The Bale House Hastings
The Bale House - Straw bale community hub at Hastings Country Park
Cave was appointed by Hastings Borough Council to work with Groundwork South, the council, and the community on a new sustainable, straw bale community hub in Hastings Country Park, SSSI Nature Reserve.
The Bale House - A Place for People
The Bale House is a load bearing straw bale community hub using natural, recycled and local materials, and crafts. Inclusivity is at the heart of the design and the project has involved the community from its inception. It provides a space for education, healthy living, the arts, and somewhere to relax and drink tea. The Bale House is a public project that has been built by a small group of artisan builders. The building is managed by a charity that works closely with volunteers on its development and ongoing delivery.
The new centre will provide information to visitors about this unique part of the High Weald Sussex coastline; it’s geology, flora, fauna, and local history. It was designed to blend into the beautiful natural surroundings of the park and be as sustainable as possible. Cave used locally sourced materials and craftspeople where possible and engaged several local artists.
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The majority of the timber used was UK grown Douglas Fir and a small amount of UK Larch. Lime was used for the external render and internal plaster. Breathable lime based paints were used to improve durability. The limecrete floor slab sits on a recycled glass aggregate insulating sub-base and the surrounding masonry plinth is made from 100% recycled concrete/furnace ash. The straw bales came from a farm in Essex that specialises in producing dense construction bales.
You can visit The Bale House in the beautiful Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve. It’s worth a trip - if only for the cake!
Timber Frame Extension & Refurbishment
Extensive works to an existing characterful bungalow in a secluded location, to create a flexible 4-5 bedroom property with generous living areas for the rental market.
Cave transformed this small 1950s bungalow into a spacious family home. Chalet style details meet modern glazing and contemporary finishes to create a unique design. The panoramic picture windows flood the property with natural light and link the interior to the garden. A Glulam timber frame, breathable walls, and wood fibre insulation were some of the project’s sustainable key features.
New Build Sustainable Prefabricated House
Sustainable prefabricated new build house in flood zone 3
This project is on an island in the Thames that regularly floods. The brief was to demolish the existing bungalow and replace it with a new sustainable home with improved levels of insulation and efficiency. The clients also wanted an extra bedroom, improved river views, and open, spacious living quarters.
This whole project was centred around sustainability, raising the building above flood levels, and efficient use of space - all of which was achieved on a very tight budget. Cave re-sited the bungalow to allow for more passive solar gain from the south. The building has full-fill wood fibre insulation for warmth in the winter and living roofs front and back to keep it cool in the summer. The living roofs also encourage riverside flora and fauna by adding new habitat to the site.
The living spaces have a beautiful flow from the large double-height dining space with adjacent kitchen to the sunken lounge and then the sheltered deck area overlooking the river. The efficient design allowed for an additional bedroom and en-suite. The mezzanine provides flood refuge and a home office with amazing views of the river, housed within a central pitched roof. Once designed, the drawings were sent to a company called Dores who prefabricated the building in Latvia and delivered and erected it within 3 months.
hempcrete extension & refurbishment, surrey
Sustainable & energy efficient hempcrete block extension with structural glazing
A beautiful energy efficient, breathable Hempcrete extension to a period property in Cobham. This stunning property looks out onto a wonderful wooded landscape, so particular attention was paid to maximise the full view of the beautiful trees and landscaped gardens.
The client required an extension that maximised views of the stunning garden & surrounding trees, including a living space, studio and utility/shower. This resulted in an imaginative design that incorporates unconventional glazed elements and a pond at the threshold of the sliding doors. The space is extremely well lit and integrates well with the existing rooms, without the need for extensive structural works.
Environmental credentials
The extension features breathable timber frame walls with hemp lime infill blocks and additional wood fibre insulation. The blocks give the walls more thermal mass than a conventional timber frame, helping to regulate the temperature within, where the large amounts of glazing could otherwise contribute to overheating.
The house is situated on an old brick kiln, near a mature forest, so innovative steel piles were selected for the foundations. This negated the need for large amounts of concrete and extensive excavations.
