IBLA are delighted to have won the 2017 'Self-build on a Shoestring' ideas competition. The competition is organised annually by the National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) and this year it challenged architects, designers and others to come up with creative ways of constructing a modest ‘granny flat’ that can be built for £40,000 or less. The brief also asked designers to show how 30 of the homes could be arranged to create an innovative retirement community. This year the competition saw entries from the across the UK, and international submissions from Denmark, Australia, the USA, China and Vietnam.
Our entry, 'The Apple Yard', arranged all the homes around the edge of the site, overlooking the central gardens and orchard. Each open plan home has a pyramid shaped roof and one wall that’s fully glazed, overlooking a private garden area.
The judges included three of the UK’s TV self-build celebrities – Piers Taylor, Charlie Luxton and George Clarke. RIBA self-build champion Luke Tozer is also one of the judges along with architectural writer Hugh Pearman, and Maria Brenton, the driving force behind OWCH – a unique community-led retirement community recently completed in Barnet, North London.
The judges said: “The individual homes are logically planned as one-bed flats; the private gardens are a nice touch allowing the option of privacy or communality. The design provides an incredibly cost-effective structure, and the open-plan layout makes excellent use of the space.”
NaCSBA Chair Michael Holmes said: “The ingenious construction system proposed by the winning submission offers incredible value for money, and the range of layout and specification options means the residents can really have a big say in the layout and finish of their homes.”
“In other parts of the world scores of retirement communities like this are being routinely commissioned by collectives of elderly residents, who want to mutually support each other in their old age, rather than be a burden on their families or the state. Wouldn’t it be great to see the same happening here?”
