Llandudno / Plas Coed

Llandudno is still an expanding town – some 20 000 people live here. And that means that it is spreading. The good news is that places like this are being built in in-fill plots.

It was a nightmare plot to build on, being on such a steep slope, but the advantage are these amazing views. It is in fact split level – not two storey.

The upstairs bedrooms are sitting directly on the bedrock. You can see the bedrock here, just under the balcony.

The architecture is simple and understated, perhaps because you don’t need lots of detail with a view like this.

Considering we are in the middle of a housing estate it is a credit to the architects that this building isn’t actually overlooked. Designed by a local firm – Tarmaster Jones of Deganwy, who have designed several great contemporary homes in the area.

The outside is clad in cedar, and the paint is limewash. Great to see a traditional material like limewash being used in a contemporary setting – it isn’t just for old buildings!

The house is so well designed that the family don’t have to use any heating at all for 9 months of the year! And even then the woodburner is enough. Although there are radiators upstairs they have yet to be used.

The heat exchanger that you see here is the trick. It sucks in fresh air but uses the heat from the air that is leaving to warm it up first.

The house is timber-framed and insulated to a very high level with a form of recycled paper. It has been designed to take advantage of passive solar heating – built into the hillside with glass walls facing the sun, and a black slate floor.The overhang of the roof helps prevent overheating in the summer.

The two children’s bedrooms have been designed with a modern ‘croglofft’ bedroom. As the kids are away at university the rooms were designed to also work as studies.

All the bulbs are low energy LEDs - but they aren’t often required as there is so much natural light in the design. That is what real green design is about – not fancy eco boilers but rather designing systems that use few resources in the first place.

So the sinks are small, and the toilet cisterns are small. Eco living is about energy conservation not energy generation.