This energy efficient extension was built using hempcrete blocks, wood fibre insulation, breathable plasters & renders and no VOC paints and finishes.
New Build Detached Property in Kingston
Sustainable & energy efficient 5-Bed family home in Kingston
A stunning new build detached property in Kingston. This spacious energy efficient five bedroom family home was designed to Code For Sustainable Homes Standard 4.
The triple height entrance hallway with feature sky lights contains a beautifully crafted staircase and gallery. The bright and spacious lounge leads into an open kitchen/diner with additional utility room. The 1st floor has a large quirky bathroom, large bedrooms, a study, and storage areas. At the top of the house is a light and airy loft suite with beautiful views.
The back of the house opens up across almost the entire ground floor. As a result the lounge, kitchen/diner, and garden feel totally integrated whilst also offering privacy.
Environmental credentials
This energy efficient property achieved Code For Sustainable Homes Level 4 due to its high levels of insulation, high quality doors and windows, solar panels, and a super efficient boiler. The house was decorated using low VOC paints.
On the site of a former 1930’s bungalow, Cave applied for planning permission for a new two storey property with a habitable roof space. The plan had a slightly larger footprint than the original building, whilst retaining the existing mature garden and front driveway. Even though it had become too small for their growing family, our clients loved their old bungalow, so one of the key features of the brief was to design a house that looked modern, but kept the character of the previous property. The windows were designed to reflect the traditional style of the previous bungalow, but were simplified to let in more light and have a slightly more contemporary feel. In addition to this, through careful reclaiming and re-using, parts of the old bungalow still live on in this stylish, light, and efficient family home.
Traditional Timber Frame
Traditional timber frame extension and energy efficient retrofit
Creating a new heart to the clients' home, this extension to a detached property in Cobham resulted in a large and lofty space for a new open plan kitchen and dining area.
Cave opened up and reconfigured the previous extensions of the existing property. This included removing old softwood trusses and replacing these with a beautiful and structural oak frame. The large dining area glazing maximises vast views and access to the garden.
The materials used have high sustainable benefits, from the glass aggregate slab and lime screed with underfloor heating, to timber frame walls with wood fibre insulation and durable timber cladding, along with the use of cork to insulate the flat roof.
A large array of solar panels were added to the property and garage, along with an air source heat pump, which together dramatically reduces the carbon footprint and running cost of the large property.
Treehouses at Kew Gardens
Treehouses at Kew Design Competition exploring play
As part of the ‘Treehouses at Kew Design Competition’ by The Royal Botanic Gardens and the Museum of Architecture (MoA), Cave and structureHaus engineers chose to design a ‘Hyper Treehouse’ at Kew Gardens celebrating play!
Celebrating Play!
Run as a two-staged competition, we were tasked to design ‘a spatial experience that allows visitors to engage with a tree in a new and unique way’ and to highlight the need to develop a more balanced relationship with trees while inspiring visitors to do the same.
In response, our design for a ‘Hyper Treehouse’ enables playful exploration of the tree from around, below, and on top of two winding ramps that lead to and from a 2m high platform. The ramps communicating between the different levels and allow full accessibility and intergenerational play.
The ‘Hyper Bark’ is a tactile timber structure with bouldering holds, which can be accessed from the ground floor. Inside the cosy pith, sound and visual play will generate communication between the treehouse levels and offer a sensory experience to all in a safe environment that is fully cushioned with natural sheep's wool insulation.
Whilst our treehouse is designed to specifically respond to the shape and form of the host tree and the possibilities this presents for exploring its arboreal environment, it is also designed as a self supporting and visually appealing structure that would be adaptable to a variety of future uses. It would be made in lightweight demountable sections, and could have a future life as a stand-alone exhibition dedicated to generating discourse and educational opportunities on the subject of trees, fungus, and ecology, with informative and playful interpretations installed along the ramps.
