Rather than hold back the river, this Oxfordshire home allows water to flow under the house and drain back out again

Joanna and Martin O’Callaghan, 58-year-old chartered surveyors, married for 30 years and parents of two, are showing strong signs of being middle-aged hipsters. The living room wall of their newly built larch-clad house in the south Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay is lined with original 1980s singles by Prince, the Jam, the Smiths, the Specials and Grace Jones. A woodburner roars away in the centre of a vogueishly “zoned” rather than fully open-plan living space. Taking pride of place in the garden are neat stacks of copper beech logs – the result of a new wood-chopping hobby.

The biggest problem was that it was a zone-three flood plain – but that is also what makes the site so alluring

“You should see my collection of axes,” says Martin, plucking from his shelf a volume of Lars Mytting’s surprise hipster bestseller, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way. “It’s the new craft beer,” he says, tongue in cheek. “The stacks are mine,” adds Joanna. “It is extremely therapeutic.”

Aside from chopping wood, the last few months have seen the O’Callaghans settling into their new home, having sold their five bedroom 1920s semi in Weybridge, Surrey, where they brought up their now adult children. “It was all money, money, money,” says Joanna of life in the home counties commuter belt. “This is a bit more real.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The house is vogueisly ‘zoned’ rather than fully open plan. Photograph: ©AlastairLever/Baca Architects

Theirs is not quite an empty nest; their son, Patrick, is living with them. But it has been a fresh start. They have spent about £350,000 on the modern three-bedroom 1,500 sq ft house. Every weekend has involved trips to charity shops and recycling depots to dispose of old furniture. The pared-back uncluttered result is quite Grand Designs but they were determined to avoid some of the cliches seen on the TV show. “They all have kitchens with a flipping island counter in it so somebody holds forth like they are at a bar,” says Martin, who definitely didn’t want that. Their wooden kitchen units are all bolted to walls.

The design makes room for the flood rather than resisting it altogether

It is an enviable set-up but it has not been without risk. The plot used to be the garden of Joanna’s parents’ home which they sold a few years ago, retaining the land to see if one day it might be possible to get planning permission for a contemporary home. Aside from the fact the heart of the village is a conservation area, containing 66 listed structures, the biggest problem was that it was an Environment Agency designated zone-three flood plain – the highest probability of flooding. But that is also what makes the site so alluring. The merrily babbling Ginge Brook bordering the garden feeds the Thames, just 200 yards away.

“I remember it flooding when I was younger, but not as much as recently,” said Joanna. The Thames burst its banks here in 2014 and there have been two Environment Agency flood alerts so far this year.

The couple turned to Robert Coutts and Richard Barker of Baca Architects, specialists in flood-resilient housing. Their previous solutions have included more expensive and heavily engineered homes that float on reinforced concrete decks and rise and fall, tethered to piles if the river overtops.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The vaulted 4.2 metre high living space. Photograph: ©AlastairLever/Baca Architects

The idea here was cheaper and simpler: to reshape the land so that flood water can flow across the garden and through a swale dug beneath the house, which itself is raised up on 27 concrete piles a few inches above the ground. “We scraped the land so the drainage works more naturally and it flows out from the brook and back into the brook,” said Coutts.

There is also a gravel storage area that has the capacity to soak up approximately 8 cubic metres of water. Permeable boundaries of shrubs and hedges are intended to improve flood flows through the site. The architects’ central ethos is not to defend one property from flood water thereby heightening the flood risk to neighbouring properties; the design makes room for the flood rather than resisting it altogether.

“It is frightening how quickly the brook rises, so it is going to flood at some point,” says Joanna. “We can put our faith in the architects. There is no way we could have got planning permission if we hadn’t used them.”

“You worry if it will work,” admits Martin. During the summer floods of 2007, when Tewkesbury Cathedral was famously photographed from the air surrounded by a sea of flood water, their plot was completely submerged.

The house is constructed on a steel deck fitted with a waterproof membrane that sits on top of the piles. It is conceived as three parallel gable-ended volumes, one containing the vaulted 4.2 metre high living space, one containing the kitchen and dining area, and a third containing bedrooms and bathrooms over two floors. Almost everything is built from wood and it is simple but impressive. Outside, the raised level allows for a wide verandah-like deck giving views across the brook.

When the flood finally does come, the O’Callaghans are as ready as they can be. The logs are stacked on pallets and even if they are washed away Joanna says she wouldn’t mind restacking them. Martin has his vinyl collection to listen to as the water sloshes beneath the house. And if it all gets too much and the architects’ best plans are washed away, there is always an escape route: lying in the flower bed is Joanne’s racing canoe which she used to paddle in on the Thames.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A concept sketch shows the house overlooking Ginge Brook, which borders the garden and flows into the Thames. Photograph: Baca Architects

Tips for flood-prone homes



Prevent sewage from flowing back from toilets and sinks by fitting non-return valves

Fit air-brick covers to stop flood water entering - but remember to remove after

Buy giant waterproof sealable bags for about £40 each, big enough to cover sofas if they are too heavy to move upstairs

Stock up on sandbags in case the local council doesn’t have any available

Buy a flood gate to fit across exterior doors.

Fit high shelves on which to store away valuables from rising waters.

Move electrical sockets to 1.5 metres above the floor to prevent wiring getting damaged

Replace wooden floors with concrete or tiles and use rugs that you can lift quickly instead of carpets

Fit quick-release internal doors that can be moved out of the way so they don’t absorb flood water

Tips from the Home Owners Alliance