Grand Designs

Channel 4’s pre-eminent series on British architecture, Grand Designs, has featured an innovative project that utilised decorative resin flooring and fast curing screed solutions from Flowcrete UK to create a young couple’s ideal London home.

In the latest season of the show Joe Stuart and his girlfriend Lina Nilsson, fed up of renting but unable to buy at London prices, took on the property market to build their own house on a tiny 9.5m x 4m plot near Canary Wharf. Featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, the smallest London build to date was originally a coffin workshop and cost the couple £73,000 to buy the plot.

It seemed an impossible space in which to build an entire house, however Joe designed a split-level, three ‘half-storey’ home that cleverly maximised space to create a young, trendy and sustainable London residence. The house boasts some impressive green credentials and it was built according to Passivhaus guidelines to ensure that it was as sustainable as possible.

The structure of the home was made in Scotland by construction firm JML Contracts, using environmentally friendly insulated panels, allowing essential thermal efficiency to meet Passive House standards. The home, designed and cut out before being delivered to London and slotted together, incorporated design benefits such as low energy usage, due to the excellent insulation.

With the build several months behind schedule, Isocrete Fast K-Screed Heavy Duty was specified to produce an early drying, high strength screed. This semi-dry cementitious screed incorporates a proprietary additive to accelerate the curing time while also providing excellent moisture control and shrinkage compensation benefits.

The rapid application properties of Isocrete Fast K-Screed Heavy Duty makes it ideal for construction and refurbishment projects where the screed needs to be trafficked or overlaid quickly.

To fit in with the minimalist and contemporary interior design scheme, the polyurethane-based floor coating Peran Comfort was specified in Oyster White due to its matt, self-smoothing, durable and UV resistant properties. The system was ideal for Joe’s design as the light-coloured coating complemented the site’s sleek, modern aesthetics.

Joe could rest assured that the finish underfoot would maintain its seamless nature and crisp colour for an extended period of time, as Peran Comfort has been formulated to withstand the intense conditions within large-scale venues prone to very heavy foot traffic such as shopping centres, hospitals, hotels and offices.

Taking on the role of designer, project manager, labourer and client, in the end Joe and Lina managed to create a place of their own for significantly less than the average property price in the area.