Natural, biodegradable materials will be the main components of this design. In addition to the sponsored CLT, all materials will be sourced and reclaimed as locally as possible. Using either canvas, wood, bark, ropes, fibres, bamboo from Kew or waste/surplus from local businesses. All products used will either be able to be re-used or composted at the end of the treehouse's life, adding to a circular economy. The sensory light tubes, speaking tubes, and musical tubes inside the pith will be able to be re-used as a sensory installation elsewhere.
Together with StructureHaus engineers a structure was designed that consists of ramped floor sections supported via arched and hooped CLT ribs which will bear onto floating pad foundations. This system of construction will need to be fully braced to prevent lateral movement, and also feature a radial tension tie around the circular central pith element.
The ribs will be CNC cut from sheets of 100mm thick sponsored CLT. The team have considered ways to reduce wastage and cutting, such as designing nesting shapes and standardising curves to allow for best use of the sponsored CLT material offered. The floor deck will be of a more standard softwood construction with a variety of non-slip floor textures responding to the concept.
The treehouse will be partially clad in a variety of lightweight materials that are readily conformable to the curved shapes, such as laths and shingles, along with rope, canvas, sheep's wool, and other textural elements.
Affordable Homes, Wiveliscombe
Affordable homes for “SCCLT” - Somerset Co-operative Community Land Trust
Redevelopment of a former brownfield site into 25 affordable homes for “SCCLT” - Somerset Co-operative Community Land Trust
Developing a brownfield site into New Affordable Homes
This summer, Cave has submitted a planning application for 25 affordable homes on a former brewery site at Golden Hill, Wiveliscombe.
Our client the Somerset Co-operative Community Land Trust (“SCCLT”) appointed Cave to lead the design for the redevelopment of a brownfield site to provide 25 affordable homes, a community employment hub with associated landscaping, bike storage, car parking and car-sharing scheme.
SCCLT is a not-for-profit registered community benefit society wishing to provide sustainable and affordable homes for people in housing need, and to provide facilities for social/community enterprises to benefit its residents and the wider community.
A community led project
The design for the project was developed and influenced following intensive engagement with planners, continued proactive & inclusive consultation with the local community, Town Council meetings and a formal public consultation meeting.
In addition to the residential accommodation, the proposal includes a community enterprise hub, which can be used by residents and the wider community for flexible desk spaces. The principle aim is to enable residents to develop skills, experience and work without having to travel and will be managed by the Somerset Co-op Community Land Trust.
Great care has been taken to develop an architectural style and character that sits comfortably within the street scene of light industrial, heritage and residential surroundings, respecting heritage views towards the listed brewery chimney and Hancock Tower.
Sustainable design and construction has been embedded into the project idea from the outset. A key driver for the project has been to minimise its impact on the environment, - both through construction and in its operational phase.
Energy efficiency, sustainability & biodiversity
The development will be constructed from low-impact, sustainable and locally-sourced materials. It will be thermally efficient and utilise renewable technologies (photovoltaic panels and ground source heat pump) to provide heat and power and deliver Net Zero performance.
In addition to the above, there is the potential for surplus heat energy to be fed back into a community energy scheme (subject to a feasibility study), thus potentially generating energy for the wider community, and funds for community projects, from the derived revenue.
A communal car and potential cycle share scheme is also proposed to promote sustainable travel modes in addition to the provision of convenient cycle storage and electric vehicle charging facilities to promote sustainable living practices.
The ethos of the development is to build as sustainably as possible, using local materials and suppliers. Natural materials such as timber, brick and slate form the majority of the construction materials.
Great attention has been paid to the habitat creation and biodiversity opportunities on the site. In particular to the protection of bats and their flight corridors by planting shrubs and introducing low level planting the design is establishing new foraging grounds. Bird & Bee boxes will be concealed within the construction of the walls and Ivy will be grown on a steel mesh on the northern facade. The face of the retaining wall will be used to create new habitats using waste construction sands and gravels behind a steel mesh, providing habitat for bees and insects. A rainwater harvesting system will be used for irrigation of landscaping such as the new communal green spaces, planters and nature reserve.
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We look forward to seeing this unique community project taking shape!
