RIBA National Award Winner, Sustainability 2005

Architect: Associated Architects
Services and Environmental Consultants: LEDA

This award-winning four bedroom house on the outskirts of Worcester offers the last word in "eco-luxury".

Materials used in its construction include corrugated iron, plastic bottles, manhole covers, recycled bricks, old newspapers and railway sleepers.

The unique property was the brainchild of its current owner, retired barrister Nicholas Worsley.

His brief to the architects was: "Humour, mystery, fantasy, ecological, sustainable, independent, contextual, agricultural, invisible."

He named it Cobtun House - after the Anglo-Saxon "cob" for the mud mixed with straw used for some of the exterior walls, and "tun" for a dwelling enclosure.

The building has concrete flooring, a rainwater tank supplying water to the washing machine, lavatories and garden, and solar and heat retaining blinds on the windows to supplement gas central heating, making it cheaper to run than a conventional house.

Mr Worsley, said: "It's a daily pleasure to live in. I like the concept of encouraging people who are looking to build a new house to do something organic.

"If enough people do it, firstly the cost of the materials will go down and then the impact on the environment will be more positive."

The architects suggested using cob, which would use the sand and soil from the site itself, and clay from a building site in Malvern to save them the landfill tax, mixed with water and straw,"

Once the building was under way, everyone was inspired by the 'sustainable' spirit - John even arrived for meetings by bike.

The house won the Royal Institute of British Architecture Sustainable Building of the Year award in 2005 and was featured on Channel 4' s Grand Designs programme.

In a secluded position with views of the Severn, the property is far more luxurious than its "eco-friendly" tag suggests.

It features an attractive open plan living space, a master bedroom with dressing room and en suite, a large study, a modern kitchen and a pantry with wine storage, as well as an organic vegetable garden.

Already nationally famous, the house is not only spacious and light-filled but also benefits from unrivalled vistas, peaceful surroundings and is environmentally friendly to futuristic proportions.