Posts in category: Residential Projects

Strategically located towards the Thames Estuary in Kent, the town of Gillingham has faced a persistent shortfall in housing supply over several administrations.

As a commuter town with excellent connections to London, the area is eager to modernise and transform, offering increasing opportunities for high-quality, contemporary living.

The owners of this secluded parking lot, situated in a well-connected and underutilised position, sought to explore the possibilities of transforming the plot from a derelict urban cut-out into a high-quality family home. With schools, public transport, the train station, the high street, and several supermarkets within easy reach, this site offered an ideal setting for a family seeking both convenience and privacy.

We enthusiastically onboarded the project despite its complex, layered constraints. Through several design iterations, we meticulously addressed key priorities: optimising natural light, ensuring privacy and appropriate distancing, integrating with the surrounding context, enhancing access and security, respecting the natural shape and slope of the plot, and implementing future-proof design principles to minimise the project’s climate impact.

The result is a bespoke detached house designed for a family of four, with high-quality indoor and outdoor spaces crafted to balance comfort, functionality, and natural living. The design accommodates the needs of a professional couple who value privacy, calm, and sustainability.

An advanced water management strategy and thoughtful integration of biodiversity further reinforce the home’s environmentally conscious approach and allow nature to co-exist with the built environment.

Inspired by vernacular Mediterranean and Japanese houses, the design features rooms that overlook a lush internal courtyard. A glass-link passage separates the northern volume—clad in carbon-negative steel and designed to maximise sunlight for daytime functions—from the southern block, which is clad in recycled brick, topped with a green roof, and dedicated to bedrooms and lavatories.

The courtyard reveals itself as a self-contained world, experienced from multiple angles, starting from the moment a visitor passes through the main gate. Carefully curated landscaping features and a bio-lake invite the eye to wander, creating a tranquil little Eden that symbolises the power of nature and urban rewilding reclaiming what was once a soulless, abandoned concrete slab.

This project is a manifesto for a new architecture, where regenerative and sustainable solutions elevate both the natural and built environments. Its modest scale stands as a statement of what every homeowner can achieve, demonstrating that meaningful change is within reach, and can be driven in the right direction through thoughtful design.

At the edge of Nottingham City Council a big detached house gets a makeover and a twin built next to it, creating a contemporary semi-detached arrangement inspired by the local context and modern lifestyle.

We helped our client understanding the potential, investigating the constraints and construction costs, liaising with the LPA and securing planning approval for the final scheme.

Main contractor: Coming soon
Photography: Coming soon