He’s on top of the world

He had been intending for some time to build a place of his own, using his experience to try out new ideas that seemed too risky for clients: “I wanted to experiment with everything, including the fixtures, the finishes and the construction technique.”

The hardest part was persuading them to let me remove the roof from their flats, when mine was safely on the ground floor So, in 2004, he bought a ground-floor flat in Alum Chine for £105,000. After living there for a couple of years, he decided it was the right location to build in, so he began looking around the area for a suitable plot. Unfortunately, these are highly desirable, expensive and few and far between — which prompted Moxey to come up with a rather more innovative solution.

The block he lived in, purpose-built in the 1950s, had a pitched roof, typical for buildings of the period.

“People often exploit the roof space by putting in dormer windows,” he says. “But this roof didn’t offer enough space as it was. So I thought, ‘Why not remove the roof and replace it with my flat?’”

Such an idea conjures up the hellish prospect of planning problems and neighbours in uproar — not to mention the logistical problems of actually taking off the roof. The first challenge was getting the approval of the owners of the other three flats in the block, which involved complex manoeuvring; the owner of one of the upstairs flats ended up buying the other ground-floor one.

Moxey then had only the two other owners to negotiate with. “The block was looking tired and was a bit of an eyesore,” he recalls. “I offered them a complete refurbishment of the building, inside and out, in return for the lease of the roof. This would markedly increase the value of the property, which would be to everyone’s advantage.

Moxey refurbished the entire block in exchange for permission to build a penthouse (Simon Moxey)

“The hardest part was persuading them to let me remove the roof from their flats, when mine was safely on the ground floor.” He reckons that this part of the work — which involved not just the common parts, but the exterior — cost him about £75,000.

Next, he had to pacify the owners of nearby buildings, who were concerned that their own sea views would be blocked. He was able to show them how the profile of the proposed development would fit inside the silhouette of the existing roof and actually sit lower than the old ridge.

So, better sea views all round and beautified building — which made for a win-win solution — but what about the local planning department? “The planners were worried about ‘additional bulk at a high level’,” Moxey says. “As I am used to the planning process, I was able to continue going back to them time after time with amended designs. It is all about patience and tenacity. I didn’t give up and the design was not compromised.”

Even so, it took a year of fine-tuning before he finally obtained the go-ahead for the work. Before it started, he rented the other flats from the owners, allowing them to move elsewhere and escape the inconvenience. The entire building was wrapped in scaffolding and plastic, and a workshop was created inside to achieve the necessary high-speed, low-impact construction.

One night in a force-nine gale the plastic sheeting came loose and I had to climb the scaffold to tie it down A steel frame was chosen, to ensure that the flat’s open-plan layout was not dictated by the position of the walls on the floors beneath, but every piece made elsewhere had to be the right size to drop in and assemble on site.

Moxey lived on site in the flat below, overseeing all the work for nine months, and was personally involved in every aspect of the construction and finishes. “It was intense,” he says. “One night in a force-nine gale, the plastic sheeting came loose — I had to climb the scaffold and try to tie it down to prevent water from entering the building.”

He sourced European oak for the internal cladding and larch from Scotland for the exterior.

He hand-stained the oak (roughly 2,500 sq ft), developing new stain colours to mimic the weathered appearance of driftwood. All this wood was worked on by joiners, literally in house, to create the handcrafted interior of Beach Hytte.

The use of high-quality materials and the craftsmanship are evident once you enter the front door. An oak staircase leads up to the flat where light streams in from every angle. The main living area looks out over the broad sweep of beach to the cliffs of the Isle of Wight; the sliding doors don’t merely frame the view, they are two entire glass walls that pull back to open up the whole room. You are essentially outside in your kitchen.

The design emulates the indoor/outdoor lifestyle of the Caribbean (Simon Moxey)

The inside/outside living that so appealed to Moxey during frequent visits to the Caribbean (another passion, alongside Norway) is possible here, subject to the vagaries of the British climate, and the required hot tub is there on the terrace. The interior floorboards are laid so that they seamlessly meet those of the sun deck, adding to the feel of space and unity. The seating area has a spectacular suspended fireplace that can be rotated to be used both inside and out.

The flat has 2,000 sq ft of floor space, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms (one ensuite), an open-plan kitchen/dining/sitting room and wide terraces. The steel-frame construction allows for long spans with no interrupting walls, and vast expanses of glass mean you can see sky from everywhere; chimneypots and treetops are just visible above the outer railing.

Surprisingly, the oak- and marble-clad bathroom — for which Moxey even designed the furniture — has a glass wall. “We checked that nobody below can see in,” he assures me. “It’s like showering in the open air. Only the birds can see you.”

This is an entirely modern building. The finishes are smooth and sleek, and everything works perfectly. All the doors, which are handmade and louvred (so that light comes in when they are closed), glide back into the walls.

Interior floorboards are laid to seamlessly meet those of the sun deck, adding to the feel of space and unity

The stylish Poliform kitchen has hidden handles just where you need them; even the lavatory seats close softly and silently. The whole house is high-tech, with music, lighting, security and climate controlled by a Crestron Home Automation System, one of the first of its kind in Britain. “I have addressed all aspects of home auto­mation,” Moxey says, “and combined it under one umbrella for ease of use.”

Despite being so up-to-the-minute, both technically and architecturally, Beach Hytte has a charm to it, a real character that comes from the obvious attention to detail. Every door slat, floorboard, towel rail and tap, painstakingly chosen and crafted, adds personality and warmth to the flat.

Moxey says his aim was to create “a home that, even on the most beautiful summer’s day, you would not want to leave for the beach. And which, in winter, will feel cosy and safe — a private retreat.”

It’s difficult to know how much the penthouse would sell for — although Moxey reckons upwards of £600,000. He says the refurbishment has also boosted the value of the other flats, which had been worth about £165,000, to £250,000 or so.

So was it all worth it — personally and financially? Moxey, a keen yachtsman, compares the experience to sailing the Atlantic. “It’s horrible at the time,” he says. “But, when it’s over, you can’t wait to do it again.”

beachhytte.com; forumhomes.com