Min Y Mor | House Extension & Renovation
Menai Bridge, Anglesey, 2021
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It is rare to find a property right on the waters edge in a location like this, so when our client came across it, they snapped it up immediately. The Menai Strait, known locally as Afon Menai, is a sea channel that separates the isle of Anglesey from Gwynedd. It is a unique, ever-changing environment with tidal flows and swirling whirlpools. A slip-way runs down the side of the house, which is perfect for launching boats. Our client loves to take their family out on paddle-boards to explore the little islands.
We have removed the existing conservatory, replacing it with a large apex window and wrap around balcony to make the most of the views over the Menai Strait. A new extension provides three more bedrooms with en-suites, creating a five bedroom property. Photovoltaic panels hooked up to storage batteries provide the majority of the electricity the client needs.
The original house was a quirky design undertaken by the previous owner who was a structural engineer. Rather than raise the ground floor, it had been designed to survive a 1 in 100 year flood event. All the habitable rooms were placed on the first floor and the garage was located on the ground floor. The concrete floor could handle being underwater for a short period of time and all the electrics were raised 1m off the ground. The owner would get warning of the flood and would move the car further up the slope.
Although the previous owner never experienced a flood that came to ground floor level, we had to consider predicted future flood levels. After many considerations, we decided to install flood gates in the garden walls, as we could only truly mitigate the flood damage by demolishing the house and starting again with a raised ground floor level, which was beyond the budget of the project.
