Bookham House Transformation

Shaun and Jenny, Bookham Surrey House Transformation

• Project Year: 2015

• Country: United Kingdom

The Renovation Project

Shaun and Jenny live in the house with their children. Shaun and Jenny wanted to add their own footprint onto their property by carrying out further contemporary additions and whole house refurbishment.  The key aspects of the proposal will be to create a large kitchen, dining and family space which maximises the beautiful views available to the rear garden.

The design proposal takes on an eco-friendly approach that incorporates the use of contemporary architectural design. The ground floor extension is designed with a flat roof that overhangs - this will provide solar shading during the summer months and also allows for lighting from above externally, illuminating the outer space during evening hours. The organic structure of the extension infills the void between the main house and the pool curving back and extending further towards the end of the property. The space becomes the medium between the two existing spaces.

The rear terrace area incorporates a new seating and bbq area that follows the form of the new extension. Above the straightened length of the extension, a new modern glass balcony area has been included to the master bedroom. This will provide space to relax during the hot seasons and also enhance the amount of natural light accessible to the master bedroom through the new glazed doors.

Click Through Gallery

Shaun and Jenny Review

Finally - a young, vibrant, technology rich team of architectural designers who bring not only fresh ideas, but also an innovative approach to the whole design process.

Having explored, what I now refer to as traditional, local architects, including ones we'd used before where we even went to the expense of having drawings made, we found that none of these firms was coming anywhere close to the rough design that I'd drawn up, and indeed one firm even said that it wouldn't be possible. Undeterred we took my scrappy drawing + lots of questions to one of the National Build/Renovation shows where there were over a dozen architects exhibiting, including Model Projects. We sat down and ran through our drawings and listened with interest to the thoughts and approaches from all but two of these architectural firms - we stopped after meeting Model Projects.

Model Projects impressed us there and then with what we viewed was a 'can do' attitude, looking for solutions rather than excuses, that they were using technology brilliantly and had a low risk entry cost for us which essently placed more risk on Model Projects to 'walk the talk' - and 'walk the talk' they certainly did.

Through a combination of great technology, great talent, vision and, we suspect, lots of patience!, Model Projects came up with the design we were looking for, and because they use great technology they were able to work closely with us and model changes, which they quickly brought to life with a few key strokes. They also put their personal emotions into the project as if this was there house, and that they truly believed they had a vested interest in the outcome.

All in all we can't praise Model Projects high enough for an excellent job - we absolutely love the stunning results. Thank you to everyone in the Model Projects team.

Before and After 3D Cut-through Plans

Before: 3D Floorplans (Ground, First and Roof)

Route to Planning

Planning was achieved through a single full planning application including both the single storey rear extension and two storey side extension. The main consideration during the planning process was the first floor terrace area with curved balustrade. Sometimes this can be a challenging aspect of any application, but due to the distance from the neighbouring property, existing foliage and the proposed mini side wall to the  terrace area planning was achieved.

The planners noted the merit of the two storey side extension in regards to adding symmetry to the building, whilst maintaining many original features to the front and a modern fresh approach to the rear.

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