Langton Way is a single storey brick house built in 1986 and designed by local architect Teresa Forrest. It originally comprised of two separate cubic brick buildings connected by a fully glazed barrel-vaulted walkway dividing the external space into two courtyard gardens.

The brief was to upgrade the central spine of the house to improve it’s thermal insulation, to gain more privacy from overlooking and to provide display space for paintings, as well as to carry out a major renovation of the whole house.

Our approach, after input from the planners, was to retain the barrel-vaulted form of the roof but to rebuild it in solid zinc-clad construction with a curved and plastered internal ceiling. This vaulted structure rests on the existing solid brick walls and provides the framework for two new brick walls of differing widths to each of the courtyards.

Internally the new courtyard walls are finished in smooth plaster to distinguish them from the textured and painted brick walls of the existing blocks. The new windows are placed towards the external face of the walls with timber reveals creating deep lateral niches to counteract the linearity of the long space.

All of the windows and doors to the house were replaced. We developed a louvred ventilation side window which repeats throughout the house allowing the occupants to enjoy fresh air and ventilation whilst maintaining security and providing shade from the sun.

Status: Completed 2024

Client: private

Structural engineer: Flow Structures

Main Contractor: Peter Marasinski

Windows: ODC

Interior Designer: Philip Hooper

Landscape Design: Emily Erlam Studio

Garden Contractor: Hortus

Frobisher Crescent is “the dramatic semi-circular shape building situated above the Barbican Centre and was originally conceived as residential accommodation. The dwellings were designed as three levels of maisonettes and 12 flats with living rooms looking onto a sculpture park, with a shopping arcade below. Plans were shelved, however, in 1970 and instead the building was used as office space until 2010, when the top three floors were converted into apartments by private developers (not to the original Chamberlin, Powell and Bon designs). There are now 69 dwellings ranging from studios to three-bedroom units.”

In “The Barbican Estate” by Stefi Orazi, Batsford 2018

This penthouse duplex is formed from two flats, converted into a larger dwelling in 2012. A large structural opening links the living spaces.

We were invited to redesign the bathrooms and develop solutions to improve the privacy, both horizontally and vertically. We realised much more could be achieved to bring to life the unique features of the space. A more ambitious project brief, evolved closely with the clients, was developed to:

• enhance the original vaulted ceilings and double height spaces

• increase privacy by the addition of four large sliding doors and electrochromic glass balustrades

• refurbish the bathrooms, through new layout and fittings, as well as opening up previously boxed-in space to expose high level windows, maximising natural light and ventilation

• replace the wooden floor and staircases with lighter oak flooring

• designing new bespoke oak wardrobes, to suit the vaulted ceiling

• delivering a new kitchen, to complement, in layout and finishes, the overall design

We then carefully detailed and collaborated with suppliers and installers to achieve a consistent design. This included a focus on the semi-circular theme (present in the existing windows), the warmth of oak and walnut (in contrast with the white walls and ceilings) and the colour grey (present in concrete, stainless steel and aluminium).

The client’s ceramics and art work collection, mainly African, populate the new interior, giving further warmth and life.

Client: private

Cost: private

Status: Completed, October 2021

Team:

Structural Engineer: Hurry Limited

Main contractor/ Joinery: Builders A2Z

Suppliers and installers:

Kitchen: Bulthaup

Sliding panels: Rimadesio

Privacy glass balustrades: P Janes Ltd

Oak flooring: Ecohardwood

Tiles: Marazzi

Bespoke vanity units: DFMK

Bespoke oak handrails: A-Klass

Taps: Vola

Bath and basin: Lusso Stone

Shelving: Vitsoe

Curtains: Silent Gliss Wave by Shading Specialists

Ironmongery: Dowsing & Reynolds and SDS

Re-use platform (for used kitchen and unwanted site materials):

Globechain

Completed project photography:

Anton Rodriguez

Features:

Area Interior 02 magazine, Milan, “Restyling of a penthouse in Frobisher Crescent”, May 2022

Woodworking news magazine, "Cool, contemporary & consistent", Dec 2022

The Keep is an estate in Blackheath, SE3, built by Span in 1958. The site for this project, situated in the back garden of one of the terraced houses, benefits from half a metre level change and a backdrop of mature trees to the railway cutting beyond.

The concept is simple – a partly sunken dark brick terrace with a timber pergola grounds the project within the garden and supports the dark timber-clad and glazed façade of the building.

Internally an insert of birch plywood and cork joinery wraps the space, incorporating a reading nook, bookcase, desk, storage and generous window seat. White walls and exposed timber ceiling contrast with the ply structure.

The garden room provides a new flexible and calm space away from the busy main house. It also subtly shifts the dynamics of the house providing a comfortable and private external space allowing the garden to be appreciated from a new perspective.

The site had an awkward triangular footprint, so we started by creating a useful and well-proportioned rectangular room facing the garden and the main house; the ‘excess’ space at the back is then partitioned off as storage or integrated into the main space as a small reading nook and bookcase.

The garden was redesigned into 3 separate parts; a pathway leads from a patio across the lawn, arriving at a sunken brick patio with enclosed seating and pergola. Deep flower beds and two replacement trees screen the views whilst connecting house and garden room.

The design has sought to achieve a generous internal ceiling height without impacting on the neighbouring gardens or the view from the house. The solution was to partially sink the floor below the garden level, and also to use a warm roof construction with exposed internal joists.

