About Your Land Type

Storybook Love Sloping Sites

It seems that nearly the whole building industry is fixated with level land. If it’s not level, well, they’ll just make it level, even if it means that your new home will have a cliff behind it or will be hiding in a hole.

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This might make life easier for the majors and unimaginative designers and builders out there but at Storybook, we absolutely reject this approach. We have always found that a creative solution where you sculpt the architecture to the fall of the land gives a superior and usually more affordable result, it’s just more difficult to design that’s all. Our aim when designing is to always keep site cuts to a minimum, flow with, not fight the topography and focus on keeping costs down. For a start it’s not just the costs of the excavation itself but also the associated requirements of drainage, engineered retaining walls, soil removal etc.

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Our sloping land architecture aims to achieve:

  • Fabulous street appeal.
  • Comfortable vehicle access and car accommodation.
  • Optimum advantage of views.
  • Practical and exciting interior layouts.
  • Good access to indoor / outdoor living areas and decks.
  • Comfortable access to garden areas.
  • Cost efficiencies.
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Whatever the fall of your land the Storybook designers will firstly produce an accurate 3D computer model of the site from information provided by a professional feature survey. We then study all of the regulations and constraints relating to the land, steepness of driveway access, boundary setbacks, maximum permitted building heights, the effect of neighbouring buildings (overlooking / over shadowing / privacy issues) existing vegetation etc. and then produce another model this time creating a shape that represents the possible 3D building envelope. The design solution will be within this accurately determined space so the designers can know as the design (also in 3D) emerges that it will always remain a complying project in relation to permit requirements. The difficulty of creating design solutions in relation to appearance, function and cost of split level and multi-level architecture is enormous and requires specially gifted and experienced designers whose creative talents also extend into the area of artistry. Storybook has never shied away from the challenges of the sloping site, in fact it accounts for around 60% of all our work today.

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You could say that Storybook, unlike the building industry generally, specialises in solving the problems of the slope. The Storybook consultants will show you numerous examples of the type of architecture suitable for land like yours.

Before your initial consultation it’s a great idea to be able to explain the nature and extent of the slope. For the purpose of discussion this information can easily be determined by yourself on your land (without at this stage the expense of a survey) with the aid of your iPhone or iPad. Get yourself the free App “I Handy level “. Using this stand back and tilt your device to match the fall with the eye or fence line and press set. This will give you a readout of the approximate fall in degrees. Also take a few photos of the site. This information will enable a more meaningful discussion during your consultation especially if you have requested that a designer also be present in person or on Skype. Make your free consultation appointment now and take the worry of owning a sloping site away.