REAL PROJECTCONTEMPORARY SELF-BUILD
TIMELINE
HOMEOWNERS Matthew and Anna Cleevely
LOCATION Cambridgeshire
BUILD TIME12 months
SIZE 300m²
BUILD COST£1m
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM Masonry
When Matthew and Anna Cleevely set out to sell their period terrace and buy a larger house to accommodate their growing family, they were determined to stay in Cambridge — ideally in the same neighbourhood. So when a perfectly serviceable – if uninspiring – 1970s two-storey detached house on a nearby site came on the market, they faced the classic self-build conundrum: should they renovate and extend or demolish and start again?
Architect Richard Owers, who collaborated with the couple on the project, takes up the story: “We looked at whether we could keep the house and perhaps extend it, but Matthew and