Micro-pilling foundations were the solution adopted to ensure a low impact build and avoid disturbing tree roots. Concrete use was confined to the essential ground beams only and digging and earth movements were kept to a minimum.

Other aspects of the environmental strategy were: a well-insulated external envelope, plentiful daylight and natural cross-ventilation, and an external pergola to provide passive shade from solar gain.

Status: completed June 2024

Team:

Project in collaboration with Nara Paiva

Structural Engineer: Matter

Main Contractor: Azure Notions

Planting: Adam Bailey

Main suppliers:

Windows: ODC Glass

Cork wall tiles: Twist cork, by Portuguese Treasures

Photography: Pierce Scourfield

This single-storey house is part of a pair, first designed by Walter Greaves and delivered on site by E Morton-Wright in the 1960s.

This was a full refurbishment project: a retro-fit including upgrades as natural slate cladding, insulation, installation of a ASHP and under floor heating, whilst retaining key detailing, such as deep shadow gaps and full height doors.

The major transformation was the opening of the ceiling spaces and the introduction of clerestory windows, retaining the two original pitched roofs sculptural massing.

Status: completed August 2024

Main contractor: Thames View Construction

Back in 2017 we designed a mezzanine in Bunyan Court, one of the blocks in the Barbican Estate. Four years later and we were pleased to be invited to return and work on a new kitchen design in the same triplex penthouse apartment.

Following from the qualities and the warmth of the oak used for the mezzanine project, the new kitchen brief was to use the same main material together with stainless steel.

The other main inspiration for the project was Charlotte Perriand’s cabinets designed for the Les Arcs, a 1960s ski resort in France.

The original layout of the space is retained, and constrained by communal services risers, but by adding a new floor to ceiling storage unit, the kitchen now flows into the dinning zone. Objects can be stored away behind this new slatted screen, contributing to a sense of calm and space.

Wall units above the cooker were removed and replaced with shelves in order to reveal the room’s white wall and maximize the depth of the room.

Project developed in close collaboration with cabinet maker Philip Henderson from Standforth.

Client: private

Cost: private

Bespoke kitchen and joinery: Standforth

Status:

Completed, September 2021

Photography:

Anton Rodriguez

Featured:

Timber Development UK

“Remarkably sculptural interiors that resonate with the form of the estate.

This beautiful two-bedroom penthouse apartment has seen impeccable interventions by architect Ana Sutherland, who has masterfully employed stainless steel and warm oak in response to the estate’s mid-century bones."

The Modern House, May 2024

Bunyan Court (completed in 1972) is one of the blocks which forms the Barbican Estate (grade II listed), an outstanding example of brutalist architecture in London.

This particular flat is a M3a type - a triplex at 5th, 6th and 7th floor with the top floor comprising a double height space with a barrel vaulted ceiling.

The brief was for the design of a carefully crafted piece of oak furniture, slotted into the top floor room forming a mezzanine platform, shower room and wardrobes to serve the master bedroom.

The design of the bathroom was carefully coordinated with the existing communal services. The shower enclosure is lined with white panelling and has a bespoke shower tray.

The timber for the intervention was chosen to contrast with the hardwood used for the existing staircase. Storage and shutters were carefully integrated into the design of the upper platform and follow the curve of the ceiling.

The design was based on the idea of a room within a room as well as a lived in piece of furniture: a multifunctional object occupying a larger space.

Client: private

Cost: private

Team:

Structural Engineer: Barton Engineers

Main contractor/ Joiner/ Master-craftsman: Dubel Joinery

Key suppliers:

Basin: Not Only White

Oak paneling: TinTab Multiply

Taps: Vola

Status:

Completed, July 2017

Completed project photography:

Anton Rodriguez

Featured in:

Dezeen

AJ Buildings Library

Architizer

Divisare

Grand Designs Magazine, Feb 2018 issue

Evening Standard, Homes & Property, 14 Nov 2018

Homebuilding and Renovation Magazine, July 2022

The Modern House, 2024

Awards:

Shortlisted - Wood Awards 2018, Interiors

Longlisted - Dezeen Awards 2018, Interiors

Finalist - Surface Design Awards 2019

The Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate (grade II* listed) was built between 1972-1978, and is the largest development to have come out of Camden’s social housing department during its golden era of the 1970s, headed by Sydney Cook.

The project was led by Neave Brown who intended the estate to be a ‘part of city’ and who explored the idea of ‘the street’ as opposed to the more prevalent high-rise schemes of the period. He championed the concept of high-density low-rise, which he saw as a model for a more human approach to social housing.

Brown’s model went on to be repeated in various projects across Camden during Sydney Cook’s time, including Highgate New Town by Peter Tabiori and Mansfield Road by Benson & Forsyth. Neave Brown’s work has received growing appreciation in recent years and he was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2018.

We were pleased to have the opportunity to work on the refurbishment of a maisonette in Rowley Way, the slightly curved central street or spine of the estate with its stepped terraces, which run parallel with the railway line to the north.

Our brief was for the full refurbishment of a type B2 - a 64 sq m maisonette - at second and third floors, facing the communal gardens to the south and Rowley Way to the north.

The bedrooms are on the lower floor and the living area on the upper floor. As Brown said, this layout allowed for residents to be ‘making noise on the floor above their own dwelling, rather than their neighbours’.

