I love my shed more than my ritzy house

Down so long it feels like up

JOHN Martin is a man who knows what it’s like to live the high life… running a successful computer software company and jetting between luxury homes in the Scottish Highlands and Spain.

But now 53-year-old John says he couldn’t be happier living in what looks like a garden shed with a few extra windows.

And he’s so impressed with life in his £45,000 Eco House that he’s launched a new business selling the homes that he believes could ease the housing crisis and make it easier for young couples in rural areas to take the first step on the housing ladder.

“It is very comfortable to live in, retains heat well and it never really gets cold,” says John. “I suppose it’s a humble house compared to my previous homes, but it’s much more intimate and cosy.

“Big grand spaces are fine if you’ve got plenty of money and that’s what you want, but that’s not really me, and I no longer have the stress of paying off a huge mortgage.”

He’s always been environmentally-conscious and when his computer business was thriving built what was then the first sustainable house in Inverness on 10 acres of land he bought outside the town.

The four-bedroom house, Stone End, was designed to be carbon neutral as 85 per cent of the heating came from a wood-burning stove in winter, while solar panels heated the hot water in summer. The south and west sides of the house were built almost entirely of glass.

But when John’s marriage and then his business ran into trouble five years ago the house was sold for £250,000 and John had to find a new home for himelf and his sons in a hurry.

He managed to hold on to most of the land and built the prototype of his eco-house there – a down-sized version of Stone End.

The exterior is built of locally-grown sustainable timber. Larch is used for the exterior and spruce for the interior, and the house is insulated with 200mm of rock wool, well above legal requirements.

Now two master craftsmen, Swiss Uwe Brandstatter and German Stefan Winkler, have joined John’s business, Torbreck Sustainable Buildings.

Uwe, 29, and Stefan, 31, are both “zimmermen” – craftsmen who completed a long German apprenticeship in cabinet-making or carpentry before spending two years travelling and practising their skills.

Uwe is qualified in structural design as well as carpentry. He designs all the components of the eco-homes and gets them ready before any other work begins. Stefan is a cabinet maker and can do all the construction work and fine finishing.

Together they have designed three types of sustainable houses ranging in price from £30,000 to £65,000. The two men fit the kitchen together while the plumbing and electrics are done by other tradesmen.

John says his £30,000 Eco-Pod is the mobile home for the 20th Century. Outside it looks a bit like a large garden shed with lots of windows but very basic. Inside is an open-plan living room and the kitchen is fitted with a wood-burning stove which provides all the heat and hot water.

The shower room with toilet and separate bedroom have a similar no-frills finish. It sits on breeze blocks and is designed so a special chassis with semi-deflated tyres can be slotted underneath. The structure is then secured with ropes, the chassis tyres are fully inflated and the whole thing is winched on to a low loader, ready to be moved wherever the buyer wants it.

The Affordable Eco House (45 sq m) costs £45,000 and John and his sons, Ross, 14, and Sean, 26, live in one.

Like the Eco-Pod it stands on blocks, but it is not designed to be mobile. Again, it’s a bit of squeeze inside with the combined living room and kitchen built in an L-shape around the bathroom.

This is a semi-wet room with shower and ceramic tiles. There are two bedrooms, which John has cleverly created in the roof space. He sleeps in one of them on a platform bed which has a storage area below.

Top of the range is the Affordable Eco House (65 sq metres) costing £65,000. It has much the same design but with larger rooms. There’s also the potential to extend into the steeply-sloping eaves.

John has identified a number of potential customers. “With planning permission Eco-Pods could be used to house homeless people or to replace rusting mobile homes,” he says.

“Thousands of people still live in them even though there’s a problem with condensation and the cold in the winter, while in the summer they can be baking hot.

“Our eco-houses could also be used as holiday homes”.

A big advantage of John’s Eco-Pods is that planners treat them in the same way as caravans – which means they are governed by the Caravan Site Act and can be used as a temporary home while a permanent one is built.

And if you have more than five acres of land and run a smallholding you can put three caravans or Eco-Pods there without needing planning permission.

John and his family have been living in their Affordable Eco House for almost five years now but the council has only just given permission for them to make it their permanent home.

“I’m not aiming to set up a multimillion-pound business but it would be good to create a few jobs here in the Highlands,” he says.

“Hopefully it will also do something to address the shortage of houses in the countryside.”

FOR more information visit the Torbreck website at www.torbreck.org

WOOD ONE SUIT YOU?

HERE at a glance are the three wooden homes that John Martin hopes will help ease the housing crisis…

The Eco-Pod – £30,000: Sits on breeze blocks and designed so it can be winched on to a low loader, ready to go. Inside is an open-plan living room and a kitchen fitted with a wood-burning stove

Affordable Eco House (45 sq metres) – £45,000: It too stands on blocks, but is not designed to be mobile. L-shaped living room/kitchen with one of the two bedrooms in the roof.

Affordable Eco House (65 sq metres) – £65,000: Much the same design as the one above with larger rooms and the potential to extend into the eaves.

It’s cheap, comfy to live in, never gets cold..and it’s eco-friendly

I hope these homes can help ease the housing shortage

A former high-flying Inverness businessman has joined forces with two traditional craftsmen to create eco-friendly homes, finds Jenny McBain

Most of us aspire to climbing up the property ladder, but for John Martin things aren’t so simple. He has gone from living in a luxurious designer home set in 10 acres to a basic timber house with a rather more utilitarian appearance.

