De Beauvoir – Contemporary Extension On Victorian Family Home, N1

This one proved to be real challenge! We were given a set of 12-year old drawings by an up-and-coming Architect at the time. Once the project started, it was found that none of the written dimensions actually worked in-practice.

At this point, we kept the drawings as a guide and proceeded working closely with our Engineers and Local Authority Building Control in order to come up with a design that would work both practically, comply with all current regulations and suit our client’s aesthetic wishes.

We worked closely with our client on the interior design of this project. They had very definite ideas which we were able to deliver on. We helped them source bespoke items and shared any trade discounts with them wherever possible.

What you see is a timber construction 1^st floor extension on top of a pre-existing ground floor kitchen extension. It was important that the construction was timber as we wanted to avoid underpinning the ground floor extension at all costs. The walls and roof of the extension have two individual types of insulation, bringing the total UV value way above what was required by current regulations. The windows installed are custom-made, triple-glazed and sourced from Denmark for their aesthetic appearance and incredible heat loss values. They are timber-framed, factory-sprayed internally and 99% maintenance-free externally. We liked the windows so much that we put them in our own house initially as a trial run project!

Whilst the entire extension was challenging, many hours were spent designing the roof covering, slope and integral custom gutter to suit the roof covering. What we settled on was a copper-coloured zinc roof covering shaped and laid using traditional methods, incorporating a dual-sloped Skillion roof design, the like of which we have not been able to find again.
It looks fantastic and does not leak!

This new extension was to be a Master Bedroom with an En-suite shower room neatly tucked in the corner. This involved an immense amount of drain pipework innovation, including the installation of a new inspection chamber. Every piece of wardrobe storage within the room is bespoke and hand-finished on-site to the client’s specification. All wardrobe interiors are lacquered oak veneer with LED lighting working on PIRs and soft-closing draws.

In addition to the main work above, we overhauled the family bathroom, installed new custom-made traditional Victorian-style box frames and sashes glazed with acoustic glass, fully decorated the outside of the property and turned the original ground floor kitchen flat roof into a beautifully secluded terrace accessed only through the Master Bedroom.

All of the new wiring and new installation of heating and hot water to the extension and main house were signed off by Building Control after being certificated by our NIC-EIC registered electrician and our Gas Safe registered heating engineer.