The Brief

To convert an industrial concrete water tower with no windows or stairs into a three bedroom home. The tower had been built in 1915 by the famous architect Edwin Lutyens and was particularly unusual because it was square and not round.

Because the project was so different it was featured on the Channel 4 programme Grand Designs.

County Joinery were commissioned by the main contractor George Stone to produce the joinery which included a circular rooflight and all staircases.
 

The Solution

A lot of people considered the building to be an eyesore rather than a potential home and with no staircases or windows it really was a case of starting from scratch. The home was constructed to wrap around the water tower and it has a staircase connecting the floors. The living area is light and airy because of a drum lantern fitted to the roof.

County Joinery manufactured the lantern which is a totally unique structure designed specifically for the building, with all external timber work clad in zinc.

We also built the staircase from the second to third floor and clad the staircase from the first to the second floor in European Oak.
 

The Result

The build took over eleven months and the owners, Mr and Mrs Del Tufos only have good things to say about the whole experience “builders get such a bad press but we were really impressed with ours, they did some extraordinary work and were very reliable”.

County Joinery relish projects such as these where they can use their expertise and traditional craftsmanship to produce unique solutions to match exacting requirements, not only that but everything was finished on time and on budget.

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