“You were hearing everywhere that it’s going to be impossible for my generation, that everybody would have to either rent for the rest of their life or move to Germany. And then there was this ruin, at the top of the hill, that nobody had looked after for 30 years…”

This is the start of Kristian Horsburgh’s story of buying an old ruin in his childhood home of Septfontaines, tearing it down and rebuilding it as a modern wooden house.

It must be said that the story isn’t yet finished: the construction plans are in nearly in place, but the tearing down isn’t scheduled until the end of this year, with construction to follow in February 2024.

Horsburgh, who manages Luxinnovation’s creative cluster, and his partner have made it this far, however. He shares the story with us, including why they wanted to build in wood and what stumbling blocks they’ve already hit.

Securing the site

“I had a beautiful childhood in Septfontaines,” says Horsburgh, adding that it’s always been his dream to stay in that area.

But when he and his partner started looking for land, they--like many others in Luxembourg--despaired over the prices: plots were going for €600,000, he says.

“And then… that place,” he says, referring to the ruin on the hill, falling apart and nestled inside tangles of overgrowth. It had been abandoned for some three decades, since the couple who’d lived there broke up and left it in the 1990s. Horsburgh was a kid in the village at the time, and remembers walking the grounds around the empty house and taking an interest in it.

“It has an amazing view over the whole village. There’s a castle, there’s the river… there’s everything.”

Horsburgh managed to track down the name of the owner (using public government service tools and Facebook)--and then, when a storm hit the village and a tree fell onto the roof of the ruin, the owner came back to Luxembourg from Greece. “I got hold of him and said: ‘Remember me? I used to play football in the village?’” It took some convincing, but the owner agreed to sell the house (at a price Horsburgh doesn’t wish to share) and the project could begin.

Harmonising concrete and wood

“With wood houses, you have to remember that you need a concrete [base],” Horsburgh explains, “because it can’t go underground, the wood.” The first decision, therefore, was whether to keep the old house’s preexisting concrete foundation. Horsburgh and his partner said: yes.

“Many people think we’re crazy to do that,” he adds, suggesting that a start-totally-fresh attitude tends to be more prevalent. Sustainability is a major priority for the pair, however, so they will keep the foundation as a resource. “If you’re building a sustainable project, why tear everything out?”

This, however, has caused some problems. “Architects like to design buildings… but they’re not engineers,” says Horsburgh with a laugh. Essentially, they first had the house designed by an architect whose static concept didn’t fit that of the existing foundation. (“Statics” is a branch of mechanics concerned with forces in equilibrium.) The concrete house rested on poles that carried the house’s weight, such that the walls inside weren’t load-bearing; but with wood, the walls play a different role.

“To build onto this foundation, we found out that we’d have to reinforce (and build) a whole new frame, or find some other solution…” says Horsburgh. “And the architect didn’t want to get involved with that.”

Hence, a new hire.

They’re happy with the new architect, who brings his own engineers. “You also build [wood] houses to get a good ‘klima’ [energy performance] certificate,” adds Horsburgh. “It’s interesting for tax rebates and stuff you can get help for, so you want your architect to understand how these things are submitted.” Fortunately, the new hire ticks this box too.

Building with Baufritz

Horsburgh is very happy with his builder, the German firm (with a Luxembourg location) Baufritz. He mentions several reasons why:

One: They prefab the walls offsite, providing a safe/comfortable environment for their builders (with filters to remove sawdust, a roof over their head, etc.)

Two: They have their own wood plantations, i.e., a local and sustainable source.

Three: They’re over a century old, so very experienced, unlike newer competitors.

Four: They were founded on, and still adhere to, a concept of using natural and non-poisonous materials. No glue, nothing toxic.

Five: (With a smile) “It’s an old German company… so, ‘German-built’ and stuff like that.”

Early on, the firm invited Horsburgh and his partner to stay overnight in one of their houses, which was reportedly a very positive experience. “It was nice and quiet. I woke up in the morning, and it… it calms you down. It’s like you don’t get the same reverberations from outside, somehow.”

(It’s widely said that wood has a calming effect on humans, including lowering their blood pressure. Find a review of related literature .)

However, one challenge of using a company like Baufritz--and there are several who follow a similar type of model--is that one must think ahead down to a minute degree. “You have to plan ahead every plug and corner. You can’t just add it afterwards.” Even the location of the bathtub, says Horsburgh, needs to be discussed and decided.

The upshot of this arduous planning process, however, is that the construction itself goes quickly. Horsburgh reports that the firm needs three or four months to prefab the pieces, whereafter it takes only three weeks to put up. Windows, roof, everything. The interior comes afterwards, of course, and can take longer, especially in Horsburgh’s case since they’re hoping for prices to dive a little bit. (“It’s completely crazy what the prices are. Like, for a kitchen you’re starting at €25,000 or €30,000 and ending up at €70,000 to €80,000. It’s just ridiculous.”)

As for total cost, Horsburgh estimates that their budget for the construction started at €600,000 and has grown to around €700,000 (which comes on top of the land).

Ethos

For Horsburgh, it’s important that your house is what he calls a “health-enhancing object,” which pertains to several areas. There is the avoidance of toxic glues and other bad materials in the construction process (“not just because you’ll be in contact with them but because other people who are making or disposing of them will be too”), but also health in a wider economic and social sense.

“It’s a good idea that everybody has access to everything and we mass produce it so the price comes down… but it hasn’t stopped poverty. On the contrary, people still manage to make more money on top of those products.” He advocates a “I’m too poor to buy cheap” mentality, or taking the time to invest what money you have into properly and responsibly made things. “Where is the product coming from?” he asks. “Do we really need it? Is there a circularity behind it?”

As for the smart house trend, Horsburgh falls somewhere between proponent and sceptic (while being neither). “I believe in a mixture of very new technologies and old technologies,” he says, which seems to chime with by two architects from the firm Saharchitects, namely that while the building industry plows ahead with new technologies, it’s also turning to ancient methods such as using rammed earth as a building material (compacted natural materials like earth or gravel).

“I don’t believe in completely giving my decision away to technology and smart houses,” he says. “It’s in between.” The finished house, for instance, will only have Wi-Fi in a few rooms. The rest will be “frequency-free.”

Coming next year: an update on this housing project.