Rear Kitchen Extension

The brief

Solve a kitchen crisis. The clients had lived in the house for many years and had extended it to accommodate their needs, but the kitchen remained an unresolved issue ā€“ as the estate agent told them ā€œthe kitchen was just too small for the houseā€. The brief was to create a kitchen space suitable for the family. The challenge was to achieve this within the constraints of the site.

The property

A big detached house on a large plot, but with a very small kitchen and only a breakfast bar. The house sits on a sloping site, close to the boundary on both sides, with a short, steep driveway up to the road at the front and an expansive garden sloping quickly away to the rear.

The solution

Planning restrictions to the frontage, the need for a drive-through driveway, and the slope up to the road severely limited the potential for an extension to the front. To the rear, the slope of the land and the clientsā€™ wish to retain the character and balance of the house also limited the potential for an extension.

The solution was to extend at the front and at the back. This entailed pulling the garage forwards by a metre or so and adding a small glazed room to the rear of the existing kitchen, matching an existing extension. The result changes the external appearance very little, but inside the kitchen has been transformed into a workable space.

The result

A full-size kitchen, including space for an American fridge-freezer and eating space for six people. The kitchen has been transformed from a cramped space into a room when the clients can cook and eat and enjoy the views into their delightful garden.

Basement flat and loft conversion

The brief

Take advantage of the enormous development potential offered by the propertyā€™s loft and the basement, converting the latter into a separate two-bedroom flat with an enclosed private patio to the rear and the loft into additional living accommodation.

The property

The house was a 1930s semi-detached house in a conservation area. It is subject to an Article 4 Direction and the proposed work required detailed liaison with the councilā€™s planning department.

The unused loft space was one of the largest I have ever seen in a normal house and would have lent itself to conversion to a small flat on its own. The basement covered the rear three quarters of the houseā€™s floor plan, with an old garage taking up much of the usable space.

The solution

Extend the basement flat to the rear, creating a new kitchen and living room for the flat and a new balcony for the house above (accessed from the rear ground floor) with steps down to the garden.

Conservation-style roof lights and windows were the only allowable visible alteration to the front. To the rear, the planners were happy with proposals that copied similar examples in the street of the rear dormers and the rear basement extension.

The result

In the basement, the conversion and rear extension create a two-bed flat with bi-folding doors to the rear patio, with a light-well providing light and ventilation to the front bedroom.

The new stairs to the loft rooms follow the line and detailed design of the existing and they flow up to the second-floor landing. The new landing gives access to the spacious bedroom with its large relaxing space, an en-suite bath and shower room and an office.

Kitchen extension and room in the roof

The brief

Increase the ground floor living area of the house and provide another bedroom with a WC/shower room in the unused loft space.

The property

A two-bed, two-storey terraced house. Its location in a conservation area in Brighton required planning approval for the proposals, which had to be sensitive to the existing house and the surrounding area.

The solution

Extend the ground-floor area into the outside space at the side of the existing galley kitchen, opening up the inside of the back of the house to create a combined living, dining, kitchen area flowing from one living space to another.
Roof lights in the extension and glazed doors to the rear open out to the garden and allow light to flow into the living area.
With a staircase spiralling off the first-floor landing the unused loft was turned into a neat bedroom with a WC/shower room. Roof lights on both the front and back roof slopes let light into the new bedroom from the west and east.

The result

A light, spacious house that works superbly as a family home. The client decided to do both jobs at the same time using different builders. It was a hard couple of months for the clients, but the result has made it worthwhile.

Replacement of First-Floor Conservatory

The brief

Replace the houseā€™s cold, leaky conservatory, integrating it more effectively with the rest of the house and upgrading its thermal performance.

The property

The house, built at the turn of the 1900s, had an original first-floor conservatory facing south and west. The original conservatory had a timber structure with coloured glazing in the windows and an opaque glazed roof but the glazed roof had long been covered over with corrugated asbestos sheets.

The solution

To create an energy-efficient replacement conservatory whilst retaining the original glazing pattern and style. To do this we re-built the timber-framed structure using a sustainable hardwood for strength and durability. Precisely cut and painted in the factory, the timber was already finished with three coats of micro-porous paint when it arrived, reducing the on-site build time to a minimum.
We installed low-energy doubled-glazed units with special ‘blue’ glass in the roof to cut down the heat gain in summer, renovated the existing timber floors, and lined the dwarf solid-brick walls with insulation.
To integrate the space with the rest of the house, the doors and brick piers separating the conservatory from the adjoining room were removed and replaced with a steel stability frame.

TheĀ result

The new conservatory is now a hidden jewel at the back of the house, a beautiful light, warm room and a peaceful haven from the hubbub in the rest of the house. It makes the most of its aspect and its elevated location soaks up the evening sun when it has been lost from the ground floor of the house.

Refurbishment of Grade 2 Listed Flat

The brief

Refurbish a damp, dark, poorly laid-out basement flat in a Grade 2 listed building. The clients bought the property knowing they would have to carry out substantial work to bring it up to a good habitable standard. They wanted a warm, modern flat they could either live in or rent out.

The property

The flat is in the basement of a four-storey listed terraced house with its own access and a rear walled courtyard. The property was last refurbished in the 1970s. The rooms had been partitioned, there was no fixed heating, the damp proofing had failed and almost all the original features had been lost.

The solution

Remove the 1970s partitions, change the internal layout of the flat to simpler more usable rooms, which better reflect the original layout, whilst retaining the flatā€™s essential character. Renew all windows and doors, lay a new insulated floor, address the damp, provide fixed heating, and install a new bathroom and kitchen.
As it was a listed building, all the proposed work to the interior and the exterior required listed building consent in addition to the usual planning consent, and details of all the planned works were made in close liaison with the conservation team. At the front, the most important elevation, the stone steps, cast-iron railings and other existing features were retained and repaired. The new front window matches the style and pattern of the original and the front door is a new four-panelled timber door.
To the rear the rotten floor-to-ceiling windows were replaced with sliding doors, maximising light and usable space in the flat and opening it up to the rear courtyard.

The result

A modern, light and warm one-bed flat in the centre of Brighton with the luxury of its own secluded outside space.