But Sarah sees it in a more positive way: “It’s such an opportunity when you are building from the ground up. We rented nearby and were in lockdowns while we were in build, so our house was a much-needed distraction. Site meetings became our social life! The team, Joe, and also Dan and his builders from Beam Development were absolutely brilliant. You hear absolute horror stories, but we were only slightly over timewise. It was 15-16 months rather than 12-13 months.”

Beneath Sarah’s home office with a view is a spacious utility room for laundry and two large plant rooms. For eco-fans this is the heart of the house.

Gordon, who has apps on his phone to measure his home’s energy use and an array of kitchen gadgets, says: “Using renewable energy was important to us, we wanted a big comfy house, but not one with a massive environmental cost. I like my mod cons and sustainability was a way of offsetting this.” Joe recommended using the latest technology to enable the family to heat and cool the house to zero carbon standards. In the plant room there are tanks, cylinders and pipes which connect to the three main parts – photovoltaic thermal (PV-T) solar panels on the roof which collect electrical and thermal energy; an earth energy bank (also known as an EEB) under the house which is used to store thermal energy (in hotter months so it can be used in the winter) with a heat pump for hot water, underfloor heating/cooling, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and pre-conditioning of the air via a 42m long earth tube.

In February the house is cosily warm – Sarah’s in a short-sleeved top and there’s a shoes off at the door habit which gives everyone full benefit of the underfloor heating. 

Although snagging still needs to be collated (this is an important part of an architect’s service); workmen are busy in the garden; furniture needs to be sourced and photos hung, Sarah says the family felt at home at once.