RIBA Chartered Practice · Woking, Surrey

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Projects · Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Royal Tunbridge Wells family house renovation

A large house replanned within its existing walls for a family of five, avoiding the extension and the structural work an earlier scheme had proposed.

The games room, with a herringbone oak floor, a pool table under brass pendant lights and a wall of framed maps

The family came to us with a scheme already drawn by an architectural designer: a large extension to an already large house in Royal Tunbridge Wells, with the structural work that goes with it. They had three children and needed a home that would work for all five of them for years. What they were not sure about was whether they needed to build quite so much to get it.

We took the project over and started again with the plan. Looked at room by room, the house already had the floor area the family needed. What it lacked was the right rooms in the right places, and ceilings and daylight that made the most of them.

So we did not extend. Instead we replanned the ground floor within the existing walls, opened the roof over the main family room to make a vaulted ceiling with rooflights between the rafters, and gave each part of the house a clear job: a games room with the children’s space in it, a snug with a stove for the evenings, and a wall of shelves for the books.

Not building the extension, and not opening up the structure the earlier scheme relied on, saved the family a great deal of money as well as months of disruption. They got the home they had asked for in the first place.

Photographed by us on completion. Professional photography to follow.

The snug, with a vaulted white ceiling, rooflights between the rafters and dark green walls
The snug, with a vaulted white ceiling, rooflights between the rafters and dark green walls
The games room looking towards the sliding doors and the garden
The games room looking towards the sliding doors and the garden
The snug with a wood-burning stove, a sofa and a brass coffee table under the vaulted ceiling
The snug with a wood-burning stove, a sofa and a brass coffee table under the vaulted ceiling
Built-in bookshelves and an armchair in the snug, with a glazed screen through to the next room
Built-in bookshelves and an armchair in the snug, with a glazed screen through to the next room

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Accreditations

  • RIBA Chartered Practice
  • ARB registered architect, registration number 088216J
  • AECB member
  • Passivhaus Trust member
  • LABC Registered Partner, Partner Authority Scheme
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