It can be a scary moment when the land next to your house gets put up for sale. Even scarier is when you learn that they are planning to build poorly designed, unattractive homes that bring down the value of the neighborhood. That is exactly what happened to a woman in Hickling, Norfolk.
Fran Bradshaw was “horrified” when she saw the building plans for the lot next to her home.
When the plans from the developer came out for the design of the new homes to be put up next to Fran Bradshaw’s home, she was not happy. In fact, she was “horrified” by the designs. The developers had planned on putting two homes on the plots adjacent to her home. She was frustrated because she knew the design of the homes was just to put more in the pockets of the developers. She knew the design didn’t matter as much as how much money could be made.
Fran explains, “It was price maximizing and I was cross about it. They were badly designed, didn’t fit on the site, and were designed only to increase the site value. It made me so angry because I hate designs like those. I believe houses should be built for the people living in them, not the developer’s pockets.”
She purchased the land herself and designed a better option for her neighborhood.
After the developers proposed their plans, thankfully Fran had the option to purchase the land when her neighbors approached her asking if they were interested in the land. She knew that she wanted to offer something more appealing to her community. So, she and her partner, George Hermann, purchased the land for a little over £200,000. In just nine short weeks, the builders already have the frame the new homes.
The new eco-friendly home designs are benefitting their community.
Fran Bradshaw has been an architect for 30 years and knows her stuff. She works for an architecture firm in London that specializes in building eco-friendly homes. Fran’s goal for the homes and design inspiration came from Passivhaus, or Passive House, which has extremely high standards for being energy efficient.
“What’s good about the Passivhaus system,” explains Fran, ” is that is uses a timber framed system and is very good at controlling heat-loss and banishing drafts. In this country moisture has always been a big issue but this design is perfect for combatting that and regulating a house’s temperature.”
The houses come in numbered pieces so that they are easy to construct and are even insulated with sheep’s wool and newspaper. They regulate the temperature throughout the year.
Anne Savage, Fran’s 82-year-old neighbor says, “The local schoolchildren have been on a school trip up there to study them because they’re eco-friendly. I think they look quite nice and they look better than the other house that’s a bit further up.”
Fran Bradshaw is the perfect person to be leading by example with the design and purpose behind building a better community.
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