THE SUTTONS

The Suttons is a newly built beach house in Camber Sands, East Sussex. The house's design centred on several key principles: a functional family space, a building that can withstand the extreme environment, to maximise the views of a sandy beach surrounded by undulating sand dunes and working to sustainable principles. 

The house's design creates varied pockets of external space at ground level to offer shelter from the sun, wind and rain. There are also several balconies at first floor level which again offer sheltered seating, along with a roof terrace on the second floor that is surrounded by planted beds, a wild flower and shingle roof.

The landscaping was an essential aspect to the project to bed the property into its surroundings and to create a gentle transition from the sandy beach, up onto the shingle and through to the private outdoor spaces.

Internally there are large open plan family spaces on the ground floor with views out across the beach and direct access to the beach and a first floor family space offering privacy and sea views.

A pair of 90 metre deep boreholes within the internal courtyard area have been installed to create a ground source heating system. Energy from the ground is converted to to passively heat the spaces and provides all heating and hot water for the home. There are solar panels on the roof to provide additional hot water capacity. The building is thoroughly insulated with high levels of thermal mass created using a concrete frame and slab construction.