The two levels are connected by a distinctive Aalto-style birch ply and beech staircase. Sliding cupboard doors in the kitchen and bedrooms are also in birch ply and solid beech. The kitchen features the original concrete tiled worktops, with brown 10cm square quarry tiles. The bespoke window frames are black-stained, including the floor to ceiling sliding doors which provide access to the large balcony.

Internally, large sliding partitions play a significant role in the quality of the space by allowing flexibility and different layouts. The clients developed the final colour scheme for those referring back to the strong blue and red found externally in the estate.

We worked to the current Camden Council’s refurbishment guidelines, and closely with the Conservation Officer, retaining the original layout and developing a conservation and restoration strategy, including details for the joinery, tiles, fittings and flooring.

Terrazzo tiles and Marmoleum have replaced the damaged vinyl flooring. Most of the original joinery items were restored with new shelving and drawer units added in the kitchen, designed in the spirit of the original fittings and details.

Status:

Listed Building Consent, August 2019

Completed, December 2019

Client: Private

Contractor: John Purcell Consulting

Key suppliers:

Flooring: Ecostone Terrazzo and Forbo Marmoleum

Lighting: Flos

Completed project photography: Anton Rodriguez

This house is part of a pair built in 2007, in Blackheath, south east London.

The brief was to re-plan the ground floor, improving the sense of arrival, flow between the kitchen & living spaces and to convert a WC and bathroom into a more efficient shower room and cloakroom.

The new layout is achieved with the help of 3 large sliding doors, continuous connecting flooring, a bespoke joinery seat & storage unit and a new kitchen - all parts contributing to a new unified sense of space.

Colour and textures are also explored, with a strong blue accent on the bespoke seat continuing into the adjacent room, whilst the white walls background enhance the vibrant art collections of the homeowners.

The kitchen was designed in close collaboration with Bulthaup, so a fully coordinated layout was developed.

Phase 2 of the works focused on the installation of a new large steelwork and structural glass terrace improving the connection with the garden. Walk-on glass panels allow for light to serve the lower ground rooms.

Status: Completed, June 2019

Terrace and garden, July 2020

Client: Private

Contractor: Balham Builders

Structural Engineer: Hurry Limited

Steelwork and structural glass: Canal Engineering

Building Control: Salus

Key suppliers

Kitchen: Bulthaup

Flooring: Oak, Ecohardwood

Tiles: Cerdisa

Bronze handles: Glutz

Shelving: Vitsoe

Photography: Anton Rodriguez

North Several is a development of 7 townhouses arranged over 2 terraces, designed by Royston Summers and built in 1968.

An outstanding example of modern architecture in London, the buildings are of exposed concrete and brickwork with full height glazed panels to the facades, overlooking the open spaces of Blackheath at one end and communal private gardens at the other.

Summers used a rigorous spatial grid to organise the 3 storeys modulated by repetitive wall panelling of 600x2400 birch ply sheets. This utilitarian solution also serves to bring warmth to the interior. Other important original features are the freestanding wooden staircase and the unique modular shelving system, all integral to the original design.

The brief was for the complete refurbishment and upgrade of one of the mid-terrace houses which had also belonged to Summers himself.

The analysis of the plan grids, design principles, key materials and details, together with the architectural qualities of the existing house, led to the intervention concept: preservation of, and respect for the existing fabric; conservation of materials wherever possible and make only minimal interventions so as not to confuse the original plan.

The original underfloor heating was temperamental and reaching the end of its life, and was replaced by a more energy efficient hot water system. Bespoke radiators were installed in place of a birch ply panel next to the windows of each room. A gas fire, installed in the living room, was incorporated within a new bespoke joinery shelving unit.

The house was fully rewired, new wall lights and energy efficient LED strip lighting incorporated into the staircase and a new track lighting system installed in the living spaces.

To facilitate the unobtrusive incorporation of these technical interventions, the existing ply wall panels were removed, labelled and reinstated and the ceilings were re-plastered.

The plan was reorganized on the top floor: the water tank closet was removed from the landing to enlarge and create a more balanced space; the bathroom door relocated to create an en suite shower room and the smaller room transformed into the new main bathroom, with views over the gardens beyond.

The bathroom detailing, materials and colour palette are consistent with the original design, with bespoke birch ply joinery and the use of panelled mirrors to reflect the exterior and maximize the light.

Client: Private

Value: Private

Team:

Main contractor: J W Page & Son

Heating Engineers: TMP Banham

Project Manager: Taylor & Co

Key Suppliers:

Radiators: Hudevad

Gas Fire: Dru

Status:

Phase 1: completed November 2016

Phase 2: March 2017

Photography by Anton Rodriguez

Featured in:

Houzz, Nov 2019, See Why Green is the Colour of the Moment

This kitchen design is for a Span house, in Blackheath, London. It sits within a group of 19 houses which forms Parkend (completed in 1968). Part of an ongoing refurbishment plan, the new kitchen was completed in 2022.

The fully bespoke kitchen is of oiled oak walls units and white painted plywood for the base and tall units. These were devised together with a bookcase and wall paneling, facing the living and dining areas, so the overall effect is of a separate volume within the space.

The painted vertical paneling detail refers to the stair balustrade design and the original external cladding.

Sliding doors are used on the wall units to maximise the visual depth of the room and keep the space clear. The handles are solid oak vertical posts, a language that echoes the garden fencing and the vertical paneling elsewhere in the house.

The base units are deep double drawers for easy access to food and bins storage, with the last unit housing the washing machine with a quirky finger-pull detail.

