Two storey side & rear extension in Sprowston

This was an interesting project, which required careful design to ensure the new sections of building blended well with the existing structure. The original three-bedroom house dated back to the 1930s and was lucky enough to have a driveway to the side and long back garden, offering scope for extension.

The clients’ aim was to carry out a two-storey side and rear extension to enable them to create a superb kitchen, living and dining room area at ground floor level. The work would also give them a ground-floor cloakroom and separate utility room. At the time, they were also using the smallest bedroom – a box room – as a study to work from home but were finding this inadequate in size. Two-storey extensions always present something of a challenge.

It is important to consider how the structure can be designed to carry the first-floor extension and to ensure the new roof integrates well with the existing building. It is essential the design solution doesn’t end up as a box-like structure, which is incongruous with the existing house. It needs to be elegant and sensitive in style and scale. As I result I decided to take the first floor extension to the side to ensure it sat more easily structurally.

I also continued out from the existing roof pitch so the first floor extension looked like it had always been a part of the house. This also enabled the rear extension to read as a single storey and gave more opportunity to have fun with the roof. This is now designed to be a combined mono-pitch and flat roof, with a clerestory that brings light into the internal space. The design of the windows – with a corner window – and the transom echo the 1930s’ style of the original house.

The plans passed without objection and all the construction information is now ready for the client to approach builders to carry out work later this year.