When our clients purchased the property in 2021, the house had been untouched for many years and featured a ‘70s-style kitchen with bright orange worktops and cork flooring. Keen gardeners and parents to two young children, they were keen to open up and extend the existing kitchen and dining spaces at the rear of the house, connecting to the generous east-facing garden and parkland beyond. 

A significant difference between the internal floor level and external garden level at the back of the house, along with the conservation area context, meant that we needed to carefully consider the massing of the new extension in relation to the existing house and the neighbouring properties. The design for the extension is conceived as two staggered volumes: the setback along the rear elevation opens up the south-east corner, taking advantage of the sun path throughout the day, and the roofs pitch down towards the boundaries on either side to reduce any impact on the neighbours. Introducing an internal level change between the front and back of the house enabled us to achieve increased floor to ceiling heights within the new living spaces.

In addition to a new open-plan kitchen, dining and informal living space, the reconfigured and extended ground floor plan also incorporates a ‘service zone’ located in the centre of the plan, which accommodates a new downstairs loo, utility room and pantry. The external material palette comprises pale pink reclaimed bricks, oak framed glazing and vertical larch timber cladding, which weathers naturally to a silver grey, creating a soft threshold between house and garden. Internally, reclaimed parquet flooring was installed throughout, complemented by warm white walls and black kitchen joinery.