Orchard House is a 171sqm three-bedroom family home located on a historically contentious Green Belt site in Warrington, characterised by its woodland setting and deep generational ties to the client’s family. The timber-framed new build home has successfully resolved a 65-year history of failed planning applications by delivering an exceptionally low-impact, high-performance design.
Designed by Studio Bark, with structural input from Structure Workshop and ecology guidance from SolumEnvironmental, the scheme was approved for its exceptional architectural and environmental merit. The homefollows a fabric-first approach, achieving a low operational energy use of 40.5KWh/m2, and an embodied carbon intensity of 630 kgCO₂e/m², surpassing RIBA 2025 targets and coming very close to the 2030 benchmark.
The design features an upside-down layout and uses hyper-local and site-won materials, including parquet flooring milled from a condemned ash tree force-felled on site. Crucially, the project included a comprehensive orchard restoration plan, achieving biodiversity net gain and preserving a rare local pear species; returning the site to its former productivity and long-lasting hospitality to both human and non-human inhabitants
