Room to Improve: Dermot Bannon transforms 60s semi-d into modern family home

'I never thought an architect would be like a house psychiatrist'

Sun, 12 Jan, 2025 - 22:43

Eve Kelliher

Homeowner Katie Rehill is not just gobsmacked at her property’s transformation from a relic of the 1960s into an extended residence tailored to her family’s needs.

No, she’s fascinated by the fact that architect Dermot Bannon has included all items on Katie and her husband Jason’s wish list. “I thought he was never listening because he loves to talk but he was listening all along!” says Cork native Katie on episode two of Room to Improve.

“And I never thought an architect would be like a house psychiatrist. He’s transformed our mental health.”

The project was delivered well within budget (the couple had stated they had €325,000 at the outset and quantity surveyor Claire Irwin noted the spend was €316,000).

Dermot says: “For me, good design is about how somewhere makes you feel. Your home should be your refuge and somewhere that feeds your soul.

"Design is about solving someone’s real issues, and you can only do that when you’ve got a great client and these clients were brilliant.”

Katie and Chichester-born Jason moved with their two children from a one-bedroom apartment in Kilmainham to Palmerstown in 2019.

The semi-d is located in a community they love and features a long garden.

But five years on, they find the space damp and chilly — and the house is cramped and cluttered for family living. “We’re sat there in the middle of the chaos,” says Jason cheerfully on the RTÉ One series.

But, as Dermot notes, Kate is “stressed”. During the build, he also picks up on the reasoning behind Jason’s dream of a hidden sink and utilities area. In open-plan interior spaces, "if one person is relaxing and the other person is working there’s tension", says the architect.

Meeting the family for the first time, Dermot is taken on a tour which shows how the front room is filled with children’s toys and accessories, from 11-year-old Reidin’s gymnastic mat to a 13-year-old Harry’s goal post. “The house is a shrine to the kids but that’s family life now,” says Dermot.

The kitchen is also a tight squeeze as is Jason’s office which is next to the shower room the entire family uses. “Everyone comes down for a shower,” he says. “I could be on Zoom calls they’ll be knocking to come in.”

The solution when they step out of the shower and want to dart back out into Jason's office — and he is still in the middle of that meeting? “I just push my chair back [against the bathroom door],” he says.

“And then they can’t get out,” finishes Dermot.

But making the house safer is also a priority, says Katie, pointing out that their son has asthma. “I spend the whole winter cleaning the mould and the damp for the kids’ bedrooms,” she says.

An open-plan space “would compound their problems and make everything worse” says Dermot whose solution is defined zones for work and relaxation.

DESIGN PLAN

Dermot’s design plan features a spacious extension from the kitchen down one side of the house, taking it into the long unused garden. This will be a kitchen and living area where the family can relax.

In the original downstairs area, there will be a children's room and also a cosy room for Katie to relax in. There will also be four bedrooms and an office for Jason.

As demolition gets underway, hidden costs are revealed, including asbestos on the front porch.

Quantity surveyor Claire Irwin tells Katie it will cost €1400 to remove the concrete and says underfloor heating will add to the budget but it does quality for a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) grant.