Low budget renovation with water harvesting at Forest Road

About this event

Having fitted solar panels, we set about making climate friendly home improvements and rainwater harvesting on a low budget. We made our 1950s project home habitable when we bought it in 2021. Over the years we updated spaces being mindful of a bigger future renovation and avoiding double effort where possible. The house had already had extensions done in 1970-80s in a very cost-avoidant manner which meant they were cold, damp and unusable spaces. We added solar panels and battery in 2022. After much contemplation over the scope and scale of the renovation, we worked in a collaborative manner with Emily McCarthy (our architect) and on one occasion, James Rixon (who advised on retrofit) to arrive at the phase of renovation that is now complete. We updated the front porch, driveway, and side extension that included a room and a utility area at the back. We now have a warm, well-insulated double bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, a utility area with a cloakroom and a bright and welcoming porch and driveway. On the functional and environmental aspect, we always wanted to source as many things as possible on the second-hand and surplus markets both to remain low carbon and keep the budget low. We were fortunate to find St Edmundsbury Homes as our builder who were happy to work with client-supplied items and materials. Our efforts paid off with savings of about £8k against a £45k budget project as we sourced everything from bathroom goods and tiles to roof-lights, block paving and other materials from FB Marketplace and eBay. We were therefore able to afford spending on much-needed items to stay resilient with a collapsing climate such as triple glazed window and front door, retrofit UFH and more importantly, rainwater harvesting.