Creu Cartref's Eilio Housetype – A Closer Look

When we design homes, we don't just think about the building itself—we think about the sites they'll be built on.

Across Wales there are thousands of sloping sites where conventional house types require extensive earthworks, retaining walls and tanking just to create a level platform before construction can even begin.

The Eilio 2 Bedroom 4 Person dwelling was designed to challenge that approach.

Rather than fighting the landscape, Eilio works with it.

At 83m², the dwelling has been designed to comply with WDQR2021, RoSH and Lifetime Homes, while also creating opportunities to reduce groundworks, simplify construction and improve site viability.

Designed Around the Site

Traditional house types generally assume every plot is flat.

When they're placed on a sloping site the result is usually:

• retaining walls

• expensive foundations

• tanked structures

• additional drainage

• imported fill

• increased programme and cost

  
  

Eilio approaches the problem differently.

The house naturally follows the slope.

The principal entrance is located at the upper level while the rear entrance sits approximately half a storey lower, linked by a short internal stair. Externally, a simple flight of steps deals with the remaining change in level.

Instead of changing the site to suit the house, the house changes to suit the site.

Less Groundworks. Less Complexity.

By allowing the finished floor levels to step with the landscape, many sites can avoid:

• large retaining walls

• reinforced concrete retaining structures

• waterproof tanking

• complicated foundation transitions

  
  

That doesn't just reduce construction cost.

It can also reduce programme, embodied carbon and construction risk.

For many affordable housing sites where budgets are tight and abnormal costs can threaten viability, this simple design move can make a significant difference.

A Split-Level Home That Feels Connected

Although the house changes level internally, it still feels like a single, connected home.

The lower level accommodates the main living spaces, creating a strong connection to the rear garden, while the upper level contains the bedrooms and bathroom, providing greater privacy.

Modular by Design

Like every Creu Cartref dwelling type, Eilio isn't designed as a one-off.

It has been developed using our room-module design methodology.

The house is assembled from a series of standardised room modules, making it suitable for multiple construction methods including:

• traditional masonry

• panelised timber frame

• light gauge steel

• future off-site manufacturing

  
  

The same room modules continue to be reused across the wider Creu Cartref housing range, helping improve consistency and reducing redesign between projects.

Designed for Modern Living

Eilio includes:

• two double bedrooms

• open-plan kitchen, dining and living area

• dedicated plant space for the ASHP cylinder and MVHR

• shower room and bathroom

• integrated storage

• future-proofed layouts designed around current Welsh housing standards.

  
  

These aren't services squeezed into spare corners—they've been considered from the outset.

Open Source

The Eilio Housetype forms part of the growing Creu Cartref open-source housing library, developed to support better housing delivery through standardisation, industrialisation and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). The wider approach is based on a family of interchangeable room modules that can be reused across multiple house types.

If you're working on a sloping site and would like to explore whether Eilio could reduce construction complexity, the drawings are available to download free from the Creu Cartref website in .pdf and .dwg using this link: https://www.creucartref.com/product-page/dwelling-2b4p-eilio-in-pdf-and-dwg-file-formats

The Eilio house type is not just a design concept

This house type has achieved Welsh Government Technical approval and is currently being built as a terrace configuration in Denbigh, North Wales by N.W.P.S Construction for Grwp Cynefin. See progress photos below ( Jul.26 )