Building The Orchard: 2013

The moment arrives to try my first building craft: brick-laying.

The construction of a garden wall begins with deep footings. Excavating with a pick-axe exposes some unexpected fragments of the past.

Electricity arrives on site, with the help of an assortment of people. But I've promised not to tell you how it was done.

A large tree on site has to be felled, so I grab the opportunity to make the most of the timber.

We inherited a green roof when we bought the building plot. But despite their excellent eco-credentials, this one has to go.

Every building project has to start somewhere. For me, it’s down a dusty hole in the heat of summer.

Building design is all about responding creatively to constraints. In south London, our primary constraint is inevitably the size of the plot.

Building The Orchard