However, Martin, an entrepreneur, is now attempting to forge a business out of his straitened circumstances, and claims to be able to produce desirable, sustainable homes starting at only Pounds 30,000. All the customer has to do is provide a serviced site and slap on the toxin-free paint at the end. (The price includes the paint.) For this new venture -Torbreck Sustainable Buildings -Martin has joined up with two master craftsmen, one of whom is Swiss, the other German. Stefan Winkler and Uwe Brandstatter are both “zimmermen” -an age-old Germanic tradition of men who complete a long apprenticeship in cabinet- making or carpentry before spending two years travelling and practising their skills. Brandstatter and Winkler have completed their travels and are planning to settle in Scotland and develop the business.

Martin’s employment history is a more modern tale. He used to run a successful software company, and invested some of his profits in buying 10 acres of land outside Inverness. He commissioned the architect Neil Sutherland to build a family home that reflected his ecological principles. Stone End is thought to have been the first sustainable house in Inverness.

Shortly after moving in, Martin went from boom to almost bust, and, although he managed to hang on to most of his land, the house had to be sold. These days Martin waves to his new neighbours as they drive past to what was his dream home.

The new prototypes for the business are on a secluded, elevated site on his land.

The smallest eco-pod, which sells for Pounds 30,000, is being marketed as a mobile home for the 21st century. Outside, it looks a bit like a large garden shed.

Granted, it’s a pretty, larch-clad shed with lots of windows, but still very basic nonetheless.

Inside, there is a more urban feel to its cuboid simplicity. It is reminiscent of a basic city-centre flat. An open-plan living room and kitchen are simply fitted with units from Ikea and a wood-burning stove, which provides heat and hot water.

The shower room and adjoining bedroom have a similarly no-frills finish. The floor is laminate throughout rather than wood to save on weight.

The entire structure stands on breeze blocks, so a trailer with a specially designed chassis can be inserted underneath, the blocks removed and the eco pod driven away.

Martin himself lives in an eco-pod, with his girlfriend and teenage son. The couple’s bedroom is in the roof space, with a platform bed that has a small dressing room-cum-storage area below. The sleeping area also extends above the room belonging to their son, who has ample space for his electronic equipment and other belongings.

“When I built the big house, I had a rush of blood to the head and got carried away on a tide of ostentation,” says Martin. “The first house was a kind of statement, whereas this is a bit more intimate.”

In this context the word intimate may just mean small. The entire house occupies an area of 45sqm (484sqft), less than some of the smallest social housing flats.

The squeeze is felt in the combined living room and kitchen, which is configured in an L-shape around the bathroom. The bathroom itself is a semi-wet room with shower and ceramic tiles.

Potential customers who are put off by the compact nature of the design may be persuaded by the building’s price tag, which comes in at Pounds 45,000, including construction. Again, you just supply the serviced site and apply the final coat of paint.

“Life has improved dramatically since I left the high life,” says Martin. “You don’t have the stress of a huge mortgage.

Big, grand spaces are fine if you’ve got plenty of money and that’s what you want, but it’s not really me.”

Those with a bit more to spend might opt for the next size up -a two-bedroom house occupying 65sqm (700sqft) for Pounds 65,000. None has yet been built, but on paper it is much the same as the basic version, with larger rooms and no platform bed. However, there will be potential to extend into the eaves if clients so wish.

Predictably, the next house after that will be 75sqm (807sqft) and will cost Pounds 75,000. It has three bedrooms. Each design is constructed from larch timber grown locally. Larch does not need to be treated and is highly durable. All the buildings have breathing walls -they let moisture in and out, but not air.

Martin has identified a number of potential customers.

The first is a landowner who has permission to build a house and needs temporary accommodation. As long as you start your build within five years, you can stay in a mobile home until your permanent home is complete. At that point, you could apply to planning for a change of use that would allow you to rent out your eco-pod to holidaymakers all year round.

He says: “The interesting thing about this building is that it genuinely can be rented out for 12 months of the year because, even if you leave it unoccupied for months at a time, the passive solar gain means it never really gets cold. Unlike a conventional metal caravan, you don’t have problems with damp because it is well-insulated and glazed, yet the walls are breathable and allow moisture to seep out.”

Landowners who have more than five acres of land on which they run a smallholding or croft can have up to three caravans or eco-pods on site without requiring planning permission, says Martin. They must not be occupied between October and April but could be run as holiday lets or used to accommodate seasonal workers.

He believes another potential market for the eco-pod is the thousands of people throughout Scotland who live in rusting, cold caravans. Its dimensions and mobility are such that it comes under the Caravan Sites Act, a piece of 1960s legislation he has examined in detail.

He says: “I’ve discovered a permitted development right that allows a caravan that has been used as a dwelling for more than four years to qualify for de facto planning permission.

“All you need to do is fill in a specific form and pay a fee of Pounds 290, and if you have evidence that it has been lived in, your local planning department will fill in a certificate of lawful use.”

The owner of a holiday park in the West Highlands has shown an interest, and Martin is confident the business will grow naturally.

He says: “Once you have these things in situ, other people will appreciate them.

I’m not wanting to set up a multi- million-pound business but it would be good to create a few jobs here in the Highlands, using local materials, and to do something to address the rural housing shortage.”

n www.torbreck.org