Design developed in collaboration with Philip Henderson from Standforth.

Status: completed Feb 2022

Bespoke kitchen: Standforth

Main contractor: ZD Builders

Tiles: Yuki by Raven

Flooring: Terrazo tiles by Diespeker

Worktop: Silestone

Tap: Vola

Lighting: Delta Light

Original parquet restoration: Wood Floor Experts

Photography by: Pierce Scourfield

We were appointed for an extensive refurbishment for a neighbouring Span house, in Blackheath, London. It sits within a group of 19 which forms Parkend (completed in 1968).

We have worked closely with the clients in order to deliver new interiors and garden design including: a bespoke joinery TV unit and balustrade, a new kitchen design including bespoke island and a new garden room/ garage conversion.

Status: completed Dec 2021

Kitchen: Howdens and Naked Doors

Windows: Focus

Tiles: Cerdisa

Worktop: Silestone

Oak flooring: Blackheath Flooring and Interiors

Photography by: Pierce Scourfield

North Several is a development of 7 townhouses arranged over 2 terraces, designed by Royston Summers and built in 1968.

An outstanding example of modern architecture in London, the buildings are of exposed concrete and brickwork with full height glazed panels to the facades, overlooking the open spaces of Blackheath at one end and communal private gardens at the other.

Summers used a rigorous spatial grid to organise the 3 storeys modulated by repetitive wall panelling of 600x2400 birch ply sheets. This utilitarian solution also serves to bring warmth to the interior. Other important original feature is the freestanding wooden staircase.

Following from our refurbishment project on the adjacent property in 2017, the brief was for the complete refurbishment and upgrade of another mid-terrace house.

This property had lost many of the original features and character, with all brickwork and wood painted a cold white. Our intervention focused on bringing back the original warmer finishes: the birch ply wall panels & doors and dark rich brickwork.

The house was fully rewired and the trench radiators system upgraded and extended.

The plan was reorganized on the top floor, whilst maintaining a clear reading of the spacial grids and zones: a large sliding door opens the landing to the master bedroom; a new en-suite is accessed through a plywood bespoke panel-door, part of a new re-purposed wardrobe.

The 3 bathroom design, materials and colour palette are consistent with the original design, with bespoke birch ply joinery and the use of panelled mirrors to reflect the exterior and maximize the light. Marble worktops were reused to create new bathroom shelves.

The kitchen was also upgraded with light white units and bespoke oak doors at high level. This warmer timber complements the birch in the living space walls.

On the ground floor, the utility and bathroom layout was reinstated and a door salvaged from the top floor is now a sliding partition.

The original quarry flooring on the ground floor was reused following installation of under floor heating and a polished concrete finish was applied to the first floor, unifying living spaces and kitchen.

Client: Private

Value: Private

Team:

Main contractor: Builders A2Z

Structural Engineer: Hurry Limited

Joiners: M W Robinson Furniture and Bertram Whitford

Approved Inspectors: Salus

Key Suppliers:

Radiators: Bisque

Gas Fire: Cocoon Aeris

Bespoke oak kitchen doors: Naked Doors

Kitchen: Howdens

Kitchen worktop: Silestone by Keystone

Polished concrete floor: The Micro Cement Company

Tiles: Marazzi and Design Works

Lighting: Tom Rafield, John Lewis, Made.com, SLV

Bathroom fittings: Crosswater, Just Taps Plus, Matki

Curtains: Silent Gliss Wave by Shading Specialists

Status: completed September 2018

Photography by Anton Rodriguez

The Keep is an estate built by Span in 1958. It comprises 44 houses and garages, as well as communal gardens and allotments. The site is an end-of-terrace house and benefits from a deeper-than-usual rear garden with a 50cm level change and a backdrop of mature trees.

The diagram is simple - two interconnecting wraps: a layer of timber boarding, blending the building and the fence; and a dark grey metal skin folded down from the roof to form the garden elevation. The use of metal standing seam echoes the metal roof on the main house and used throughout the estate.

Internally the space is layered into three parts: a sunken zone in dark grey plaster continuous with the external blue engineering brickwork; central band of cork to add warmth and texture, and finally, a white ceiling articulated by exposed beams. A room nested in a garden.

Garden room designs usually suffer from the requirement to be set back from the site’s boundaries. On this compact urban site, with a plot width of only 4.9 m we sought a full planning permission, in order to stretch the building to the limits of its plot.

The compact design gave the family a new flexible room plus a small shed accessed from the rear passageway. The garden room ‘improved wellbeing, liveability of space and quality of life’ not only by creating a new calm space away from the busy main house but also by subtly shifting the dynamic of the house to focus on the garden , now enjoyed from a new direction.

The use of cork and timber frame was a key part of the client’s brief. Concrete use was kept to a minimum, only the essential foundations and up to 50 cm high, to provide a retaining wall on three sides. Above this, the structure is of timber frame, as is the floor structure.

The durable standing seam metal cladding to the roof and garden elevation echoes the original roof of the main house. The external walls are clad with feather edge boarding blending building and existing fence and making the building seem almost invisible from the outside.

The environmental strategy was key from the start: maximise the use of natural sustainable materials, with intrinsic properties of insulation and durability. This was achieved by the use of natural cork internally, a timber frame structure and metal standing seam cladding and roofing.

