As spring moves into summer, things are feeling energised at Greenheart. There’s a strong mix of projects completing, new starts gathering momentum, and plenty more moving through design, planning and tender stages.
We’re also marking our 25th year — and it’s shaping up to be one of our busiest and most varied yet.
After a tough couple of years, we take nothing for granted. We remain hugely grateful to our fantastic clients, consultants, suppliers and brilliant team.
Cowbyre is finally reaching the finish line, with a few last exterior tweaks and the garage now successfully converted into a gym. Building Control sign-off is underway and the house is looking beautiful.
The clients, Olly and Kate, are delighted — if understandably a little weary after such a long and complex project. We are hugely grateful to them for their patience, trust and focus throughout.
A particular highlight is the staircase, with its continuous curved handrail, completed by John and looking absolutely gorgeous. Elsewhere, Cass is taking a break from GSC to focus on his own project, while Dave and Paul have moved over to WR.
Our certified Passivhaus new-build at Sutton Benger is also nearing completion. Tuai, Max and Adam are pushing things along nicely, with stone cladding progressing well and interior fit-out underway.
The client has also been steadily working on the drystone boundary wall, which is coming together beautifully.
At Winsley Road, Windows are in, the external brick skin is now up to first floor level and we’ve achieved excellent airtightness results of 0.4 ACH. Internal fit-out works are now well underway. Roofing to start imminently
We’ve learned a lot from this project so far — particularly the challenges of building small, involving no fewer details than a much larger house, and arguably more difficult coordination. All without cement, too!
Successful management and delivery of a project like this, aswell as results like the airtightness figure, only happen through a huge amount of care and attention from everyone involved. Thanks to Sonia, Dave, Paul and team for their continuing hard work
Our city-centre Pilates studio project for former self-build client Claire is progressing well under Simon’s management.
A sea of HVAC and suspended ceilings makes this one a little outside our usual territory, but it’s progressing well and broadening the team’s experience in a different type of fit-out environment.
Rock Lane is a new low-energy single dwelling near Bristol, designed by Josh at Greentrace. The insulated raft is being poured as this update goes out, with framing due to begin within the next week or so.
Alongside that, we’ve recently won the tender for Maisemore — another Greentrace-designed project — with a summer start now being prepared.
It’s great to be working with Josh on multiple projects simultaneously. Josh previously spent time working in-house at Greenheart before establishing Greentrace and building his own home.
We’re also currently tendering for a co-housing project developed by Greentrace, which could make it a hat-trick.
Designed in-house, Sneed Park is a substantial eco-refurbishment and extension project, including a loft conversion and the lowering of existing rear floor levels to create split levels across all three floors.
The result will be garden-level access to the extension and an additional loft room.
As always, the aim is excellent thermal performance, with MVHR, heat pump and a sizeable PV array integrated throughout.
Some value engineering and minor planning amendments are currently in hand, with a June start looking likely. It’s the sort of project that demands careful sequencing and coordination, but exactly the kind of complex refurbishment work we enjoy getting stuck into.
Simon is also in the frame for a hybrid site/project management role.
White lodge, in Pershore marks our first collaboration with Tom at Grain Architects.
The project has undergone significant redesign and is now progressing under a negotiated contract for a fully timber-framed family home on screw piles, helping minimise embodied carbon.
Frame design is underway in-house at GSC, alongside several other contractor-designed elements.
Contractor, client and architect seem to be building a constructive relationship, which from experience we know is usually the key to a successful project.
Chescombe is a timber lodge-style eco-retreat outside Chipping Sodbury, conceived and designed in-house.
Planning validation took longer than hoped, but the application is finally in and we’re keeping fingers crossed for a swift and positive outcome.
Personally, we can’t wait to get stuck into Stage 4 design, and detailed project planning on this one.
- Bath new-build – a new family home on a steep garden plot, North of the city
- WeCanMake – a tender for a community space and social housing
- Barton Hill Community Centre – working alongside Barefoot architects, and former clients Cherry Orchards, to advise on cost management and technical specification.
Our own development project at Walsingham continues to evolve.
Planning has now been resubmitted for a single Passivhaus dwelling following an unsuccessful attempt to secure approval for a pair of semi-detached homes.
We’re now working alongside Grassroots Planning Consultancy. There are still a few hurdles to clear, but we remain hopeful for a positive outcome.
There’s been a noticeable increase in enquiries for in-house design work recently, alongside tenders arriving for a healthy range of project types.
Whether this reflects genuine optimism or simply a sense that waiting indefinitely no longer makes sense, momentum does seem to be returning.
The wider economic picture still feels uncertain, but perhaps people are beginning to conclude that self-build projects can’t stay on hold forever.
energy security — both personal and national — also seems to be contributing, quite logically to place renewed momentum behind the kind of low-energy buildings and high-performance homes we specialise in building.
If so, it’s one small silver lining amongst the darker clouds we’ve all become accustomed to.
Sonia is now well established as a core team member and doing a great job managing both SP and WR.
Kate is settling in well and starting to hit her stride, contributing across RL and several future projects.
George, our newest addition to the architectural team, is finding a good balance between part time work with GSC and his own projects.
Design-wise, we’re now a team of three, which brings the welcome challenge of finding increasingly efficient ways to collaborate, share workload and support one another.
On the project management side, we’ve been exploring ways to automate aspects of costing and project planning — cautiously trying to harness some of BIM’s potential.
That said, bespoke buildings still resist standardisation. Unique sites, material palettes and technical challenges mean reinventing the wheel can sometimes feel unavoidable.
There’s a constant balance between improving efficiency and not overcomplicating things, but finding better consistency across bespoke projects remains an important goal for us.
The three directors continue working hard to keep all the plates spinning, while hoping to carve out a little more time for strategic thinking, proper conversation — and maybe even the occasional pint.
Finn and his crewe, as ever, are stretched across multiple fronts: organising groundwork and preparation for incoming carpentry packages while also returning to near-complete projects for landscaping and external finishing works.
His team remain in extremely high demand and continue producing exceptional workmanship, but there’s a very real need for an experienced groundworks/general construction manager to help provide some breathing space.
Could that be you?
Meanwhile in Accounts, Louise has returned after some time away — good timing given how busy things are becoming — and our wonderful finance manager Sophie continues keeping the numbers firmly under control.
Overall, the team feels particularly strong at the moment, with plenty of exciting work underway and more waiting in the wings.
We know plenty of people in the industry are still finding things tough, so we’re not taking any of it for granted.
Summer — and beyond — is looking lively.