Instant gratification

CHARLOTTE Thompson has vivid memories of the day the loft extension to her and her husband's flat-roofed Art Deco home was delivered. "We watched the low-loader approaching, with our bedroom and en-suite bathroom in two sections," she recalls.

"Work started at 1.40pm and by 3.30pm John and I were standing in our new bedroom sipping champagne." Even the bed was made.

Such speed defies belief. The key was all in the preparation. John Thompson should know, he is the managing director of Hanson TiS, the Manchester-based company specialising in a new world of modular construction, 10 miles from their home.

John uses his system to extend apartment blocks, offices and art galleries.

"We can match any style of architecture, so that it is impossible to see the join." John's own home shows what can be achieved with modular building methods in the residential market.

He and Charlotte, a graphic designer, have lived in the house since 1996, and had already added a bespoke modular kitchen extension. The benefits of modular building are numerous. Factory construction cuts down time lost by bad weather, takes tons of hassle out of the process because there is so little onsite mess and disruption, and makes interior design easier because you walk around the inside space in situ, choosing your fittings.

When Charlotte and John purchased their house it was almost derelict, but features such as the circular hallway and spiral staircase sold it to them.

Four years ago they decided to increase the size of their kitchen with a ground-floor extension in the Art Deco style. "We loved the house, which is quite unusual for this area, but needed more space for a growing family," explains Charlotte.

Gaining planning permission was extremely straightforward. John says: "The property is not listed and does not overlook or overshadow the neighbours' properties, so we a were able to make use of our permitted development rights."

The galley kitchen has been transformed into a bright, practical room by incorporating a utility room in the existing garage as well as the 28sq m modular extension. The extension was designed to sit on concrete pad foundations at 5m intervals.

Mini piles ensured that only the minimum amount of concrete was needed.

The new room used technology developed for off- shore and marine building: strong, lightweight and anticorrosive. A steel frame was clad in 100mm thick composite panels of steel. This rigid module was then fittedout in the same way as any traditional build, and rendered externally.

"We can line the interiors in plasterboard, and the windows are all glazed in the factory," says John, a qualified engineer. "Plumbing and wiring is completed, so that when the building is delivered it takes only a few hours to connect it up to existing services." In order to join the extension to the existing building, a docking port is designed to support the opening in the original property. "The day before an extension is due to arrive, we knock the hole through and fit this structural steel support," says John.

Homeowners can stay in the house throughout the process.

The 8.5 ton kitchen extension came complete with power sockets, central heating, a wooden floor and four full-height French doors opening on to the garden and, by the end of the day, the new room was ready to enjoy.

The Thompsons were soon keen to repeat the process. A circular observatory at the top of the house had been refurbished in the late 1970s and was being used as an office by Charlotte. "We decided to replace the old structure with a more energy-efficient room containing the master bedroom, en-suite bathroom and a terrace."

Charlotte enjoyed planning the extension. "I visited the factory regularly to watch progress and try things out. It is much easier to imagine using a space if you can actually stand in it. We were able to specify paint colours, the positions of switches, sockets and lighting - all the things you tend to rush with a traditional build.

"It was rather like a doll's house. I would pretend I was washing my face to get the correct sink height, and sat in the bath, as we wanted a particularly deep one."

Although factory construction took about six weeks, the actual installation process was completed in a matter of hours. One day in early April the road was closed and an 80 ton crane stood ready to lift the two sections from the lowloader into place. Charlotte says: "People watched with their mouths open as it drove past."

All that then needed to be done was to connect the new room to the house, after which the extension was indistinguishable from the original 1932 house.

John says: "Our bedroom arrived with the bed in it, and everything else, which saved us having to carry things up the stairs later. Toilets were plumbed in, the lighting, switches and sockets were all in place."

SITE access can prove one of the few problems with modular building. "It is a key issue - we can't do it everywhere," says John. "The other perceived drawback is cost. People think that these structures are so hitech that they must be expensive, but modular extensions are comparable in price to traditional building methods.

"Our rooftop extension cost pounds 70,000, and has added value and saleability to the house." Once plumbers and electricians had made the relevant connections, John and Charlotte were able to sleep in their new bedroom that very night - with electricity and running water.

"It's the way forward," says John. "People lead busy lives, they don't want to wait for anything, they have not got the time to oversee a project for months on end, and the whole process of building is frustrating - there's nothing worse than having builders traipsing dirt all over your home for months on end, failing to turn up or stopping work whenever it rains," he says. "And think of all the cups of tea you won't have to make."

This article appears in the January issue of Self-Build & Design Magazine (01283 742950; www.selfbuildanddesign.com). To contact Hanson TiS, call 0161 877 2370 or visit www.hanson-tis.co.uk.

Copyright 2003
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