The House of Dreams

O nce upon a time, a bungalow was situated where a striking three storey property now stands on a prestigious road in Clontarf in North Dublin. The Architect overseeing this property was Fergal O’Doherty of Tyler Owens Architects who are based in Dublin 3. The practice specialises in both traditional and contemporary de-sign as well as understanding the importance of client communication.

“The original house was demolished to make way for a three storey double fronted house keeping the style of the Georgian houses along the street. This also gave the client better living space. This property is double fronted and it is 5,000sqft in total,’’ said Fergal O’Doherty.

“The clients were an absolute joy to deal with, they were very hands on and made informed decisions. They were very interested in the project from start to finish and they were very clear with what they wanted. It was a fairly straight forward build,’’ added Mr O’Doherty.

“Planning permission for the house came through quite quickly and we went to site about two years ago. I’ve worked on count-less houses with Enda (McManus of Coynestone Developments) over the last 15 years and not only is he good to work with and above all else he is a very good builder.

“He’s a good lad at dealing with clients as well as getting the project finished on time. I’d say he would be very welcome to go back and have a cup of tea with any of the clients he has worked for because he is that type of a guy. There were absolutely no problems throughout the building of this house, everything went very smoothly,’’ remarked Fergal.

In terms of the layout of the property, when you walk through the front door you are greeted with quite a light filled hall-way as well as a breath taking triple height staircase with the kitchen, living and dining area taking up the most space on this level as well as a utility room, bathroom, sitting room and other living spaces.

On the first floor, you are greeted by bedrooms, an office and a bathroom with the second floor comprising of more living space and bedrooms.

As to how Tyler Owens got involved with this project?
“The clients approached us through other clients whose house we had worked on along the same road. The project went to tender and we got the job. Peter Owens designed the house,’’ he said.

“This house has turned out really well. The inspiration for the design came from the street itself. The client had a really defined and well thought out brief as to what they wanted to incorporate in to the house.
“The male homeowner is quite tall so we had to make sure that doors as well as fixtures and fittings such as sinks, presses, toilets etc were at a slightly higher level than they normally would be,’’ he said. In terms of the technical elements of the house, the house would have an A2 rating with an air to water sourced heat pump in the back garden.

The pump is working out very well and despite the house being quite large the heating and electricity bills aren’t too high. In terms of insulation, Xtratherm 100mm full cavity was used with 65mm of internal insulation.
“Houses of this size would usually cost a small fortune to run but with the technologies and regulations that are around these days, they are making houses an awful lot more efficient. Building a big house is one thing, running a big house is another so to get those bills down every month is a good thing and it is very achievable to do.

The clients are very happy with their house and we’re very happy with how it turned out, the house suits their day to day living requirements and their personality,’ concluded Fergal O’Doherty.

 

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