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.