Green Architecture & Building
Design & Planning

The Woodland House €22.45
Ben Law, Kevin McCloud (Contributor)

"Here is a house so ecologically sound it breathes in time to the trees around it."

In 2003 Ben Law captivated the UK by building his woodland house on Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme – so popular was the show that it was repeated in 2004. The presenter, Kevin McCloud, said that Ben was a born designer and that his was the most watched (over 5 million viewers) and popular programme of the original series. Kevin loved the project so much that he has written the foreword to this book!

Beautifully illustrated with over 100 colour photos, this is a step-by-step guide to how Ben built his home, hewn from his own woodland, for under £28,000. It covers all the basics, including why we love to self-build and gives full details of the evolving design process, the identifying of materials, costings, project management and the actual building stages, from foundations and frames, through to interior features. Includes roundwood engineering calculations.

Built by Ben Law and a team of volunteers during 2002 in just six months

• a sweet chestnut cruck timber frame with straw bale walls and sweet chestnut roofing shingles

• the walls are finished on the outside with wavy edge oak and chestnut boards and on the inside with limeplaster

• the internal walls are built from chestnut lathe and cob.

• rainwater is collected and is used for the hotwater system via a twin coiled hot water cylinder with inputs from a wood fired Rayburn and a solar water panel.

• all electricity is generated from photovoltaic solar panels and three small wind turbines.

• grey water is treated via a reed bed system and sewage is treated by a dry composting toilet.

• much of the wood used was grown in Ben’s woodland that surrounds the house and the mud for the cob walls was excavated from his pond. Everything else was sourced as locally as possible, and no skip was used to dispose of any waste - indeed there wasn`t any - making this one of the most ecologically sound builds in Britain.

`You couldn’t find a house that has a more intimate relationship with people and place.` Kevin McCloud.

About the Author

Ben Law is an innovative woodsman who has lived and worked West Sussex for over 20 years. He makes his living from his chestnut coppice and grows much of his own food within the woodland. Indefatigable, he plans to extend his home gardens, grow edible vines up the sides of the house and sink a hot tub in the balcony so he can relax and survey his beautiful permaculture kingdom!

Ben Law`s first book The Woodland Way (also available from Book STEPs), presents a radical alternative to conventional woodland management and demonstrates how to create bio-diverse, healthy environments, yield a great deal of value added products, provide a secure livelihood for woodland workers and benefit the local community.

96pp 2005 Hbk 250x220