Georgian House Refurbishment
This stunning Georgian house in Kingston upon Thames required a full makeover plus an extension. Cave’s sensitive design focussed on highlighting the building’s beautiful original features.
The brief was to convert this property from individual flats back into a single dwelling and add an extension. The basement and ground floor had lots of meandering corridors and bore no relationship in character to the upper floors. Cave worked hard with the clients to re-establish the flow and identity of this charming building.
By opening up the ground floor, Cave’s design brought in light and connected the spaces throughout the deep footprint of the building.
There is now a smooth transition between the rooms and a better connection to the garden. In addition to this, Cave altered and refurbished all the upper floors to a high standard. Thermal performance was improved using internal insulation and by upgrading to D/G timber sash windows throughout.
The reconfigured internal spaces and the extension have now completely transformed this property from a muddled maze into a flowing, beautiful, light and airy family home.
See our similar project; Grade II listed school house.
Rammed Earth Permaculture Eco-village
Sam’s Village is an ongoing rammed earth project by African Vision Malawi and Cave to design and build an eco, permaculture village.
Sam’s Village teaches vocational building and craft skills while educating about permaculture techniques. Improving employment prospects, crop viability and nutrition in an area of extreme poverty and extreme weather conditions.
This is a unique and innovative opportunity to work with communities in Malawi. The aim is to develop a standard construction detail based on adapting and improving on local building techniques. The method of research is to establish relationships with local craftspeople and builders. Their methods and traditions will be studied and various sites will be visited to see the diversity of Malawian architecture. As a result the knowledge collected will be used to develop a model for future rammed earth building design in Malawi.
Sustainability is a key element running throughout the brief at Sam’s Village. In terms of the villages construction, relationship with its environment, socially and economically.
Because rammed earth walls (aka pise) are constructed by the compacting (ramming) moistened subsoil into place between temporary formwork panels. When dried, the result is a dense, hard, but breathable, monolithic wall.
A vernacular green building material as well as in more recent ‘Eco houses’, rammed earth is an ancient form of construction, usually associated with arid areas. There remain plentiful examples of the form around the world – evidence that rammed earth is a successful and durable way of building. A few historical rammed earth buildings are to be found in the UK.
Retrofit Refurbishment Project
Retrofit refurbishment project
Turning a former detached nursery building into a four-bedroom property by using the ‘fabric first’ approach for a retrofit refurbishment
Turning olD into new
The design completely transformed the institutional character of the previous nursery building into a generous four-bedroom property, with high levels of energy efficiency and internal comfort. Following the ‘fabric first’ approach to enhance performance of the properties envelope to improve energy efficiency and to reduce running costs, breathable insulation and render were applied to all external walls and the loft space was super insulated along with all floors. All new natural softwood timber windows and doors were procured to complement external timber decking and cladding elements.
The design also considered future use of the property, in that it could be adapted into two flats if required.
The former nursery entrance with balcony were transformed into a first-floor terrace that doubled to provide a covered outdoor area to the ground floor, with a walk on glass rooflight lit by LED lighting offering external space that can be enjoyed in all weathers.
Community Housing Self Build
Working with a London based community group, wanting to build a strawbale housing development and community centre.
Cave has worked with a London based community group through a series of workshops to help focus their project vision, set up project aims, short and long term goals, as well as to help them produce a booklet for funding purposes. The booklet showcase’s their project to potential investors in a clear and visually stimulating way.
Mixed use development
The development is to comprise of mixed uses; residential, education, leisure, retail and community. It would offer different sized residential units to cater for all family configurations. It would house a small home education classroom, a hall for community activities as well as to generate a rental income, as a venue for hire. To generate income there is a small community cafe on site. The cafe would offer affordable, healthy, locally grown food to the residents and local community. The aim would be to use produce grown on the community allotments and in the gardens. The cafe would also offer vocational training to residents and members of the local community.
Community gardens
The grounds of this community housing project would be cultivated and maintained by the residents. There would be allotments, ornamental food and medicine gardens. As well as open recreational areas. You can see another example of a community garden project created and maintained by residents, designed by Cave on our harmony gardens page. This is a beautiful award winning garden on the Broadwater farm estate in Haringey.
