Detached House Extension Belfast

The Brief:

The family was growing, and the existing accommodation didn’t suit family life. The existing setup included the main house and a poorly designed extension unsuitable for family-oriented living. The brief was to initially provide a feasibility study of possible options to consider.

The Solution:

A feasibility study was conducted, identifying three options for the clients’ consideration:

1. Renovate the existing accommodation within the current footprint, including removing some internal walls and reorienting existing living space.

2. Utilise the existing extension, extending it across the site to create an open-sided courtyard.

3. Demolish the existing extension and redesign a new extension that better connects to the existing house and provides purpose-built family accommodation.

After providing and reviewing the feasibility study, including cost appraisals, the clients chose to proceed with option 3, which best suited the brief and allowed for a fresh approach to meeting the needs of the family.

The Preferred Proposal Successfully Provided the Following:

– An open-plan kitchen, living, and dining area accessible directly from the existing ground floor hallway.

– The opportunity to extend to the full distance of the existing extension and also build across, providing ample space for a generous kitchen island facing an open-plan dining area, positioned adjacent to the garden via a large bi-fold door opening.

– The living/seated accommodation was positioned between the kitchen and the existing house, with the external wall to the boundary used for a built-in bespoke extensive storage and integrated TV and entertainment unit.

– The existing kitchen in the main house was used to locate a separate utility room and provide a new downstairs WC and shower room accessed from the main hallway. This minimised the need for extensive cupboard storage in the kitchen, resulting in an open, airy, and generous feel to the internal layout.

– The large size of the extension was addressed with a two-tiered section height solution, with the lowest section positioned over the living accommodation and opening up into the roof level above the kitchen/dining areas.

– Overhead roof lights were positioned to ensure light reached the deepest part of the space and provided generous natural day-lighting to the extension generally.