TV HOUSE EXCLUSIVE

wanted. By the time permission was granted, Billy and Polly were about to fly the nest, which made Adele doubt the wisdom of the entire project. ‘I took a back seat during planning,’ she says. ‘Looking at the drawings I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ride.’ But in August 2018 the family moved into a rented house and demolition began.

Constrained by a budget of £750,000, Colin decided against appointing a main contractor and instead employed several different teams, including a Latvianbased construction firm, to carry out different parts of the build. Though Vasco joined forces with UK architect Keven Lester, who would ensure the project complied with British Building Regulations, Colin knew it was risky not to have one person in overall charge. ‘We were up against it financially, so I had to cut corners,’ he says.

Despite his efforts, costs spiralled as the labyrinthine steel framework was adjusted to avoid having to install

ABOVE The games room is overlooked by a top-floor mezzanine LEFT Adele, Polly and Colin at the pool table Bookshelves curve round the atrium on the top floor

meticulous about the contractual side of things. But though I was putting my family through tough times, I couldn’t drop the ball. I had to see it through.’

The builders returned brief ly to complete the timber cladding, but the project only regained full momentum when Colin’s sister, Dawn Golding, who runs the family glass-making business, rallied round to supply all of the glazing, bar the skylights. And when Colin’s work picked up after lockdown the couple appointed specialists including designer and project manager Raju Haider – a friend and one of Adele’s yoga students – to mastermind the build’s final seven months.

The family finally moved into their new home three-and-a-half years after the construction started, and around £1 million over budget.

‘I thought the build would take a year,’ admits Colin. ‘We worked out the finances in 2014, but lots of things

LEFT Adele and Colin’s bed has an oversized headboard that acts as a room divider, with the dressing area behind RIGHT In the couple’s en suite the terrazzo surfaces are teamed with black brassware and microcement walls

had changed by the time we started building, so we knew early on it would be impossible to stick to that figure.’

The heat, light and hot water is supplied by 30 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, two air-source heat pumps and two solar storage batteries. The latter weren’t in the original budget, so contributed to the overspend.

Despite her early concerns, Adele has no regrets, especially as Billy and Polly are now back home having completed their studies and travels. ‘As soon as the house started rising out of the ground I fell in love with it,’ she says. ‘It’s clear we could never have built it for our original estimate, but I think it’s worth every penny.’

The architect designed the interior in conjunction with a Swedish-Italian company specialising in bespoke furniture and fittings. It supplied everything from kitchen cupboards to lighting. ‘The interior was part of the original discussion with Vasco,’ explains Colin. ‘I didn’t know it was unusual for an architect to design the inside of a house, but he made a moodboard for each room and nailed the brief.’

Colin and Adele have found that they enjoy living in a house with curved walls. ‘Round spaces definitely work,’ says Colin. ‘Everything is connected with each area opening beautifully into the next.’ And their remarkable home betrays nothing of the heartache the couple encountered during the build. ‘It’s only at the end of a project like this that you realise how amazing it is,’ says Colin. ‘And that heals everything.’

The concrete garage exterior is covered by a Hyvert living green wall system with automatic watering and feeding

S U P P L I E R S

PROJECT TEAM Principal architect Trigueiros Architecture (trigueiros.net) Architect, technical drawings Keven Lester, CB3 Design (cb3design.co.uk) Project manager Commercial Kitchen and Bar (commercialkitchenandbar.com) Structural engineer Bell Munro Consulting (bellmunro.co.uk) Groundworks Tom Bagley (tom-bagley.co.uk), Setstone Construction (07753 826985) Decorator Highbridge Decorators (07979 440502) Building regulation specialist Approved Inspectors (approvedinspectorsltd.co.uk) Joinery WSG Interiors (wsginteriors.co.uk) Renewable energy fit and supply Renewable Planet (renewableplanet.co.uk)

Mechanical, electrical and home automation specialist Hestia Smart Living (hestiasmartliving.com) STRUCTURE Steel design and production Warrington Fabrications (warrfabs.co.uk) External cedar cladding iWood (iwood.co.uk) External Corten steel Buy Metal Online (buymetalonline.co.uk) Rooflights Lamilux (lamilux.com) External door/window frames Krone (krone.lv) Window and door glass Float Glass Industries (floatglass.co.uk) Balcony glass Specialist Glass (specialistglass.co.uk) Balcony frames ABI Aluminium (abialuminiumltd.co.uk)

Staircase Scala (scala-interiors.co.uk) Garage door Deuren (deuren.co.uk) Driveway resin Oltco (oltco.co.uk) FIXTURES AND FITTINGS Kitchen, fitted furniture and lighting design Since Nineteen Seventy Three (since1973.se) Microcement floors Relentless Microcement (relentlessmicrocement.com) Engineered wood floors Naked Floors (nakedfloors.com) Kitchen tap Quooker (quooker.co.uk) Kitchen appliances Bertazzoni (uk.bertazzoni.com) Bathroom suppliers Zest Bathroom & Kitchens (zestbathroomsandkitchens.co.uk) Shower screens Boss Glass (bossglass.co.uk) Terrazzo tiles La San Giorgio (lasangiorgio.it) Spa bathroom tiles Waxman Ceramics (waxmanarchitectural.co.uk) Bathroom basins Alape (alape.com) Bathroom taps Dornbracht (dornbracht.com) Bath Lusso (lussostone.com) Green wall I Want Plants (iwantplants.co.uk) Battery storage Tesla (tesla.com) FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES Rugs Ogeborg (ogeborg.se) Bedside lighting and cabinet hardware Buster & Punch (busterandpunch.com) Modular seating Ligne Roset (ligne-roset.com) Bed linen LinenMe (linenme.com)