In 1962 young architect Michael Manser (1929-2016) designed one of the first steel-framed houses in Britain, dramatically cantilevered over a hillside in Godalming, Surrey. The steep site provided Manser with an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of steel construction, with the Meccano-like house built on a modest budget and completed in just half the time of a traditional masonry house.
Sixty years later, his son Jonathan Manser of The Manser Practice was approached by the new owners to undertake a major refurbishment of the house. But by 2022, the house had fallen into disrepair. Water ingress had severely damaged the floor and roof build-ups, there was rotten timber, asbestos, and one of the foundations had slipped which had led to distortion in the steelwork. This meant that the house had to be completely stripped back to its steel frame to allow structural repairs to be carried out. This provided an opportunity to add thermal breaks, where possible, to the steel frame, which was repainted and expressed externally to preserve its original character.