Concrete has been used sparingly in the low retaining wall, for its durability, strength and waterproofing qualities. Internally, the cork provides an excellent environment, with its sound proofing and acoustic qualities. The windows have long-lasting composite timber and aluminium frames with excellent insulation properties.

Roof PV panels were not viable due to shading and leaf drop from the surrounding mature trees. The heating is by means of electrical underfloor heating on highly insulated timber floor.

In order to make the most of a compact footprint - only 4.3 m wide by 2.7m long on the deeper side and 1.5m on the shorter - the building incorporates a bay window which houses an ingenious multi-purpose desk and cupboard.

The plywood desk top can be hinged and fixed against the side wall. This allows the area to be used as a window seat, with cushions placed on top of plywood storage boxes. These are on wheels so they can be moved around when the area is being used as a desk. The window seat and the sofa facing each other create a more sociable layout.

The door is recessed to articulate the garden elevation and a small internal niche provides space for a digital piano or shelves.

As the site is triangular, and in order to create a more usable rectangular room, the small triangular ‘excess’ space at the back is unheated and serves as storage and a garden tools’ shed.

Client: private

Cost: private

Status:

Stage 1 Completed, November 2021

Stage 2 Completed, October 2022

Team:

Structural Engineer: Detail Structural Design

Planting: Susanna Grant

Key suppliers and installers:

Roofing and cladding: PMF Roofcraft

Windows: Rationel by Passivelux

Cork: Siesta Cork

Tiles: Cerdisa

Light fittings: Anglepoise and Fresnel

Photography: Pierce Scourfield

South Row is a grade II listed Span estate built in 1963. It is composed of two L-shaped blocks: a three-storey building facing the road and the pond with 22 flats and a penthouse, and a terrace of 10 houses to the rear. Grouped around a landscaped court, with connections towards both the Heath and Pond Road, the scheme feels both private and open.

This ground floor flat (type A) benefited from original joinery screens, which were refurbished. The new kitchen follows the layout of the original but with optimised storage and fitted appliances. The new bespoke joinery room-divider was based on other Span/ Eric Lyons designed kitchens of the same period.

Structural work was necessary to optimise a disused water tank space. This replanning of the centre of the flat created a larger bedroom and a new, more efficient, shower room accessed from the hallway.

The flat is now 100% electric, with efficient electrical heaters throughout and an instant hot water tank for kitchen and bathroom hot water.

We worked closely with Lewisham Conservation Officer to agree a renovation strategy and identified original redundant doors which are now saved and stored for future residents. Luckily, original parquet flooring was uncovered and reconditioned.

Client: private

Cost: private

Status: Completed, December 2022

Team:

Structural Engineer: Hurry Limited

Main contractor/ Joinery: ZD Builders

Key suppliers and installers:

Parquet refurbishment: Wood Floor Experts

Electrical radiators: Sunflow

Bathroom fittings: H.E. Olby & Co

Worktops: Quality Marble

Old Angle in Dartmouth Row is a Grade II listed terraced house, within Blackheath Conservation Area. It occupies part of what was originally no. 30, built by 1753 and incorporates later alterations and additions.

No. 30 is an elegant and imposing dark brick Georgian property of regular symmetrical elevation of five bays with sash windows, it has a side addition which is referred locally as the “dairy” or coach house, as suggested in its Historic England listing.

Old Angle was partitioned off in 1924 and includes the two right hand side bays and extensions. It is two storeys with a slated mansard roof. Brick quoins emphasize the three bays and symmetry of the main building’s frontage.

At first floor level, the front rooms accommodated a large bathroom and a single bedroom (each served by a window).

The new layout created a double bedroom (served by the two windows in a symmetrical arrangement) and a smaller shower-room. This can be accessed both from the bedroom and the corridor, allowing for it to be used as a social cloakroom as well.

On the second floor, a bedroom was transformed into a bathroom to serve the loft bedrooms.

Key original features were restored, with special care taken with the original window reveals and internal two-part shutters. The new shower room door is flush and “invisible” in order not to compete with the original window and door frames within the new space.

Status: Completed, November 2019

Client: Private

Main contractor: Balham Builders

Structural Engineer: Lawson Martin Long

Flush doors: Syntesis by Eclisse

Walls colour: Yellow Ground by Farrow & Ball

Photography: Anton Rodriguez

The brief called for a ground floor re-planning, in order to accommodate a guest room, shower and utility room, larger open plan kitchen and three distinct living and dining zones.  

By extending six meters into the extensive rear garden, aligning the new building line with the neighbouring extensions and garages, the quality of this home and its row of 1930s detached houses is enhanced.

The extension added 44 sq m to the property.

The existing garage block was demolished and a new garden room with the same footprint (19 sq m) was built at the end of the garden.

Both the extension and the garden room are clad in charred larch and the roofs are green (sedum blanket covering).

They form two identical forms placed in dialogue, within the garden.

The black charred wood is a reference to the existing black wood frame on the projected bay of the front elevation. The green roof enhances the aspect of the first-floor master bedroom, connects the two forms and improves biodiversity.

Two large rooflights bring light into the center of the plan. The high ceiling is chamfered, or vaulted, towards the rooflights, creating a distinctive and lofty interior to the new core of the home.  

Status: Planning granted, August 2017

Completed, May 2019

Client: Private

Main contractor: Artisan Design and Build

Charred timber cladding: M W Robinson

Photography: Anton Rodriguez

A large, double-bay Victorian end-of-terrace house in Dulwich, overlooking Camberwell Old Cemetery, this project involved the full refurbishment and reconfiguration of the property and its gardens.

