London Townhouse Extension and Renovation

What can you do with an existing extension?

Many London townhouse owners find themselves in the same position as the clients at 100 Church Road: the house has potential, the garden is there, but the existing extension at the back of the house is doing more harm than good. The lean-to at 100 Church Road was a textbook example of the problem: odd floor levels that made movement through the space awkward, small windows that kept natural light out, cramped rooms that felt disconnected from one another, and virtually no relationship with the garden beyond.
Rather than a space that drew the family together and opened the house up, the existing extension was a bottleneck; spatially confused and adding little to the quality of life inside.
The clients also came with the questions that almost every London homeowner asks at the outset of a project: do we need planning permission? Does this fall under permitted development? What are the fire regulations for an extension in London? These are important questions, and getting the right answers early is part of what an experienced architect brings to a project. Simon Mack Architecture navigated the permitted development and London-specific building regulations process on the clients' behalf, so the family could focus on what they actually wanted their home to become.

Replacing the Old With Something Much Better

The decision was straightforward: remove the existing lean-to entirely and replace it with a new single storey rear extension designed properly from the ground up. No compromises inherited from a previous bad decision. A clean start.
The new extension is built around openness, light and connection. Expansive glazing with slim black steel frames runs across the rear elevation, flooding the interior with the natural light that the previous extension had blocked for so long. The slim frames maximise the glass area and give the extension a refined, contemporary character that sits in respectful dialogue with the Georgian brick of the original townhouse modern in its sensibility, but not at odds with its setting.
The interior is open plan, with spaces that flow naturally from the main house through into the new extension and out to the garden beyond. Large format paving stones extend from inside to the outdoor terrace, so that the boundary between the two dissolves on fine days and the garden becomes a genuine extension of the living space. The previously neglected garden was landscaped as part of the project, giving the family something worth looking out at and something worth stepping out into.
The design is also practical in the way that good London architecture must be: thermally efficient, compliant with the relevant fire regulations, carefully detailed and built to last.

Natural Light, a Landscaped Garden and a Renewed Love of Home

The transformation at 100 Church Road goes beyond what is immediately visible. Yes, the extension is beautiful - light-filled, well-proportioned and elegantly detailed. Yes, the garden is now a pleasure rather than an afterthought. But what the clients describe most readily is something less tangible: a renewed love of their home.
The natural light that now fills the back of the house changes how the space feels at every hour of the day. The open plan layout means the family can be together without being on top of one another. The garden is visible from the new extension, easy to step into, properly landscaped for the first time and is now used throughout the warmer months in ways it never was before.
This is a project that demonstrates how much difference one well-considered intervention can make. The footprint of the new extension is not dramatically larger than what it replaced. But the quality of thought behind it, in its planning, its detailing and its understanding of how the family would use it, has changed the home entirely.