Residential

Riverside Family Residence

A contemporary four-bedroom home on a riverside plot, designed around flood resilience and passive solar gain.

A new four-bedroom home on a Flood Zone 2 riverside plot, where the finished floor level had to sit 600mm above the modelled flood level without the house reading as though it were on stilts.

We resolved this by combining a raised beam-and-block floor with a terraced approach to the garden, so the level change is absorbed into the landscaping rather than the elevation.

The building envelope was detailed for airtightness from the outset, with an MVHR system and air source heat pump serving underfloor heating throughout.

The Challenge

A Flood Zone 2 plot requiring a raised finished floor level and flood-resilient construction below 900mm, combined with a planning condition limiting ridge height.

Our Solution

A raised beam-and-block ground floor with closed-cell insulation and cementitious board below the flood line, terraced landscaping to disguise the level change, and a shallow-pitch roof profile to stay within the ridge height condition.

The Outcome

Signed off first time by building control and the Environment Agency. The house runs at an estimated £480 per year in heating costs, verified against the first full winter of occupation.