Timber was the inspiration for Milford Beach, but it was not the answer to the owners’ maintenance brief. They admired an extensively timber-clad reference home and wanted to translate its character into a material better suited to their beachfront setting.

The starting point was an unrenovated 1970s house. A referral through Alastair of Warwick Gair Builders brought the project to Modal Architecture, with coastal exposure, planning controls and a limited investment budget relative to the work. The ambition required a material response that could hold the visual qualities the owners valued while addressing practical demands at the coast.

The home uses concrete made with timber board formwork. The boards leave their texture in the concrete, permanently transferring the visual character of timber into the surface. This gives the material decision a direct relationship with the brief: the inspiration remains visible, while the finished building uses a more robust coastal material.

The relationship with the beach is also shaped at the deck edge. Landscaping protects the outlook without conventional balustrades, keeping the coastal view central to the design. The treatment of that boundary makes the external spaces and landscape part of the architectural response rather than separate additions around the house.

Early contractor engagement helped balance the architectural character against cost and technical requirements. In a project with an ambitious brief and a defined investment limit, that involvement kept material choices connected to the implications of building them.

The result is a bespoke beachfront home with direct beach access and uninterrupted outlooks. Its most distinctive move comes from understanding precisely what the owners valued in their reference: the texture and visual warmth of timber. Board-formed concrete carries that quality into a home shaped around the coast and the amount of maintenance they want to take on.