Straw bale building
This building will be built using strawbales, a healthy, natural waste product, that is a wonderful building material. just like big bricks! Strawbales are warm, fire retardent, breathable and great fun to build with. The residents of this housing project would build the buildings themselves with the help of professional builders. The building would be energy efficient, healthy, cheap to run and of a simple construction. Because of this the build would also provide vocational training for residents in building skills.
Putney Vale Estate
This project was a collaborative project between Cave and Melissa Lacide, a free lance community participation enabler. After Cave met with one of the members of the Putney Vale Residents Association, it became clear that they needed some help to discover the needs and possibilities of their community and how they could maximise the use of facilities on the estate for all age groups and ethnic backgrounds.
Cave and Melissa worked up a programme of consultation events. Melissa took on the challenge of consulting the diverse community of the Putney Vale Estate as part of her Masters (which she passed with distinction!) on Sustainable Development at Kingston University. The PVRA very kindly presented a copy of Melissa’s final report as a gift to the Mayor of Wandsworth, Jane Cooper. Hopefully this report will provide them, and perhaps, other community groups too, with a valuable insight into sustainable communities, design thinking and community engagement.
This project is just one example of how the built environment has an impact on how we, as human beings, interact and engage with the places we live in and people who live around us.
Newlands Hall facility on the Putney Vale Estate is now open and running a full programme of events with something for all members of it’s community.
Coombe Extension and refurb
This project involved a full refurbishment throughout as well as extensions to rear, side and roof, to create a stunning new family home. The added space created a new large kitchen, dining and family living areas as well as new bathrooms and Ensuites and fully converted loft with storage and main bedroom suite.
Timber Frame & Straw Bale Infill Office HQ
Our client, a renowned market leader in supply and installation of renewable energy systems, wind turbines, solar PV and biomass boilers, approached Cave to design an office that reflected the client’s sustainable ethos and provided space to house their rapidly growing team.
Cave designed a super energy efficient & modern two storey timber frame structure to be infilled with strawbale walls to provide U-values of up to 0.13W/m2K. The main roof will house a full solar PV array as well as living roofs on the smaller roof sections. The building will need minimal heating, but for cold winter days there is underfloor heating powered by a biomass boiler. The roof will also be used to harvest rainwater to flush toilets and irrigate landscaping.
The walls will be clad with a mixture of waney timber weatherboarding and lime render. Internal walls will be plastered with lime. The South facade has a beautiful solar shade to keep the offices cool in the summer but allow warming winter sun in.
Our timber frame and straw bale infill office project gained planning approval in 2014.
Preston Wheatfields Sustainable Housing Development
Wheatfields is a low cost, high quality, sustainable housing development. Through community consultation and community involvement, the development will generate skills, confidence and pride within the community - Inspiring and educating all that live in and around these beautiful straw bale homes.
The Wheatfields development relates to its immediate surroundings by maintaining existing desire lines across the site. Maintaining the existing pedestrian network, will create a sensitive relationship with the existing St Ignatius conservation area and form a new open street façade towards St Pauls Rd. The architectural language already existing in St Ignatius Square is continued along Meadow Street. By maintaining building heights, front gardens and trees, the design re-establishes the street façade with a contemporary take on the vernacular terraced houses of the conservation area.
Grade II Listed Schoolhouse
Redesign of an original Grade II listed school house into Maisonettes flats in Richmond.
The brief for the refurbishment was to open up the space to increase light and comfort levels. In addition it was important to create connections between the different living areas currently separated from each other. While also enhancing the original features of the property. A crucial part of the project was to improve the comfort levels within the building. The existing property was cold, damp and drafty. Because of this, new insulation and draft proofing was installed under the floor. Furthermore a new more efficient boiler and radiators were added.
Sympathetic and Stylish
Spatial improvements included removing the existing studs walls and a sympathetic timber floor/ceiling support was introduced. The kitchen was re-designed to maximize light and functionality, while making the most of the wonderful large Victorian windows. Special attention was paid to design features that incorporated book shelves and collected items belonging to the client into the space.
