Dunedin

Clive and Helen engaged us to create a kitchen, living and dining space in their Victorian villa in a conservation area in Alderley Edge. They already had planning permission for a simple lean-to extension at the rear. However, it did not create the internal space to fulfill their brief - in particular the lack of natural light and flow of the space.

The existing planning approval had been difficult to achieve so our first challenge was to persuade our clients to go back to planning for some additional windows to the side of the house. We then negotiated with Cheshire East using our vast experience and strong relationship with the local authority to get an approval for this work. 

A project like this required our exceptional skills to envisage how the space would work three dimensionally. This challenge informed the design solution and we created an interior space that flowed dynamically between the three levels. We used the kitchen units to unify the three levels – as cupboard doors in the kitchen and then wall panels in the upper dining area and lower snug area.

We carefully designed the staircase as this was such an important element of the interior space, and we worked side by side with the staircase manufacturer to produce an exceptional feature.

The resulting scheme is successful both visually and functionally and the client admits that the solution we created has changed the way they live and enjoy their home.