CLIENT Private
SECTOR Residential
SERVICES Concept Design, Developed Design, Planning Approval, Detailed Design
STATUS Complete
LOCATION Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, Gloucesterishire
VALUE £300,000
CONTRACTOR William Unwin Design + Build
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER David Partridge Ltd
PHOTO CREDIT William Unwin
& ERRAND Studio
WINDOWS Mike Honour Windows Ltd.
GROUNDWORKS TMC Gloucester
ELECTRICAL Earthed Electrical

The Old Dairy, is a deceptive two storey extension and remodelling project to an existing family dwelling in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. From the road the extension quietly recedes into the street scene, only to reveal itself more fully from the garden.

The proposals are gently splayed in plan form to create an improved relationship with the established garden from a new living space, with new insertions both adding to and unlocking connections within the existing home including a dedicated home office, utility, shower room & WC at ground level, together with a newly formed master bedroom suite, connected back to children’s rooms within the existing part of the home above, linked together by a new internal staircase.

The extension is wrapped in naturally oiled timber to complement the existing brick & rendered walls, with the cranked plan completed with a feature pitched gable end form borrowing from the existing gabled projections from the original dwelling.

At first floor level the vaulted, ribbed master bedroom provides a welcome retreat from the bustle of family life, with steel framed windows framing distant views to Leckhampton Hill and the wider landscape beyond.

The Cheltenham Architects’ Review Panel supported the scheme stating: ‘[this was] an innovative design proposal ... the architectural vocabulary is refreshing and inventive without being out of scale or character with the existing dwelling and its neighbours.

The choice of different materials and the dynamic shapes created by the subtle changes of geometry make for an exciting architectural addition.’

One of the most rewarding aspects of this extension was seeing the early stage concept sketches come to life in person. The existing house and plot demanded an extension that didn’t just bolt on to one end of the house, but rather needed to become an interwoven piece, connecting at multiple nodal points to the ‘host’ building, allowing daily family life to flow across its two floors.