15 December 2021 By Fran Williams. Photography by Simon Kennedy

40 under 40 practice McCloy + Muchemwa has transformed a dilapidated outbuilding into a greenhouse and workspace for self-build clients at their Norwich home for just £6,000

The existing garage was dark, cluttered, and contained an amount of asbestos that had to be removed. A small budget of just £6,000 called for simple, robust adaptions of standard details, recycled materials and some lateral thinking.

A generous greenhouse-style ‘orangery’ has been created to support existing vegetable patches and fruit trees in the garden. The new roof and pergola are used to collect rainwater for use in the garden.

The interior provides a workspace for DIY and pottery. A part-transparent gable and retained window provide natural light. To prevent the interior from overheating, existing fluorescent interior light fittings have been re-used.

The shed is clad in black corrugated steel to provide a neutral backdrop to the colours in the garden. The use of black spread to other parts, such as refurbished fencing, new garden furniture, a gate and standalone planters on the former driveway.

A contrasting bright orange colour celebrates the 7m-span of the pergola's steel beam and enhances visual coherence inside across details. A triangular motif recurs throughout the project from the pitched roof, greenhouse structural bracing and ventilation panel, to the pyramid window.

To minimise the quantity of new materials added, a ‘surgical’ approach to refurbishment was chosen. Rotten sections of timber were removed where leaking and the whole structure treated and sealed with exterior-grade paint. High-quality sinusoidal metal sheet cladding was installed on the roof and as a rainscreen to the external walls to protect the retained concrete block structure from further weathering.

The blockwork from the end bay of the garage was carefully dismantled and cleaned for re-use in the new gable end wall and in a raised planter in the orangery.

Internally, the rough concrete floor has been sealed and painted to stabilise the surface. Walls were repainted and gaps filled with draught and pest-excluding inserts.

Tool storage and workbenches have been made from upcycled furniture and recycled building materials and are designed to be raised off the floor, moveable and reconfigurable.

The project was planned to be completed in small phases so that the build could take place gradually over non-consecutive weekends. The size of panels for the metal roofing and for the greenhouse were selected to reduce safety risks and to minimise the number of joints. The greenhouse was fabricated as a series of flat panels on the ground before being lifted and fixed into place from below. This meant that the working height was significantly reduced for greater safety.

We've been experimenting with small projects for some time now as a refreshing complement to longer jobs that are years in the making, but also because of the benefit that fast feedback has on our design process and repertoire.

We think it's fairly universal that architects dream of doing a house for their parents – an act of love and a chance to sort of say: ‘Look Mum, no hands!’. If you are a parent and have the means you should certainly consider taking a leap of faith and investing in a budding career ... of course that opportunity isn't always available (and our own parents have already sacrificed loads for us), but after some arm-twisting, we managed to secure the job of re-imagining Steve's mum's garden shed, which, we suppose, is a start!

The whole trick with this project was delivering something striking and functional on a shoestring. For less than £6K, including significant asbestos removal, we were pretty pleased with the results – surgically refurbishing the building and re-using materials in an aspirational way … hands-on building experience was a necessary additional bonus of keeping the budget down! Steve McCloy and Bongani Muchemwa, McCloy + Muchemwa

We had an unsightly garage/shed with an old roof that was not in good repair. We decided that we would like to remove the roof as we were aware there was a fair amount of dust and dirt inside the shed and could not be sure whether some of it contained asbestos.

We approached Steven for a re-design and gave him relatively free rein. He suggested the coated steel roof and cladding and, with a bit of artistic twist, came up with the orange colour scheme and a handful of slightly wacky design elements. Some neat storage ideas made the chaotic space usable once again and a greenhouse was incorporated into the design – we look forward to all that can be grown here!

In lockdown we started to spend much more time in the garden, so the project was expanded to include a pergola and covered seating area at the back of the house. This has been a huge success and a positive lifestyle change, with many more hours spent in the garden.

There were a few scary moments in the self-build, including the raising of a huge metal beam for the pergola, decided on because we wanted an uninterrupted view of the garden. I feel we have achieved a very original piece of architecture on a small budget and the space has been transformed by our own hands!

Thank you, Steven and Bo, for our unique space and all the hard work and humour you provided along the way! Sue and Alan, homeowners

Start on site July 2020 Completion September 2021 Gross internal floor area 25m² Gross (internal + external) floor area 50m² Procurement route Self-build Construction cost £6,000 Construction cost per m² £240 Architect McCloy + Muchemwa Client Private Project manager Self-build client with McCloy + Muchemwa Fabrication and construction Self-build client with McCloy + Muchemwa CAD software used SketchUp

On-site energy generation 100% (PV array) Design life 20 years (with varying material warranties between 10-40 years) Rainwater storage capacity Circa 300 litres

Tags AJ Small Projects 2022 McCloy + Muchemwa Norwich sheds

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