KEY POINTS:
24 LONG DRIVE,
ST. HELIERS
Thirty-five years ago when builder and developer Ron Bickley began building houses, sites were affordable and material and design choices were few. Ron admits that times may have changed but he stands by the values that he set himself from the start.
"I decided when I started that I would only build houses I was prepared to live in myself. If I didn't want to live there, why should anyone else? I've lost count of how many I've built since then but I've stayed true to that concept. They are built with honest materials to the highest quality."
So while many homes of a design as modern as this one would often be built of man-made materials, this one is primarily constructed out of weatherboard and plastered brick. But unlike the houses built from these materials 35 years ago, this is a 21st century example where state-of-the-art insulation and good design maximises its orientation on the site, keeps it comfortable, and leaves as small an environmental footprint as possible.
Like everything Ron builds, nothing is left to chance. The central core around the kitchen, dining and family area has a heat pump for extra warmth in winter and air-conditioning in the sticky weeks of February. An open gas fire is there for ambience, but maximises the energy used by keeping the master bedroom above it warm through a discreetly located vent.
Stephen Smith, of S3 Architects, has employed several strategies to maximise thermal efficiency, including orienting the house on an east-west axis and providing generous glazing on the northern side, with minimal openings to the south. Good cross ventilation is provided to prevent the house overheating in summer.
Stephen's design never loses sight of the modern family's need for storage. Each of the four bedrooms as well as the laundry and kitchen have it in abundance.
A well-conceived separation allows the formal sitting room at the opposite end of the ground floor from the family room to double as a media room. Here, a large flat-screen TV does not interfere with the ambience of the room despite its size, and concealed heavy-duty cavity sliders means there's no such thing as noise pollution, no matter what high-action drama is keeping the children happy on rainy afternoons.
There's a guest suite looking out to the private rear courtyard on the ground floor, and upstairs are three huge bedrooms and an office, which could alternately be a nursery. Once again Ron's attention to family needs, as much as Stephen's attention to detail ensure that this is a house equally suited to the needs of a very young family as much as to a family with teenagers. A third living area is on this level and the master suite is on the corner.
Ron's next project is a complex of 10 similarly high-quality homes in Howick. Although different in design, what will not vary will be the quality. He puts it simply.
"They'll be beautiful just like this one. Why would you do anything except the best?"
