A previously disconnected garden can now be enjoyed alongside a new courtyard located between the old and the new.

What was once a one-bedroom ground floor flat for a young couple quickly became a cramped prospect with the arrival of their first child. Wanting to remain in Walthamstow, and squeezed by the local housing market, extending was the only option.

Clad in lead, a plywood form is located at the rear of this Victorian terrace ground floor flat. Sitting upon concrete pad foundations this new lightweight room has been placed to shift the living accommodation from the front to the rear of the property. A previously disconnected garden can now be enjoyed alongside a new courtyard located between the old and the new.

With a modest budget, minimal structural works were carried out to the existing layout, the new bathroom reimagined in the location of the old, avoiding expensive disruption of the existing services. Simple changes to the existing plan alongside the addition of a new room have changed a small flat to a family home.

Doors open out from the kitchen and the extension to both the courtyard and the garden, creating a pavilion like feel. The bedrooms feel safe and secure, cocooned within the original Victorian brick building