The challenge

The aim was a clear distinction between the original home and the new addition, so it's obvious where one ends and the other begins.

• Renovating the existing home while keeping its heritage-style appearance
• Giving the rear extension a contemporary architectural finish
• Carrying a complete renovation through the existing home alongside the extension
• Building the change from old to new cleanly, inside and out

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The build

At the front, the renovation respected the home's existing character, keeping the details that give it its age while bringing the rest of the house up to date.

The rear extension went the other way, with a modern finish that doesn't try to match the original. The difference is deliberate. It lets the original house keep reading as itself.

The detail that matters most on a job like this is where the two meet. The change from old to new has to happen at a clear point and be built cleanly, because that's where the eye goes and where the weather tests the work.

The result

The street still sees the house as it was. Day-to-day living happens in the new addition at the back.

An extension doesn't have to imitate the original to belong with it.