Bury Gate Farm

by Sandy Rendell Architects

Client Private

Award RIBA South East Award 2025

The award winner tells us: "Bury Gate Farm is a new-build five-bedroom dwelling which replaces a dilapidated 1950s bungalow within the South Downs National Park near Pulborough in West Sussex. Set on rising ground and against a dense wooded backdrop, the site opens up to the south and west, offering expansive views towards the Downs.

It is designed as a contemporary reinterpretation of a parkland villa, a historic typology within this part of Sussex, and draws the surrounding landscape into the composition.

The building is designed to be physically robust, with low embodied and operational carbon, and flexible in use and of enduring character."

The jury says: "Minimising carbon emissions was central to the client’s aims, and for a house of this size, its sustainability credentials are solid. The house is well-insulated and airtight, heated by two air-source heat pumps, fitted with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) and supporting a massive 15.87kWp photovoltaic rooftop array which could feasibly provide 75% of the annual energy demand.

Demolition waste from a long-derelict 1950s bungalow on the site was crushed and reused for the base, and sandstone and blockwork were sourced locally to minimise the carbon generated from transportation. The house is also highly accessible and inclusive, fitted with a lift and provided with annexe accommodation that could become home to a teenager or carer."

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal

Structural Engineer Structure Workshop

Gross internal area 582m²

Bury Gate Farm © Ståle Eriksen