The Grand Designs house for first time buyers: How you can get on the property ladder with a £41,000 three-bedroom home
- - Low cost design is based on modern steel farmyard hay barns
- - The Barnhaus steel frame is lined internally with lots of insulation
- - Home is 100 square metre home; much bigger than most starter homes
- - House came top in a competition judged by Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud
By ANNA EDWARDS
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Most first-time home buyers know the struggle of trying to get their foot on the property ladder.
But now living with mum and and dad while struggling to save a deposit could be a thing of the past, as a three-bedroom detached house, which costs just £41,000 to build, is about to go on the market.
Architect Ed Green came up with the award-winning design which gives buyers the 'skeleton' of a house, and allows them to adapt the original framework to their taste.
Home Sweet Home: Architect Ed Green, 39, has designed an award winning house which costs just £41,000 to build
The self-build 'Barnhaus' home was based around the idea of a farmer's hay barn
The Barnhaus steel frame is lined internally with lots of insulation. And the result is a large 100 square metre home
The home, which is bigger than many modern new-build houses, will give first-time buyers the chance to build their own 'Grand Designs' home at a fraction of the cost.
Typically first homes under £90,000 will get a much smaller space to a 'substandard design', the winning architect claimed.
Mr Green, 39, based his self-build 'Barnhaus' home around the idea of a farmers hay barn.
And his house scooped the top prize in a National Self Build Association (NaSBA) competition judged by Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud.
Father-of-three Mr Green, an architect from Cardiff, South Wales, said his low cost design was based on modern steel farmyard hay barns. He said: 'Without being rude about farmers, as a generalisation, they do tend to be very economically minded. 'And you can go on eBay and buy a steel barn frame the size of a family home for around £2,500.
The victorious home in the NaSBA 'self-build-on-a-shoestring' competition contest saw off 39 other designs for homes under £50,000
Stage 1: The architect says the design is fairly simple and would be easy to construct
The house can be adapted to the buyer, making it their own perfect home
'Once you've done that you have a skeleton for a house and you build on it from there.
'Surveys on new build home owners say modern houses are too small, too inflexible and are boxes with no joy.
'What you get for £70,00, £80,000 or £90,000 through modern housebuilders is something which is really substandard in terms of design.
'We set ourselves the challenge of getting under the magic £50,000 and making sure that what came out the other side would be something we'd really want to live in, be really beautiful and not just more shoeboxes.'
The Barnhaus steel frame is lined internally with lots of insulation - straw bales being most cost effective - and doors and windows are added at either end.
Mr Green, an architect for 10 years with Pentan Partnership, said the result is a large 100 square metre home making it much bigger than most starter homes.
The victorious home in the NaSBA 'self-build-on-a-shoestring' competition shows just how spacious the house could be
Ed Green's design impressed competition judge Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs
He said: 'The simplicity of the Barnhaus, and the fact that it's really, really buildable for a very modest budget are what make it special. 'Pretty much the whole house could be built by a relatively unskilled person - except for the electrics.
'I think the design proves that everyone can have a home that they really love for just £41,000.
'And if this design could be replicated and made available widely I think there are tens of thousands of families in the UK who would want to build one. 'People deserve to have more space - and a bigger more beautiful house doesn't need to be more expensive.'
The competition was sponsored by the Grand Designs Live exhibition and the judging panel included TV presenter Kevin McCloud, architect and Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson and architectural designer Charlie Luxton.
The victorious home in the NaSBA 'self-build-on-a-shoestring' competition contest saw off 39 other designs for homes under £50,000.
In August, Housing Minister Eric Pickles announced a government-backed fund of £30 million would be made available to provide short-term loans for groups of prospective self-builders.
Mr Pickles said: 'We are consulting on reducing regulations on house builders to encourage more house building and local economic growth.
'And we are offering finance options to self-builders from a specially created fund of £30 million.'
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