The finished Grade II Listed refurbishment in Richmond was designed with a cool, stylish interior. Flooded with light through the period feature windows with a warm and homely atmosphere. The period property details were brought to the fore whilst creating a modern, stylish home. As a result of this when the home was completely refurbished it was featured in the press as one of London’s best buys.
Japanese Tea House
Cave Coop designed a garden building incorporating a Japanese style tea house in the garden of a suburban Kingston upon Thames home. The 36m² outbuilding contains the wooden room surrounded by semi-opaque sliding doors surrounding Tatami mats and a sunken table. There's an office containing shelves full of games and a deep-toned bathroom.
Our clients, originally from Japan & China, and their young children were looking for a flexible outbuilding to provide space for entertaining, working, and accommodating guests on overnight stays.
The traditional tatami room is a multifunctional space, able to be converted from a bedroom into a dining area when the central mat is removed to reveal the "Horigotatsu" (sunken area), above which a matching table is set. The futons are stored in cupboards "Oshiire" adjacent to the decorative niche "Tokonoma" used to display sculptures/vases and calligraphy.
The building was constructed in timber frame and was highly insulated - thermally and for noise, (one of the many uses of the space is a mini cinema with projection).
The tatami room is heated by underfloor heating at both the upper tatami level and in the sunken floor, other comforts come from a high-efficiency air conditioning unit in the office and a luxury bathroom suite.
Key products used: Specialist joinery provided by Wabi Sabi Design http://www.wabisabidesign.co.uk (featured on Grand Designs) using high-quality cherry wood, translucent printed screens and imported traditional reed tatami mats.
Cob Build, Barn Conversion, France
A hands-on project involving close collaboration with the clients. The brief was to restore, renovate and extend an existing large Cob Barn and its associated out building.
This build involves the restoration of existing features such as cob walls and floors, flint foundation plinths, original clay-tile floors, wattle and daub walls, lathe and plaster ceilings and lime renders.
The main barn is re-modelled with a new kitchen, WC, under floor heating, a new inglenook fireplace and chimney, mezzanine and loft conversion. A new cob extension will be added, housing a secluded study overlooking the pond.
Sustainable features such as; cob walls constructed using clay dug from the site, high levels of insulation, lime renders and mortars, natural paints and reclaimed materials will be used.
The annex will be guest accommodation and is re-designed, restored and renovated to the same high standard of sustainability and conservation.
Breathable Timber Frame Extension, Surbiton
Breathable timber frame extension with green roofs and solar panels
The design brief for this project was to create a large timber frame eco extension.
The new extension was to house a new kitchen, dining, lounge area with WC at ground floor level. The new extension roof would be a living roof. A new bathroom on the 1st floor and a new loft room with ensuite in the roof. The new roof dormer would be fitted with PV’s to generate electricity for the home. Everything was to be sustainable, using breathable natural materials and to be as energy efficient as possible. Cave and the clients worked closely together to choose the right materials and finishes. The best thermal efficiency possible was attained without going over budget.
Timber Frame
The most affordable and sustainable solution in this case, was to build a timber frame extension. This was massively insulated externally and between the frame. In all we used 270mm of wood fibre insulation with a lime render externally and clay board and clay plasters internally with a white lime wash finish. The floors were suspended timber to minimise the use of concrete with 200mm wood fibre insulation between the joists and 60mm wood fibre insulation over the joists. Finished with strandboard T&G deck and timber floors.
The roof of the extension was again massively insulated and covered with a living roof to mitigate heat gain in the summer months, as well as large overhangs to help with summer shading.
The extension is now a really warm, bright and healthy space. The clients have a lovely wood burner for a little heat top up during the winter months, but the space keeps the heat so well it is more for the visual effect than a need for warmth.
The loft room and ensuite are similarly well insulated, bright and spacious. The house is now transformed into a lovely, warm and healthy home that will serve the clients and their family well, long into the future.