure the steelwork was insulated adequately to prevent cold spots and potential damp problems.

One particular tricky detail was the clients wish for a first-floor decking area accessed from their master bedroom. Whilst at first glance, this appears a straightforward request, but the architects  had to deal with the  issues of the structure, and how to stop water from building up within the structure and causing long term water damage.

The architects therefore cleverly designed the structure to be boarded not only on the top but also on the soffit in composite cladding, thus allowing the water to pass through the structure in the event of a heavy downpour or storm. These boards were carefully installed on composite floor joists within a steel frame, also protected with a bitumen coating. The overall design ensures this structure needs no maintenance associated with decking, looks visually stunning and is very much a bespoke designed element of the building.

Tsiantar believe having overcome these challenges, whilst still achieving a low carbon home which exceeds building regulations compliance and will deliver long term built-in carbon savings, is a major achievement for all parties involved.

Tsiantar Architects  commented: “The client’s original requirements and wishes for their new home have been achieved on budget and without the need for value engineering during the construction. With careful collaboration with the other appointed designers, appointed contractor and building control, we have been able to replicate our original sketch concept into a completed stunning home for our client. Based on its internal layout with flowing large open plan spaces with a stunning external facade, Dale House would be hard to beat in most people’s eyes. This coupled with its super energy-efficient heating and hot water systems to achieve a low carbon home in the top 1% of the housing in the UK, choosing Dale House is a no brainer.

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Roma Publications