Nigel Fitton may come from a commercial background but the building technology in this project is decidedly residential.“We worked very hard with the carpenter. It’s a master builder kind of approach,” he tells us, using conventional materials and techniques “and building a house out of them rather than trying to reinvent it from scratch.”
A range of cladding materials is used: off-white concrete masonry laid in a vertical stack bond, black corrugated steel, fibre-cement panels (“which I must say I will never use again; the edges are a bit soft, not as crisp as I would have liked.”) and Terraçade terracotta facade panels.

Terraçade features to the front of the upper level on the east and west elevations.“The real purpose of the Terraçade here was to provide us with a kind of substitute roofing material,” Fitton explains.And the effect from a distance is uncannily like that of a mansard roof.
The Terraçade is simply detailed with no penetrations. “It has a smart, crisp look to it which I think defines the house from the street which I think is important. The ventilated facade system also allows the wall to breathe and for some of the heat to be dissipated.”