The Property
Eleanor Road, Haringey
A mid-terrace property in Haringey; a street of two storey family homes with classical Georgian features, sash windows and butterfly roofs hidden behind the frontage of the buildings. In many ways this was a typical L-shaped London house – lots of original features and, mostly, short of natural light in the shared areas.
step one
The Brief
There were two main objectives. The first was to create more space, increasing natural light and making the house more practical. The second – the logical extension of the first – was to create a single storey rear extension that ‘wraps’ and sits delicately within its context.
STEP TWO
Our Solution
- An open plan layout, blending the living, dining and kitchen spaces together creating a flexible social space, leading towards the rear garden and letting in more natural light to the interior. Additionally, a large skylight above the new kitchen and three Velux rooflights at the side of the existing building would help to bring natural light deep into the home.
- Re-enforcing steelwork to be flush to the ceiling, creating a seamless finish and adding to the feeling of lightness.
- Our client wanted to keep the existing bathroom on the ground floor but move it from the back of the house. We moved it to near the central staircase, providing greater access between levels for the family and giving purpose to otherwise difficult to use space – plus the family would no longer need to take long trips through the dining room to get into the bathroom!
- The same change also opened up the entry to the living space, adding to the practical and aesthetic impact of the improvements.
- Light and space are king upstairs too: to maintain the size and openness of the main bedroom, a discreet shower room was strategically placed towards the back of the first floor with the shower room door translucent to ‘borrow’ light.
- Existing chimney breasts were removed throughout the property to help square-off the rooms. This provides practical benefits for organising furniture and collectively the removal of the chimney breasts saved over 3sqm of footprint. Recovered bricks from the chimney breasts were used in the new extension, maintaining the look of the house and complying with local planning policy – also saving money.
- Sensitive to the impact on neighbouring homes, the side return of the development slopes down (the sloped roof itself is a playful tribute to the butterfly roof of the main house) towards the adjoining property, avoiding any sense of a bulky presence next door.
- Another subtle detail was the lack of visible pipes at the rear of the new extension. Typically, a gap from the boundary line of about 150mm is required to anticipate pipework. By specifying a parapet wall and a valley guttering system, not only was our client able to avoid potential leakage, we maximised the amount of space available to extend.
- Overall, a good example of works which significantly enhanced the house as a pleasant and practical home, while maintaining the outward appearance to fit in with its surroundings.
Where do you provide architectural design services?
Divi Design also provide architectural design services across all areas of London, not just Haringey.
We’ve completed projects throughout the capital, such as home extensions in Havering and transformative developments in Romford.
You can take a look at the rest of our portfolio for examples of our work in other areas such as Thurrock.
So whether you’re in Barking & Dagenham, Bexley, or any other London borough, we’re on hand to provide architectural design services.
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