Refurbishment and extension — Avenue Road, St Neots

Date October 2016

The houses along Avenue Road vary in style and materials but all date from around the turn of the twentieth century.  The house we have been asked to review and develop feasibility studies for was built in the 1900s as a semi-detached terraced like property with narrow plots and a two-storey appearance.

The house has a formal frontage to the street with ornate brickwork, vertical sliding sashes and a large bay window, and an informal austere rear facade with horizontal timber sliding sashes and smaller openings.  The narrow plot arrangement means that the house incorporates a series of internal spaces that work their way back towards the large rear external garden.

The client wants to retain as much of the original detailing, spaces and windows as possible, whilst understanding that there will be some alteration to the rear to achieve a larger kitchen and seating area.  In one option we have explored how a semi-detached terraced property of this size could expand at first floor to gain a master ensuite and dressing room.

In all three designs, we have shown different roof styles and different materiality options so that the clients can see how the extension could look.  All of the materials need to pay respect to the existing period property, but also show how a new layer of history could be added.

We worked with the client to complete the information to the planning stage ready for submission. However, the client has decided to sell their property and move after a property they had always wanted to came onto the market.