For Paper House Project, creating a home on a compact urban backland site in Stoke Newington, London, meant balancing opportunity with constraint. Greenview House transforms a hidden pocket of land into a light-filled, low-energy dwelling designed around spatial efficiency, comfort, and well-being.
A compact backland site
Located adjacent to Butterfield Green, a neighbourhood green space in Stoke Newington, the self-build is home to architect James Davies, his partner Sophie, and their whippet Dylan. It occupies the footprint of a long-forgotten garage, sitting mid-terrace within a row of three mews houses, and responds carefully to the challenges of a tight inner-city plot with no direct street access.
James explains, ‘I have an iterative approach to working and enjoy problem-solving. This was useful for the project because the defining feature here was the plot size, which, at 40 square metres, was very small. After the wall build-ups this was reduced to an even smaller 33 square metres. In small spaces, every aspect of the design has to work hard and either do one thing really well or multiple things at the same time to justify its inclusion.’
Light, volume, and material expression
Inside, the home unfolds as a series of interconnected double-height spaces. Light wells at the front and rear draw daylight deep into the plan, creating strong visual connections across floors. As well as bringing daylight into the basement and ground floor, the front light well creates a threshold between the main living area and the shared access route, adding privacy without closing the house off. A three-metre living green wall brings planting into the ground-floor dining space, while the first floor includes a discreet outdoor terrace and a large-format picture window framing views towards Butterfield Green.
Viewed from street level, Greenview House appears to hover above the boundary wall. More treehouse than townhouse, its blackened timber facade recedes into the tree line. The modest entrance conceals a surprisingly expansive two-bedroom home, with oak joinery used throughout. Galvanised steel and polished concrete balance the warmth of the timber, adding a more utilitarian edge to the interior.
Describing the rationale behind the material palette, James says, ‘Concrete is a very tactile, dependable material. In the basement it forms a continuous floor finish throughout the two bedrooms and shower room. Using one material like this makes the space feel bigger but also creates a very physical connection to the house when you enter.’
With an open floor plan that allows light, volume, and material expression to take centre stage, Greenview House feels larger than its constrained footprint suggests.
Low-energy construction
Construction on such a constrained plot demanded ingenuity. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) became the project’s linchpin, used as a pragmatic construction solution rather than an aesthetic statement. Prefabricated panels were craned into place, allowing the structure to be assembled in less than a week and reducing disruption during the build. Alongside its speed of assembly, the CLT also acts as an acoustic buffer, helping to reduce city noise.
A fabric-first approach delivers levels of insulation and airtightness that exceed current UK standards. Full Passivhaus certification was considered during the early design stages, but the site’s orientation, constrained mid-terrace position, and relationship with neighbouring buildings made formal certification difficult to achieve. Instead, the design adopts Passivhaus principles where appropriate. A highly insulated envelope, triple-glazed windows, solar PV panels, an air-source heat pump, and an MVHR system support comfort and operational efficiency. The performance figures are notable: an EPC rating of 97A, annual carbon emissions of just 0.1 tonnes of CO2, and primary energy use of 5 kWh/m². These metrics place Greenview House among the more energy-efficient contemporary homes in the UK.
Speaking about the dwelling’s environmental performance, James says, ‘During the summer, the house averages approximately two days per week of “free” electricity. Windows can remain closed and the space still enjoys a constant supply of fresh air thanks to the MVHR.’
Well-being and inner-city living
Well-being is embedded in the architecture. Bedrooms sit quietly at basement level, cocooned from street-level noise, while the living spaces are generous and maintain a close relationship with the outdoors through the picture window, terrace, and living green wall.
A sedum green roof reduces rainwater runoff, provides habitat for pollinators, and contributes to urban cooling. Fixed planters introduce further greenery into the home, supporting air quality, well-being, and a stronger connection to nature. Ancillary structures, including bike and bin storage, also incorporate sedum roofs, extending the site’s ecological benefits while supporting cycling and waste management.
Unlocking a constrained urban site
Delivered by a multidisciplinary team of contractors, engineers, and consultants, Greenview House shows how collaboration and future-focused thinking can help overcome the constraints of complex inner-city sites, where space is limited and every decision has to work hard. Technically robust and spatially generous, the project demonstrates how an overlooked urban plot can become a carefully considered low-energy home.
