A major refurbishment and two storey extension to a 2 bedroom terrace cottage in the heart of the town, replacing a previous flat roof tired extension.

jQuery Image Hover by VisualLightBox.com v5.0

26 Church Lane, Padstow

A small mid terraced house situated in a narrow dead end street in Padstow.

Although generally quite tidy the house had some rather interesting idiosyncrasies. To the front the accommodation was arranged with one room on each of three floors, the top level being within the roof space. The stairs to the attic room were steep, the dormer window which faces the street was small and the roof was not insulated. To the rear the arrangement is offset by the width of the frontage and the kitchen and bathroom were accessed through a narrow and low tunnel off the corner of the ground floor front room running diagonally to the rear. There a very tight ladder rose to the bathroom which was situated under a low pitched cat slide roof below the next door neighbour’s attic. Below the bathroom was a small lobby leading to the kitchen which was  in a flat roofed extension. The garden then rose steeply to the rear and was walled on one side and to the back.

The initial brief was to re-roof the house, upgrading the insulation at the same time and introduce a larger dormer window. Also to replace the single storey extension with a two storey structure to give a more generous stair to the bathroom above the kitchen.

The most obvious issue with this project apart from the difficult access was the complex relationship with the neighbouring properties on each side.  This made the design and especially the execution tricky, with Party Wall Agreements necessary. 

The steel frame had to be manufactured in small sections to enable them to be carried through the house and erected.

The project was completed in early 2014.

The LABC Building Excellence Awards selected 26 Church Lane as one of the finalists for their awards ceremony in 2015.