With 2008 just started, it’s time to sort out 2009. Before the world wheezes its toxic way towards to the end of the first decade of the noughties, the idea is to create a radical new kind of house, fit for the 21st century and far beyond.

I want to see it built on Lower Mill Estate. There are just a few constraints. It has to be as sustainable and ecologically and environmentally sound as any building can be. That’s in terms of the materials used to make it, the energy and activity required to construct it, and the resources it consumes once it’s up and running. It must be the ultimate in low impact conception, design, materials, construction, production and living, from the day the first footing is dug.
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Nice house. Well, a very nice house in fact. Set on a gently sloping ridge alongside the southern boundary of Howell’s Mere, it’s an elegant blend of glass, steel, and stone and timber-rendered walls; there are stunning views from verandas and decked roof spaces and through floor to ceiling windows; a small private jetty alongside, reaches out into a meandering network of backwaters running through reed beds, willows and magnolias; inside, four bedrooms, a beautiful centrally-sited fireplace, open-planned spaces, and uninterrupted outlooks over lakes and waterways, ever-changing with the seasons.

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