The art of the impossible: self-build house in East Dulwich is a masterclass in how to turn a tricky London plot into a fabulous modern home

There’s a movement afoot. Innovative architects are linking up with small-scale developers to build homes on difficult plots — the sites London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants turned into housing.

Because these sites are usually only big enough for one house and come with all sorts of problems to do with access to light and overlooking, they rarely attract big developers.

But long before that, putting together the plot, the money and the architect is a jigsaw.

FIRST FIND A PLOT

Finding a plot is famously tricky, but according to architect Will Burges, one of three partners in a young, award-winning practice called 31/44, once you realise, for example, that a pair of garages with street access could become a house, you begin to see potential everywhere.

It was like that for one of his co-architects, who first built a house on a ridiculously thin triangle of land in Lewisham, and then — from his new roof — spotted another tiny patch behind a wall down the same street, so he did it again.

These three architects quickly found themselves known for this sort of job.

They were contacted by an idealistic new developer who had bought a small, irregularly shaped site at the end of a Victorian terrace in East Dulwich in 2014.

It was basically two garages on the side of a two-storey house. He planned to keep the existing house and fit another one next to it.

He sat down with the architects and his brief was minimal. Will says: “Good materials, three bedrooms, and outside space. That was it.”

First, the architects considered a standard brick house, but because of the plot’s shape, as well as a small courtyard at the back, there would be a smaller triangular garden stuck awkwardly to one side.

So they had the bold idea of drawing that part within the walls and making an internal courtyard instead that would be dramatic and exciting, with good light and privacy. A living space set around a glass courtyard — how exciting is that in the middle of London?

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

When building on tight plots you must take care of the neighbours, who are often very close, or overlook. And to get through planning, you need to watch the roof height.

Since the neighbouring houses here were two storeys high, Will sank the entire house five steps down to get three bedrooms in.

Instead of a wasteful attic space, the top floor goes right into the steel-clad roof. So there are three floors, but the same height as the neighbouring houses.

Planning went through fast, and the build started in 2016.

DESIGN SECRETS

This 1,500sq ft house is red brick, with an amazing cast concrete patterned panel across the front. Patterned in 3D, it looks tiled. The architects made lots of tests and trial casts. Eventually the huge panel was craned into place.

But the biggest surprise comes when you take a few steps down to the sunken living-dining room, which wraps round the striking glass-walled courtyard, set with bamboo plants.

A polished black concrete floor offsets a pale pink L-shaped kitchen, while a wood-burning stove and real chimney — which these architects put in all their houses — keep things cosy. There’s a larger courtyard at the back, for entertaining friends.

FIND A BUYER

Shaun Pearce, 35, chief finance officer of a tech start-up and his wife Daisy, 33, a contemporary dancer, wanted to buy a house after living in a flat for four years.

“We were ready to move and spent six months looking at terrace houses and were so bored with the same extension, the same layout,” Shaun says.

Browsing The Modern House estate agent’s website last year they saw the new house. “We love modern interiors, and the house was so different from everything else, it didn’t take long to fall in love.”

They loved the internal courtyard downstairs, which enlarges and brightens the entire space.

“Living here has made us think about this whole thing of finding difficult spaces to build on, people on the hunt for spaces they’ve walked past for years. It’s really great.”

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