Forget square! The challenges of an unconventional building plot forced Fritha Vincent and Olaf Mason to build their unique home shaped like a triangle
Thinking outside the box might be a business cliché but it became a necessity when Fritha Vincent and her partner Olaf Mason faced the reality of building a family home from scratch on a plot of land in Pulborough, West Sussex.
Although the eighth of an acre plot sandwiched between a mainline railway line and busy A road came with outline planning permission, any initial thoughts of building anything remotely resembling a traditional three-bedroom house within four square walls quickly went out of the window.
Regulations do not allow a new building to be constructed within three metres of a public sewer and the couple also had to factor in the need for a soakaway to drain water from the site; both of which halved the area that could accommodate their home. They had to think laterally - in every sense - and drew up plans for the idiosyncratic house that has been named ‘triangle house’ by locals.
With no straight-walled rooms and a dramatic sloping zinc roof that touches the ground on one side, their eye-catching home was recently featured on the Channel Four programme Grand Designs where presenter Kevin McCloud described it as one of the trickiest plots ever seen on the show and the resulting home as a ‘giant 3D geometrical puzzle.’
Fritha, 42, and Olaf, 45, met in 2017 and both of them had previously always lived in rented properties. Their relationship cemented Olaf’s long-held dream to build a house.
‘I have a long history with Sussex,’ he says. ‘I was born in Crawley, grew up in Tisman’s Common in Rudgwick. I then moved to Horsham, then to Billingshurst and lived there until my early 30s and then I found a place in Surrey and I lived there for 10 years. When I met Fritha it was a no-brainer and we wanted to build ourselves a home as fast as possible and started looking for a plot. My mother is in Billingshurst and we wanted to be close to one of sets of parents or parent so it was an easy decision to settle on Pulborough.’
As they are both self-employed a self-build was the most viable option to get the house they wanted and make their money go further. After viewing several sites it was Fritha’s father who suggested the plot on the A29 London road.
‘I knew the plot as soon as I saw it as I had been driving past it on my way to work when I was working near Yapton,’ says Olaf. ‘I would see it every day and think someone should put a house on it. But it never had a for sale sign so I was a bit taken aback when I found out it was actually on the market. We put an offer in on the Friday and it was accepted on the Monday.’
After securing the land for £160,000 they obtained a £190,000 self-build mortgage, which was increased to £240,000 when the enormity of their task became apparent. With the foundations and groundwork costing £60,000, more than double their original estimate, and the 21 triple-glazed windows to deaden the noise from the road and railway amounting to £37,000, the eventual cost rose to £280,000, with the couple’s families helping them out with the overspend.
The house marks a personal and business move to Sussex for Fritha, who grew up in Surrey, moved to London and then lived around the world before returning to the capital. She is the founder and CEO of Secret Projects, a global social enterprise that trains and empowers women in India through the making and selling of ethical fashion and homeware. Despite the initial hurdles with the project she says they were determined to succeed.
‘It was frightening when Olaf realised the sewer was not divertible,’ she admits. ‘He went quiet for a while and then sat me down and said “Frith, we are going to have to build a triangular house”. I think someone else might have just held up their hands and sold the plot, but we were so determined as this was our plot of land and where we wanted to build. Everyone says “oh, you’re building your own house, wow you can do what you want”. But that’s not true at all, especially with a house that has restrictions and a budget with restrictions. It’s a series of compromises. Also when we bought the land we also moved the company and it’s great to be only five minutes from our unit.’
However, one area where there wasn’t any middle ground was the standard of the workmanship, the majority of it bespoke due to the one-off nature of the building. Olaf took most of the work, starting with a boundary wall built from old railway sleepers, the timber A-frame and the interiors. He also brought in friends and colleagues as sub-contractors.
‘Because Olaf is so much about attention to detail it was really important for him to have people that really understand the quality of his work,’ says Fritha. ‘If they didn’t understand they might get quite frustrated working with Olaf as quality is so important to him. We waited to get all the right people and we let the build take its time because we wanted to get those right people on it. Since Grand Designs lots of people have been in touch with Olaf asking if he can build a house for them or asking about details like our flat solar panels so we set up an Instagram account about the house @trianglehouse.bymasoncarpentry.’
The finished house, which took 15 months to complete, is spread across three floors with thick concrete floors and walls of up to half a metre thick for soundproofing. On the ground floor is the kitchen, which Olaf built and fitted due to the acute angles of the room, and a snug. The first floor has a study, bathroom and two bedrooms, and the master bedroom and a large bathroom occupy the top floor. Outside is a deck and sunken fire pit.
‘We wanted the house to be bright, colourful and a happy place to live,’ says Olaf. ‘Not all of the ideas came to fruition, but I managed to pull off a few crazy ideas such as the staircase where every stair opens to storage space, which has never been done on that scale as far as I’m aware. On the outside the house is quite plain and architectural, and it’s not colourful except for the front door, and then you come in to rainbow of colour and shapes.’
His next task is to convert a double decker bus - bought unseen on eBay for £2,600 - into an unusual workshop as he was unable to build a permanent workspace on the land. It should prove relatively easy as he already has an old ambulance that’s a campervan.
The couple, who lived with Fritha’s parents in Guildford while the house was being built, had another very personal narrative running in parallel with the self-build. They were undergoing IVF treatment at the time and Fritha discovered she was pregnant after carrying out a test in the site’s portable toilet. Lagertha was born in March 2021 and in the summer the family, and their Cocker spaniel Digger, moved in.
There could soon be an additional resident in the triangular home as they are undergoing another course of IVF. ‘We see it as a forever home and something huge would have to happen for us to move,’ says Fritha. ‘I feel like we have finally come home and we are in a place with real solidity and we have a big future in West Sussex. We’re developing Secret Projects’ UK company at the moment and one of my big things has been introducing myself to West Sussex, including Brighton and Sussex universities and Horsham District Council. We have an eBay for Change store and we are going to start collecting second hand haberdashery and fabrics from people and we we will sell DIY kits. Sussex is a very creative place and we are excited to be telling people in the county about that.’
Triangular tour
Fritha and Olaf are hosting an open day for people to visit their home and Secret Projects. The event, on Saturday April 2, will feature morning or afternoon tours and includes lunch. Tickets cost £25. Visit secretprojects.org or email events@secretprojects.org
The Grand Designs episode featuring the couple can be seen on All 4. channel4.com