The extensive rebuilt of the roof and loft included the introduction of two new dormer windows and a roof terrace.

The clients were interested to retain the original qualities of the building, with clear spacial arrangements, including the reinstatement of the main staircase, which had been relocate to the back of the property when it was divided into flats.

For the new joinery elements, we introduced a series of painted paneled walls, shutters and wardrobes which provide continuity throughout, both in detailing and colour.

New and restored fireplace surrounds and two wood burning stoves were introduced in the original fireplace openings.

An L shape rear garden, with a steep level change and a substantial front garden were designed to provide a series of platforms for seating, as well as on-site parking and improved planting for privacy screening, whilst retaining the mature boundary trees.

Client: private

Cost: private

Status: Completed, March 2021

Team:

Main contractor: Builders A to Z

Kitchen: deVOL

Garden’s soft landscape: Adam Bailey Garden Design

External lighting: Greenlite

Main Suppliers:

Flooring: Ecohardwood

Tiles: Marazzi

Stoves: Firefly

Fireplace restoration: Ward Antiques

Terrace decking: Millboard

Working on a listed building calls for a careful reading of the structure's fabric.

We work closely with clients and the conservation officers of the relevant local authority in order to develop the best intervention, achieving the clients brief without compromising the reading of the history of the building.

In 2017 we worked on a building in Grotes Place, grade II listed dating from about 1830. An elegant stuccoed double bay Regency house, facing the heath, in Blackheath.

This interiors project focused on the bathroom refurbishment. The concept was for a two part room, in order to address the asymmetry of the space: one part wet zone and one part decorative paneling.

The paneling is lined with a patterned wall paper, from the V&A'  chinoiserie collection. Part of the initial brief called for the introduction of patterned wallpaper, to complement the plainer painted rooms in the house and as a reference to the chinoiserie papers used in the Regency period.

In 2020 we were appointed to carry out the kitchen refurbishment. After analysing the existing kitchen space we proposed to swap rooms and the new kitchen is now installed in what was an art studio originally.

The new kitchen space benefits from better natural light and aspect overlooking the heath. The room layout was organised in three zones in order to define the space and respond to the volume of the room’s chimneys breast; the floor to ceiling units were centered to define a central deeper zone.

We then worked closely with Standforth, who built and installed the bespoke hand painted timber kitchen.

The use of blue hand painted tiles on the walls, with a 1800’s floral pattern and mural was part of the original brief and a pleasure to use in this property, from the same period.

Status:

Bathroom: completed 2017

Kitchen: completed February 2021

Team:

Main contractor: Terry Ash

Bespoke kitchen: Standforth

Bathroom bespoke joinery: M W Robinson

Bathroom Mural: Surface View

Ceramic handles: Granby Workshop

Kitchen handles: deVol, costumised by Standforth

Kitchen hand painted tiles: Viuva Lamego, Portugal

Worktop: Silestone

Completed project photography

by Anton Rodriguez (bathroom)

by Nick Dearden / Building Narratives (kitchen)

Bathroom featured in:

Houzz, December 2018 - Picture Perfect: 26 Bathrooms With Colourful Accents

Houzz, January 2020 - 25 Ways to Work Wallpaper in a Bathroom

The brief for this project was for a link-way loggia: an articulated room that could be open, connecting the main house to the existing garden room, wrapping around a central pond with rich mature planting.

This small addition formalises the courtyard garden whilst allowing for an all-year-round use of the garden room.

The loggia was planned to house specific art work and a bookcase, as well as a seating area.

Bounded by a garden brick wall on one side and a glazed timber screen on the other. By retaining the height of the brick wall and having a mansard roof, the impact to the neighbouring homes and gardens is minimized.

The original Span house is a type T2Ax and benefits from a front patio with a single storey study. The proposed addition is informed and follows from this layout applied to the rear of the building.

Client: Private

Status: Planning Application, Dec 2018

This project was for the design of gardens and small studios to two adjacent Span terraced houses in Blackheath.

Key to the project, a new cedar pergola bridges across both gardens providing a formal structure for the design, making sense of a shared passageway and framing the new studio rooms.

Supported on pairs of cedar legs the pergola is constructed as a series a simple overlapping beams topped by a repetitive pattern of cedar battens. The pergola evolves into a T-shape on plan to create the fence between the gardens with access gates to a shared passageway. The fence is built from vertical cedar slats allowing light and air to pass through whilst maintaining privacy.

Within this structure, each family’s garden was allowed to develop individually according to their needs: the one for a retired couple has four stepped levels and a complex arrangement exploring ideas of scale and pattern. Alternating and contrasting materials create the steps and the paving, whilst box hedges provide pockets of space for the plants. Cedar posts with wires form a framework for climbing plants to the side wall. Towards the house a more open area next to a small pool creates a place to enjoy the tranquility of the garden.

The other garden is for a young family: the area is divided into 3 distinct parts each separated by a single step; the lower and upper levels are paved with dark grey Belgium bricks and create places to sit and enjoy the sun. In the centre a small lawn edged in brick lies between two borders, with espalier fruit trees planted along one side and more informal planting to the other. An area of gravel creates a place to dry clothes and a further gravel path links the house to the studio.

The studios - one for an artist printmaker and the other to be used as a multipurpose family garden room - are lined in lacquered birch ply panels placed on battens with insulation. The ceilings were painted white with their beams over clad in plywood. The floor was finished in resin. New windows open onto the gardens, connecting the studios to the gardens and the houses beyond.

