Our house is inspired by the Anglo-Saxons … but is net zero

Times

20-06-2025

The walls of Angles House, overlooking the Hoxne water meadows in rural Suffolk, are insulated with 680 square metres of recycled newspaper. From the Siberian larch timber cladding to the aluminium and the slate roofs, all the materials are sustainable.
Yet Gerry and Marie Lagerberg never intended to build a home where recycled materials were used — it just happened.
'We were living in what we thought was our forever home, a 400-year-old Suffolk longhouse, when a friend sent us a Rightmove link,' Gerry says. Marie had been working with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust running wildflower courses and was searching for more planting space. Curiosity took over and they went to look.
The six-acre plot lay fallow, with two Nissen huts made from asbestos and a tumbledown pig shed, but what it did have was the water frontage of the River Waveney and a large meadow.
'There was permission to knock down the derelict buildings and erect a modern bungalow at the top of the hill,' Gerry says. Yet they were adamant that they didn't want to build 'a great big, shouty white thing' that, standing on the brow of the hill, would be visible to all the neighbours and spoil the natural beauty of the meadowland.
The dream was to occupy a space to see the view but not to be seen themselves. 'We had planning for a less good house in the wrong place; what we really wanted was to move the house to the middle of the field and build something substantially better,' Gerry says.
That needed new permissions. 'We were in the middle of a Covid lockdown. It was the time when we were being encouraged to eat out to help out and, picking up a takeaway, one of the staff shouted, 'We have an order for Beech.' That was the first time we met Craig, our architect,' says Marie, who had previously identified Beech Architects as the ones for the job. Alison Farmer, a landscape architect, offered further advice, suggesting that the house be built on a contour line to minimise its impact on the landscape as seen from the local footpaths and roads.
Being less cryptic was a further requirement. 'We began to list the number of bedrooms we wanted and the types of spaces we needed. The aim was for it to be 'low-impact Goldilocks' — not too big and not too small,' Marie explains.
Family life was moving on, with their two sons then aged 18 and 19. With that came a pressing need for there to be pockets of privacy together with workable spaces for studying, projects and relaxing.
The drawing that Beech produced resulted in a house that simulates an Anglo-Saxon settlement in design, reflecting the area's history. The furthest of the 'pods' houses the boys and the next along is the master bedroom, followed by the guest and sitting room, with the final pod containing the kitchen, utility, pantry and study. All of the bedrooms have en suite bathrooms.
Flat-roofed 'links' connect the angular-shaped rooms, while also offering functional spaces for dining, music, craft and a snug for the boys. A glass cabinet in one of the link walkways contains treasures discovered before the ground was broken — among the artefacts is a Celtic coin dating from 150BC, together with loom weights from the hemp and flax weaving industry.
Practicalities have always been centre stage. 'We have two corgis and we wanted a boot room area so they didn't traipse mud through the house,' Marie says.
While the drawings were taking shape, the real challenge was to move the planning along. The couple were pleasantly surprised when the whole process was 'supportive'. 'Then the build began and the stress started,' Marie says, laughing.
Supply chain issues ensued in the summer of 2022, doubling key costs. 'Putin invaded Ukraine and the cladding went from £50 per sq m to over £100 per sq m,' Gerry says. 'But we did manage to secure the last bit of larch before it became unavailable.'
Savings were made in innovative ways. Crushing the waste materials from the old outbuildings on site to be used as hardcore saved about £12,000. Researching local suppliers and tendering out to them ensured the best prices: the creation of the pond was achieved at 10 per cent of the cost of the highest quote.
The main building contractor went bust and the couple gritted their teeth. 'We had to contact all the subcontractors and negotiate with them to stay. That meant paying them directly — our one bill a month from the contractor became 30 separate ones,' Gerry says.
The environmental technology proved a learning curve for Gerry, who is retired and ended up project-managing the build. 'We put in over £100,000 of technology — with a mechanical ventilation system, an air source heat pump, solar and PV panels feeding a battery. It's a level outside of our technical competence,' he admits, adding that servicing skills in the market are scant.
• Can you really build a 'net zero' house?
Gerry says, however, that 'we haven't been slavish about all the materials we used because there are financial constraints around choice'.
The house has achieved a net-zero carbon calculation. 'It was a first for the building controller,' Gerry says. He adds that there have been debates around moving towards being off-grid. 'We use the grid when we need to — when the electricity is cheap, we'll top up the Tesla batteries that cost £7,500 each, or run things in the house at night. But we aim to never consume more then we need.' No grid electricity was used last summer.
Angles House was completed two years ago and the pair say they are learning to live within the natural surroundings. 'We knew we would never flood from the river, but the field behind us drains into the corner of our drive and shoots towards the back door, so we narrowly avoid flooding in heavy rain,' Marie says. 'In an old house the way everything works is passed down from one owner to the next, but in this house we are the first custodians — we are the data.'
Climate has dictated other parts of the build too. 'The conventional wisdom is that you have south-facing windows, but we realised that could go the other way and we may overheat. So our large windows face north and the smaller ones south — it has worked really well,' Marie says.
Nature exists outside but is also the very essence of living inside Angles House. Marie was quick to reject the idea of a patio outside the six-metre window of their dining room. 'I didn't want to look at a table and chairs — I want to see the entire view,' she says. A further veto was having a green roof for the links: with low rainfall in East Anglia, the Lagerbergs felt they would need to water it at times when water was scarce, which was wasteful. Rainwater is harvested to maximise water storage.
The private existence afforded to the wildlife is carried through to the accommodation — so many of the details have been crafted with that in mind. The bedrooms are tucked away discreetly towards the back of the house and, thanks to the shape of the house, are not visible from the communal areas.
'What I love most is just sitting and watching. Suddenly the sky will be full of birds from the rookery and then they're gone, and the light falls across the valley and lights up a different part while the cloud shifts,' Marie says.
She adds: 'One of the builders said to me that his favourite aspect of the view is the road. I asked him to explain and he said it's because the view is like being in a Harry Potter movie and that's the only moving part of the picture.'