When Alan Robertson found his dreams of building a modern home in central
Edinburgh thwarted, he did the next best thing by falling back on a pre-existing
plan. The result is the architect-designed Murrayfield villa, winner of the
luxury house of the year award at April’s Scottish Home Awards.
Robertson, a commercial surveyor, had been looking for years for a suitable
site that would allow him to follow the typical Edinburgh housing ladder
progression from Trinity to Murrayfield. But with all avenues seemingly
exhausted, he was about to reconsider his plans when he happened on a
newspaper advertisement for a site with some potential.
Already owned by a developer, the site in Henderland Road was a Victorian
garden plot, in the grounds of a Category B villa, that had never been
developed. And having taken things relatively far down the line, the owner
had then decided to sell with planning consent for a three-storey,
four-bedroom villa in place, rather than complete the scheme himself.
That decision introduced Robertson and his wife, Susan, to the developers’
chosen architects, Zone, the Saltire award-winning practice, and, in a
decision worthy of Victor Kiam (who claimed in advertisements that he liked
Remington razors so much he “bought the company”), they liked what they saw
to such an extent that they decided to buy into it, lock, stock and barrel.
Robertson says: “The original owners got cold feet and they just wanted to
extract the value of the land from the deal. We saw the plot on a Thursday
and by the next Tuesday it was ours.”
The first decision the surveyor faced was whether to redesign the scheme or
follow Zone’s existing plan. He says: “The accommodation and contemporary
look of the house was something we were all agreed upon from the outset.
That, and the fact that we didn’t want a fake Victorian house. We’ve made
cosmetic changes, specifically to the interior, but the materials, massing
and building line are straight from Zone’s original plan.”
Having lived in a Victorian semi in Trinity, the couple were adamant that
their home should reflect how they live now. “Out went the seldom-used formal
dining room. In came a generous open-plan kitchen and family spaces.”
A sliding timber partition opens on to a patio that makes sense of a
south-facing aspect also enjoyed by a balcony off the master bedroom.
Zone, meanwhile, in keeping with its reputation for sensitive, contextual but
contemporary work, envisaged “a new sandstone villa which aims to be at
least as good as its Victorian neighbours but with a contemporary character”.
David Jamieson, the architect, says: “The fact that the site had always been a
plot intended for development greatly helped our cause with the planners.
“The house is a 3,400-sq-ft stone villa that should look just as good in
years to come as it does now — like the Victorian homes already in the
street.
“It is a stone-clad, timber-framed house with lots of glass. It is also a very
green house with solar water heating and a zinc roof that requires no
maintenance. In every way we have created a family home that is easy to live
in and easy to look after. We actually think it is a fairly conservative
solution. An updated version of a classic Victorian villa, if you like.”
Having completed building in December 2006, Robertson believes he was in the
right place at the right time. “Edinburgh’s planners have only recently
begun to look favourably on contemporary projects like this one, and in
another respect we were lucky, too. Since the house was completed two years
ago, building costs have gone up by 20%, and the credit crunch has made
everything in the market just that little bit more uncertain. However, there
is obviously a lot of reassurance that comes from building in this in-demand
location.”
Another big boon was Robertson’s experience as a surveyor and as
director of Jones Lang LaSall, a property-services firm. “I am obviously
used to reading architectural plans and envisaging space,” he says.
For instance, raising a ceiling height by 1ft wouldn’t mean much to most
people, but in terms of the impact it has made within the house it has
proved to be a great decision.
Robertson believes his experience helped shape three key areas — the overall
design, the details and the work of the project manager, and he says that in
Jamieson he found an architect with a similar grasp of both the small and
big picture.
Almost unprecedented for a prize-winning home, Murrayfield Villa came in on
budget and was only two weeks late (after a 40-week build-up to December
2006).
The surveyor says a one-off house like this would probably cost about £700,000
just for the property. The purchase of the land could easily take the bill
over the £1m mark, but at the end of it you should have a house worth £1.5m.
For things to run smoothly, Robertson says, just as much effort should be put
into the planning — and attaining the planning permission — as into the
construction phase itself. “We were asked to specify everything down to
detailed finishes five months in advance. That process was driven by the
architect and it paid dividends once we got on site.”
Research, planning and gaining permission probably took the same time as
building the house itself, but it is much cheaper and much less
time-consuming, he says, to try to pre-empt problems in advance than address
problems afterwards.
This means clients have to be clear exactly what they want from the finished
home.
Robertson says: “Where projects hit snags is when things haven’t been fully
specified in advance or when clients change their minds — because every
change costs money and time.”
If he could give any would-be self-builder one piece of advice, he would
encourage them to pay for a good project-manager.
“They will make sure your tradesmen work together and on time, they will keep
on top of your building contractors and they will keep a consistent standard
of quality control on all finishes and specified work.”
Robertson says that in terms of budget, a prospective self-builder should
consider that a third of their total outgoings will be on land — and,
obviously, the better the location, the more market-viable the project will
be. They should also build in a 10% margin to reflect a return commensurate
with the time and effort of building their home.
The Scottish Home Awards were launched to highlight excellence in
house-building, and are intended to become an annual event.
However, despite having wowed the judges, Robertson’s villa has proved too
much for some residents. “I’ve not had any comments to my face, but people
have said to my wife that it looks awful and that they can’t stand modern
architecture. Most grudgingly admit, though, that it does sit surprisingly
well within the streetscape.
“As for my own experience, I can usually tell if passers-by like the house by
the way they shake their heads when I am looking out the window.”
Zone Architects, 0131 551 1973, www.zonearchitects.co.uk
