Design Team Details
About Us
The Hill Holt Wood Design Team work as part of Hill Holt Wood (charity) and specialise in the commission of sustainable buildings from design stage through to completion.
During this process we endeavour to produce architectural plans/elevations/sections complete with 3D visualisations of the completed design with the intention to carry the design through planning application and building regulation stage to arrive at build phase.
We aim to produce buildings which are sustainable, practical and at the forefront of design whilst also satisfying the needs of our clients.
We seek to use recycled and renewable materials within our designs as these resources are often overlooked and can provide both creative design solutions and a cost effective method of producing excellent building designs.
Services
Builds from conception through to completion
Design and Consultation
Architectural Plans/Sections/Elevations
Planning Applications
Building Control
Building Regulations
3D Visualisations
Landscaping
Consultancy for:
Sustainable buildings
Straw Bale builds
Community Involvement
Low Budget
Difficult Planning Applications
We also will accept smaller projects aside from building design such as furniture design and bespoke pieces for both home and garden including garden and play structures. If you would like to discuss the possibility of a project please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Design Team to arrange a suitable time for a consultation with our staff.
Demonstration Days
Reciprocal roof
As part of our rammed earth building at the rear of the community centre we have a reciprocal roof, we’ll tell you all about them and give you a chance to build your own throughout the day whilst also giving you a tour of the woodland and giving you an insight into what goes on here at Hill Holt Wood.
Please arrange with the Design Team bookings in advance
£39 per person
Straw Bale
All you need to know about building with straw bale, learn how to build from the ground up. From laying the foundations through to putting in doorways and window openings. We’ll guide you through the process of splitting bales and we’ll even show you how to render.
Please arrange with the Design Team bookings in advance
£39 per person
Site Visits
We also offer to show round anyone that is interested in the site or would like to experience what we do, please arrange with the Design Team bookings in advance.
Contact Page
To discuss your project with one of our Design Team members please contact us at one of the following:
Design Team
Hill Holt Wood
Norton Disney
Lincolnshire
LN6 9JP
Tel: 01636 892836
Tel: 01636 555015
Email: design@hillholtwood.com
HOW IT BEGAN
Sam Brown – Founding Design Team Member
Graduated BA (hons) Architecture (RIBA Part 1)
De Montfort University, Leicester.
Facing the prospect of a difficult search for work following graduation in the midst of a recession, myself and two colleagues made contact with Hill Holt Wood’s founding director Nigel Lowthrop, knowing that he harboured the ambition to establish an alternative model for a building design service. We had previously worked with Nigel on an academic submission for the design of an autonomous artist’s studio and guesthouse, set within ancient woodland at Hill Holt Wood and utilising innovative construction techniques for British timber.
This project was well received academically, winning the ROK Scholarship for Innovation in Construction, which led to serious consideration of the project by Hill Holt Wood. With the aim of getting the design built, we worked with Nigel to establish a relationship whereby we could sow the seeds of Hill Holt Design, with the Woodland Artist’s Studio and Guesthouse as its first project, whilst simultaneously fulfilling the criteria of our RIBA Part 1 ‘Year Out’.
A local architect and current chairman of the Lincolnshire Society of Architects, Noel Barrowclough (Studio-G Architects), agreed to serve as our Employment Mentor for the purposes of PEDR and meets with us every few weeks to monitor our progress. The RIBA provided support in the form of the Walter Parker Bursary, which covered our set-up cost in terms of travel and food for the first few weeks. De Montfort University was also able to support our endeavours through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, through which they contributed to our wage for the first six months.
It should also be mentioned that initially we had nowhere to live for the duration of our year out.
The income we were able to justify in the early stages, plus the large amount of student debt we all held following our first degree studies, meant that we were unable to afford rent locally. Hill Holt Wood made the generous offer of allowing us to live on-site, rent free, in return for performing duties beneficial to the business, such as locking gates at night. After spending the first four months in tents and an ageing caravan, we had managed to build ourselves a bunkhouse block using recycled and surplus materials from around the site and local contractors. With the bedrooms built, the construction of a lounge and kitchen area becomes a task for incoming design team members.
After this initial period, the design office had attracted sufficient work to begin to function as a legitimate commercial entity within the Hill Holt Wood social enterprise umbrella. We have dealt largely with projects involving controversial planning situations, learning from Hill Holt Wood’s experience of building responsibly within sensitive areas such as Ancient Woodland. Simultaneously, we have gained an insight into a ‘hands-on’ approach to architectural design, necessitated by the pioneering nature of truly sustainable development in the UK, particularly the use of low-impact materials such as straw-bale, rammed earth and native timber.
Our Year Out has been the subject of local press coverage, as well as an RIBA Education lecture and its annual Yearbook publication. Above everything, I would say we have gleamed an invaluable, if unusual insight into how to get things done and have managed to conduct ourselves professionally in positions of responsibility whilst enduring basic living conditions. The initial lack of resources we experienced is being remedied as the venture expands, and we are now in a position to open the opportunity up to graduates from other schools of architecture.