Client: private & architect own

Cost: private

Status: Completed February 2018

Clay pavers supplier: Vande Moortel

Cedar supplier: Morgan Timber

Main Contractor: Mansell and Woodland Ltd

Landscape Contractor: Season’s Landscapes

Joinery: Dubel Joinery

People’s Park in Luton is a well used local park and forms part of an important green corridor within the town.

The park has a now almost totally disused pavilion, in the local authority ownership, that was scheduled for demolition.

In May 2018 a Community Interest Company (People’s Park Cafe) was formed by four local residents surrounded by a wider steering committee to take over the pavilion (through an asset transfer process) in order to turn it into a vibrant and viable community cafe. 

The aim is to transform the building into a place the community is proud of and that can facilitate greater use of the park.

Client: People’s Park Cafe CIC

Status: Public consultation/ fundraising, 2019

Planning application submitted March 2020

Planning application granted April 2021

For more information visit Peoples Park Cafe website

Fundraising: The Good Exchange website

This project is for five new homes in Blackheath's Cator Estate, on the site currently occupied by the local Bowling Club. 

The proposal is for four homes aligned to the street and adjacent properties and a fifth house which sits on the site of the current clubhouse. 

This project is an enabling development in order to relocate the Club to a new facility in Blackheath Park.

Client: Blackheath and Greenwich Bowling Club in partnership with Greenwich Property

Status: Planning stage

Working together with the club members of Blackheath & Greenwich Bowling Club we developed a proposal for on-site redevelopment, including the clubhouse rebuild.

Occupying the footprint of the existing building and respecting the current massing, the new sustainable facility would provide, over 2 floors: appropriate changing rooms, enlarged kitchen and bar. The clubroom could be used as a community venue.

This clubhouse design was developed as part of a proposal for the relocation of Blackheath & Greenwich Bowling Club. Extensive consultation meetings were held with club members and directors to develop the ideal facility, including changing rooms, kitchen, bar clubroom and technical areas.

Relocating to a new, accessible and level site with the benefit of off street parking were the main reasons for the Club to consider this move. The new building was designed as an ideal clubhouse, providing the club with a sustainable facility and an asset for the community.

Status: Planning granted - June 2018

Client: Blackheath and Greenwich Bowling Club in partnership with Greenwich Property Ltd

This detached house design was developed as part of a proposal for Blackheath & Greenwich Bowling Club to remain on their current site. 

The current club site has an extensive street frontage and underused garden space, so a compact yet carefully designed detached house was proposed, in order to enable and fund the new clubhouse.

This proposal was later revised as part of the current plans for the club relocation.

This new build house is in Breazu, Romania.

The site has an strong level change and the design explores this with a brickwork datum which accommodates a gym and billiard room in the lower ground floor.

On the ground floor the social spaces benefit from open views over the forest to the south and the top floor is dedicated to the bedrooms.

A spine or core to the building carry the staircase and chimney, which terminate in a roof terrace.

Client: Private

Status: Design development, 2021

This house belongs to a group of 19 which forms Parkend (completed in 1968), a Span estate in Blackheath, London.

Since 2006 there's been a refurbishment plan in place including new hardwood windows, entrance door and external cladding, upgrading the building performance whilst respecting the original Span design.

Internally, some parts were redesigned always with the Span spirit in mind: bathrooms, kitchen units, staircase balustrade, loft floor and landing; all including bespoke joinery, carefully crafted. 

Photography by Angela Donnelly

This property is part of Sewyn Place, a 60s development of flats, terrace and detached houses. It was sucessufuly extended in the 80s creating an exciting and generous interior. A refurbishment program started in 2014 in order to update some of the interior features, including a new bathroom, enhanced rooflights and a new balustrade and bespoke handrail.

Photography by Angela Donnelly

Holm Walk is a Span Estate in Blackheath, South London.

The project is for a single storey side extension to an end of terrace house, which respects, and is in keeping with, the language, materials and details of Span housing in general and the Holm Walk design ethos.

Part pitched roof and part flat roof; the addition will provide the current owners with a larger kitchen, larger living room, ground floor WC room, utility, and storage.

Externally, this addition will enhance the streetscape by adding a low-level element breaking down the bulk of the current flank wall.

Status: On hold

This house is part of a recently built semidetached house in Sevenoaks.

The brief is for the integration of the garage within the main house and the reconfiguration of the floor plan in order to change the elongated spactial arrangement into a wider, more lateral layout.

With a carefully positioned minor extension, to the front of the property and the conversion of the garage, a series of improvements could be achieved:

- larger, more welcoming entrance hall,

- addition of a TV room,

- interconnection of living, dining and TV rooms,

- addition of a large utility & storage room.

The external cladding of the addition is wall hung tiles, a reference to the traditional Kentish material, as well as render - both treatments are also present in the existing house gables.

Client: Private

Value: Private

Team:

Executive Architect:

A2 Architecture & Design Ltd.

Status: Planning granted, January 2017

This home benefits from a substantial front garden, designed and planted in a natural way and featuring an outstanding tree. The back garden is a smaller and enclosed space and the brief was to create an outdoor room, a continuation of the dining and living rooms contrasting, but connecting with the front garden. The main material used is Portland stone for the paving and the main bespoke features are the water fountain and new brise soleil columns.

