Nautical new build

Conservation™ timber windows and doors by Mumford & Wood have been specified by Thomas Croft Architects, London W10, for a new build private home on the idyllic north Norfolk coast. The property has been designed in traditional style reflecting the local vernacular of the area with the use of flint, local red brick and clay pantiles. An integral element of the design is a contemporary-style, two-storey, timber-clad wing offering sensational views out over the creek-side harbour and salt marshes of the River Burn to one aspect and to the other, a private walled garden at the rear of the property.

“The quality of the traditional timber sash and casement windows used for this building were very important,” says Helen Fife, Thomas Croft Architects. “Externally, they contribute to the appearance of the building in its prominent location on the AONB north Norfolk coast line and, from inside, each window acts as a frame to different and important views which makes the house feel firmly placed in its setting.”

A combination of double glazed Conservation™ Georgian-style timber sash windows teamed with coordinating casement windows and French doorsets at ground and first floor levels have been installed into deep reveals to aid protection and shelter from the elements and to accommodate external sea-defence steel panels. The front façade, featuring Conservation™ box sash windows operated by traditional cords and weights, is designed with a friendly, familiar appeal similar to the neighbouring fisherman and workers cottages but on a far grander and larger scale.

“This sumptuous, open-plan, three-storey property, which has been finished with amazing attention to detail, replaces a 1980’s brick property which had little sympathy with the architecture of the hamlet,” says Tom Barfield, regional sales director, Mumford & Wood. “The new building is sited lower than ground floor level to match the height of the building previously on the site while creating a full-height, comfortable floor in the roof space. It has many nautically-themed features and finishes, from the beautifully crafted ceilings down to the Dinesen Oak floor planks.”

The dramatic middle floor kitchen-cum-day-room faces the harbour and features a large dual colour bay window created using a combination of four Conservation™ box sash windows. Externally, timber cladding beneath the window is finished in the same RAL265 Manor House Grey; internally RAL9003 White has been used throughout. Above the bay in a top floor bedroom two special shape Conservation™ bullseye timber windows act as binoculars to the seascape and are finished with a surrounding brick soldier course. In the master bedroom feature windows include a small, square Conservation™ casement and a further bullseye, both of which are protected internally with timber shutters.

The media room features large pane Conservation™ Georgian French doorsets providing access to external stair cases to front and back.

“Only timber windows of this quality can be expected to perform in this environment and together with modern wood burners in several rooms and ample use of timber throughout the construction, this property will be cosy, comfortable and acoustically sound,” continues Barfield.

Contractor Dave Smith of R. M. Smith (Builders) Limited, Brancaster, Norfolk, a family owned building firm, comments: “We’ve enjoyed working on this project, where the quality of the build was paramount, and to have the opportunity to use our traditional skills to create something that this family will cherish and love to visit for many years to come. The windows and doors were great to install and their quality is the perfect match for this retreat.”