A Swiss cyber-security headhunter who transformed a red-brick semi into a £1.3million ‘forever home’ faces a costly demolition bill – after council planners ruled he had used the wrong building materials.
Christopher Morillon, 38, spent years renovating a semi-detached home in south-west London to accommodate his growing young family.
The father-of-three added side and rear extensions, and a large L-shaped dormer to what was originally a modest three-bedroom home in affluent Teddington.
However, when the ambitious revamp was completed Richmond upon Thames Council took exception to the modern white render used on its new rooftop addition – insisting it should have been finished in traditional tiles.
Despite no known objections being lodged by neighbours, Mr Morillon and his partner were served with enforcement papers and now have just months to rebuild the dormer and in line with approved plans.
Mr Morillon told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s going to cost us about £25,000 to do this. And that’s money we just don’t have. It’s just really annoying and little bit unfair.
Businessman Christopher Morillon has fallen foul of the council by building an offending gable end dormer (pictured) which uses different materials than the ones that was agreed in planning
The dormer was meant to have been built using traditional roof tiles – and not the modern white render that it was ultimately finished with, promting a complaint from a neighbour
This is how the ordinary suburban property in leafy Teddington, south-west London, looked when it was purchased by Mr Morillon for £815,000 back in 2018
Now Mr Morillon, who runs his own cyber security headhunting firm, faces a hefty bill he estimates is in the region of £25,000 to demolish the offending dormer
‘It’s a street where every house basically looks different. It’s not like it’s a row of terraces where it’s exactly the same looking.
‘There’s all kinds of different architectural styles along the street.
‘I don’t know if it was a miscommunication with our builder but we ended up rendering everything on the top of the house because we thought it would match the bottom.
‘But the council didn’t like that for some reason and pulled us up on it.
‘If we had made the house way bigger than we’d said, or if we had put something ungodly on it, then sure, I’d understand.’
He added: ‘The whole thing’s a bit of a joke, really.’
The saga centres on the couple’s semi-detached property which backs onto a park.
Mr Morillon, founder of cyber-security recruitment agency Baumlink, purchased the house for £815,000 in April 2018, before embarking on his extensive renovation project.
Plans approved by the council in 2021 show illustrations of the dormer with traditional roof tiles, not with rendered cement.
After completing the project in 2023, Richmond upon Thames Council informed the couple that there had been a breach of planning control and served formal papers demanding they restore the original roof.
Town hall officials said the use of white render was ‘not a traditional roof material’ and stood ‘at odds with the other dormers and roof extensions within the vicinity’.
The enforcement notice concluded: ‘The render makes the dormer extension appear stark and domineering, resulting in an incongruous addition to the dwelling and to the street scene.’
Here are the original plans that were agreed by the council in 2021. They show illustrations of the dormer with traditional roof tiles, not with rendered cement
Mr Morillon and his partner were served with enforcement papers and now have just months to rebuild the dormer and in line with approved plans
Mr Morillon this month lost an appeal at the independent planning inspectorate, where they argued that the demands were excessive and that they needed two years to complete the work because of the financial burden involved.
Upholding the council’s enforcement notice, the couple were given nine months to undertake alterations to make their extension compliant.
Mr Morillon, who also runs a not-for-profit padel network, questioned why council inspectors who visited the property during construction had failed to raise concerns about the materials being used.
He said: ‘We had, I think, seven different building control people from the council come throughout the build.
‘There was a lot of questioning around the render that we were using, about the heat-loss properties of it.
‘And I actually said this product is better than just tiling it, so it’s more energy efficient.
‘We thought it would reflect sunlight as well, because it’s south-facing, and it would be less hot.
‘It would probably be a bit more energy efficient, as well because of better insulation, than just putting tiles on it.’
Mr Morillon said he is now struggling to work out how the family would pay for the repairs but said he had no intention of selling up.
He said: ‘We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this property and we’re very settled here. It was intended as our forever home, basically.
‘We’re going to have to somehow find the money.
Mr Morillon, founder of cyber-security recruitment agency Baumlink, purchased the house for £815,000 in April 2018, before embarking on his extensive renovation project
He appealed the council’s decision and questioned why inspectors who visited the property during construction had failed to raise concerns about the materials being used
‘I understand councils are under pressure financially. But I’m sure their time could have been spent better elsewhere.’
A Richmond upon Thames Council spokesman said: ‘It is important that planning rules are applied fairly and consistently, regardless of whether objections have been received.
‘The extension was built without the required planning permission, and an independent Planning Inspector subsequently upheld the council’s decision to take enforcement action.’