Photography by Anna Mawer

The brief for this holiday home in Castelo de Vide, Portugal was to create a building with two distinct levels. the ground floor works as a  self contained 1 bed accommodation with generous social areas whilst the top floor contains four en-suite rooms (one for each of the family children). The 90 degrees rotation of the upper floor relates to the optimal solar aspect but also with the sloping site. The lower floor forms a step within the site, built using traditional skills and stone from the existing farmhouse ruins. Within the estate, in a landscape of outstanding beauty of mainly olive trees, there is also a detached multi purpose studio, a vegetable garden and an eco pool.

Executive architect:

Miguel Cordeiro http://arch05.com/

Rental link:

http://quintavelhadoperoboi.com/en

113 Blackheath Park is a grade II listed building dating from 1835.

A large villa of 3 storeys with a beautiful brickwork and stucco facade.

John Stuart Mill, the writer and philosopher, lived there for 20 years from 1852, during which time he wrote many of his most important works, contributing to the Women's Emancipation Movement.

In 1936 it was converted into 6 flats with all the key features retained and restored. This work was carried out by Charles Bernard Brown, also responsible for the restoration of the nearby Paragon.

In 2017 we worked with the current owners of both flats on the first floor in order to connect them into one - a wrap around large flat that benefits from double aspect rooms and original features and details.

The intervention follows from the existing white clean detailing and rich succession of rooms.

Status: Listed building consent, October 2017

Completed, May 2019

Client: Private

Main contractor: Terry Ash

Structural Engineer: Lawson Martin Long

Photography: Anton Rodriguez

Whilst at Allies and Morrison, Ana created an exhibition series or "Showcase" where staff were invited to show their creative work: drawing, painting, textiles, pottery, woodwork, etc. There were 10 exhibitions from 2005 to 2015, with the most recent one, on Making or the joy of craft. Ana designed the exhibition layouts as well as the display units and worked together with different curating teams over the years.

Photography by Steve Walker

Baring is a primary school in the London Borough of Lewisham, in a tight urban site with a small outdoor space, lacking shading and soft landscape.

This project comprises 3 parts, the overall aim being to improve the outdoor school environment:

- the resurfacing of the play and sports grounds

- the addition of playground fixtures, soft landscape and shading

- a new school library room  

Based on the children and staff ideas and input, we are developing a masterplan vision which can inform funding, grant finding and the future developments for the schools and outdoor spaces.

The speculative study for a new school library over 3 levels is also being developed. This would provide a reading room by the playground, one main room accessed from the entrance floor and on the top floor, a small study room for tutoring.

The concept for this small building is half tree house, half reading den. It is an insertion at the heart of the L shape plan. The small external facade area created is proposed to be a green wall, improving air quality and the playground aspect.

This is a pro-bono project developed in collaboration with Monique van den Hurk.

Status: 2017 Preliminary design, funding and grant finding

The New Tigers Head is a locally listed pub, closed since 2005, with a strong townscape value, in the Lee Green crossroads, South East London. It has residential use above, with six flats over two floors.

We have been working in collaboration with Rachel Bowyer (director at Brinkworth Design) on a research and speculative proposal to re-open the New Tigers Head ground floor space as a WORKshop: Community Club.

The WORKshop community club provides shared creative workspace for local residents.

A social lounge for a curated regular programme of events, classes and workshops aiming to support and disseminate the practice and culture of making.

A connected community destination, grounded by hospitality.

A place for learning through making; promoting the creative talents and skills of the local community, as well as being a hub for local families and young people with regular leisure events like a film and audio clubs, music collaborations/ sessions.

Redefining and imagining community space.

A new narrative for claiming and occupying vacant and disused urban spaces.

In the spirit of the public library, the church hall, the pub, youth and members/ social clubs, The WORKshop is an alternative destination, serviced by skilled makers and technicians, offering resources, studio, gallery and retail space, accessible to all.

In April 2018, we took part in an exhibition in hArt’s Lane Gallery in New Cross Gate (New Narratives) where we presented the regeneration project as an art installation - the exhibition and debate explored the wider issue of empty buildings in London.

Following from the successful feedback during the exhibition, we have worked on further developing the scheme with local groups (mainly Lee Forum), developers, housing associations, councillors and local residents.

We are continuing the research, pursuing the vision for a new local community club and explore partnerships in order to achieve the regeneration of the building and its impact on the wider area.

In collaboration with Rachel Bowyer

The design of bespoke free standing or fitted pieces of furniture is usually part of our contribution to the projects we undertake.

The connection between space and object is important to us as well as the materiality and the detailing. The new designs are born from the careful observation of the existing spaces. We then collaborate with joiners and makers to bring these pieces to life.

The Lane is a private estate built by Span Developments in 1960-64. It comprises 39 houses and associated garages as well as communal gardens.

The site is an end of terrace corner house, benefiting from a wider than usual plot, with an open eastern aspect towards the mature planting of the adjacent Span estate, Streetfield Mews (built 1984).

We gained planning in 2022 for a first-floor side extension above the existing ground-floor kitchen volume; itself a 2009 ground floor side extension, by Jo Townshend Architects. This small first-floor addition will provide an extra bedroom to the property without altering its current footprint. It aligns with the rear façade and recesses along the front elevation.

This recess helps to read the volume as subservient to the main terrace massing.

The windows and finishes are to match the existing/ original façade detailing and provide a continuation to the terrace appearance.

Status: Planning granted 2022