The Merevale estate on Britway Road, Dinas Powys, consists of eleven houses built on land which was formally a high walled garden and orchard surrounding a large Victorian house (Bryneithen).

Work began on Merevale in June 1975 and finished in March 1976. The architects were Hird and Brooks of Penarth, with Graham Brooks as the principal architect and Malcolm House and H Emery as project archivists. The quantity surveyors were David Nurcombe, Yates & Partners of Cardiff and the consulting engineers were Chapman and Smart of Cardiff. The clients were J H Loosemore and D H Nurcombe. It was the fourth group of houses built in Dinas Powys to the designs of Hird and Brooks (the others were The Mount, Elm Grove Lane, and Mill Close).

All the houses are single storey, with a ‘T’ shaped floorplan. All had a living room, hall, dining room,  study, kitchen, utility room, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a covered yard and a double car port. The total floor area of each plot is 196m2. The house covered 155m2, whilst the covered yard and port took up 41m2.  When the plots were sold, each had ‘the benefit of standard housing design and a set of drawings, details and specifications with a guide as to amendments and extensions possible. Each person arranged his own building contract, and we were involved more with some than others.’ According to Hird and Brooks, the ‘T’ shaped plan ‘enabled each purchaser to add such accommodation as extra bedrooms, study, larger utility room and yard, and car ports or garage facilities.’

All the trees that were growing on site were retained, and the existing high garden wall on the east side of the development ‘acted as a natural feature to provide not only the privacy required for the houses but a very attractive feature. Access to the courtyards of these houses was made through this wall with their drives running across the site. While each row of houses possesses privacy and sunshine in their patio gardens, one row also has secluded courtyards. The open courtyards to the houses on the west side of the site are by contrast an attractive feature.’

Hird and Brooks’ architectural report note that ‘on this site, pitched roofs were seen to be more desirable where the rising ground to the rear of the site is seen from the common, and from the higher ground the view over the red tiled roofs is far more pleasing than flat roofs. The existing Victorian stone walls are capped with a robust red clay capping which is very distinctive and with the similar colour in the roofs the original Victorian theme is strengthened. With the top of the “T” forming the boundary to the adjoining house, this wall takes the form of a parapet wall with a mono-pitch roof over the bedrooms, kitchen and utility room, yard and car port. The main leg of the “T” is a conventional pitch. In most of the houses the ceilings slope with the roof pitches and add considerably to the character of the interiors, especially where some of them are boarded with a sawn finish. Structural beams are also exposed internally.’

‘Dark stained, sawn, robust timber beams bearing on facing brickwork capped with bricks on edge, support similarly treated and finished rafters. Both the large floor-to-ceiling glazed screen and continuous strip of glazing to the bedroom wing are purpose-made in dark stained timber, the mullions of which support the beams over. Window cills are also in brick on edge. The bricks are natural clay; one group of houses is built in a sandy coloured brick and the other in a red brick. This variety, together with the variation of the overall pattern dictated by the house orientations and the stone spine wall, has removed any image of an estate. With uniformity nevertheless an important factor in design, the strong continuity of red roofs throughout the entire layout is very important’

The Building Dossier of 11 January 1980 wrote of Merevale that ‘there is an apparent openness and sense of community which is pleasing, but the architects also achieve very effective zones of privacy’

In 1980, Merevale won a commendation at the Civic Trust Awards for contribution to the quality and appearance of the environment.

Source: Building Dossier, 11 January 1980 (part of GBAC02_01)

M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 21st March 2022