A cottage to change with the times

Eleanor is helping a friend with planning a simple two-bedroom cottage. Read on to see Jonno’s designs.

A cottage to change with the times
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Dear Jonno

I am writing on behalf of Nancy, who owns the property on the attached plans. She wants to build a two-bedroom cottage on the section of the property I have circled. We need your recommendations because the shape of the space available for building lends itself to innovative thinking. The requirements are:

  • Lounge area, small kitchen, two bedrooms and one bathroom, but with two separate toilets.
  • The space will initially be used as a consulting room for her chiropractic practice, but must have room for another practitioner to join her later. For this reason, it is recommended that there are two toilets available with easy access from the consulting/ treatment rooms.
  • The main house is built of face brick.

Regards
Eleanor

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Dear Eleanor
Thanks for the details of the new cottage. As this will initially be a chiropractic practice, I’ve arranged the layout for that purpose. However, times change and this cottage could eventually become a granny cottage. The dotted lines on the layout show how the reception area can be converted to a kitchen, with the dotted area in room 1 becoming a scullery. This will also create a larger lounge when eventually required.

As for the positioning on the site, you are restricted to placing the house within the 15m building line from the road frontage. Because of this, the cottage will be partially in front of your existing house. I have therefore given you two options for a roof design. The first is a very low-pitched roof that will not impinge on the view from the main house, while lowering the unit into the slope of the site. The second is creating a garden on a flat concrete roof, with plants that can withstand dry conditions, such as aloes and succulents.

Ancillary units to the main house are restricted to 80m² living space, but I can trim it slightly to suit. Let me have any further thoughts and maybe some photos of the chosen terrain.

Regards
Jonno