The Chelsea Project. The project was to convert a Victorian townhouse, built in 1885, into 3 high quality flats…… So firstly we designed the project in its entirety.

The Design. The floor plan, the layout, where structural steel beams would be placed, the creation of new openings, kitchen designs, bathroom designs, where services (water, electricity & gas) would be placed, wiring, plumbing, ventilation, lighting (natural & electric), interior design, colour schemes and even down to door handles and hardware. We researched and specified everything. 

The Beginning. As we prepared to excavate…… we stripped the entire house of fittings, fixtures, internal walls, the ground floor and even parts of the first floor! so all that was left was a simple shell structure. We then had to underpin the entire building before we could excavate an extremely large basement underneath it.

The Basement. Creating the basement was the most time consuming as with correctly underpinning a building you can only safely do a small section at a time. We removed the ground floor to access the Earth to begin. (We also excavated 3.5 meters down in-front of the building to create what would later be the light-well.)

We removed about 130 tons of soil to create the space necessary, and with readily available technology we created a heat insulated, waterproof, comfortable liveable basement flat consisting of an en-suite bathroom, a WC, 1 bedroom, a kitchen & living room.

The First Floor. As the digging continued we had to create new internal walls for the ground floor flat, entry to the Maisonette, and the small 1 storey kitchen extension. This flat was also having the garden (with a very pretty water feature). The walls were built up, soundproofed, fire proofed and heat insulated, as Building Regulations dictate. Structural steels were installed in areas where load bearing walls had been removed. The small extension was built using reclaimed "Yellow Stock" bricks to match perfectly with the existing building and the surrounding buildings, and in the kitchen extension roof we fitted 3 large roof windows for maximum use of natural light. The ground floor flat consists of 2 bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom with steam shower, a kitchen, living room, a common bathroom with WC, a separate cloakroom and of course the garden with fountain and water feature.

The Maisonette. Finished, this truly was a remarkable and amazing project. After the challenging building works throughout the entire building, the upper floor of the maisonette is what makes this so distinctive. The Maisonette is a split level flat. There are actually five different floor levels above the first stairway! Again new internal walls were created and structural steels placed accordingly so the existing space was maximised. Again all floors, ceilings and walls were insulated for sound and heat and fire proofed. The roof was stripped and replaced to create what is one of the best features.

The original internal brickwork from 1885 was cleaned, re-pointed and left bare to give an amazing effect. The best of the 115 year old floorboards were selected for the entire top floor. They were sanded 10 or 12 times, to clear the ravages of time, and then sealed to protect them for another century of use. The use of natural light and some wonderful under-floor lighting gives it such a fantastic feel. The maisonette consists of 3 bedrooms, 1 en-suite bathroom with steam shower, a common bathroom, a kitchen and the dining/ living room. The maisonette also has a roof terrace with views over Chelsea Park to the River and bridges.

The entire Chelsea project. All power-showers are pump driven with a dedicated stored water supply to each so as to avoid pressure changes caused by someone turning on a tap when you're in the shower. All floors, ceilings and walls were made heat insulated, sound insulated and fireproof as Building Regulations require. The "Red Rubber" and "Yellow Stock" brick exterior of the building was completely cleaned, refurbished and re-instated to it's original Victorian splendour.

The original Victorian staircase, baluster and spindles were carefully restored, strengthened and fireproofed. All the joinery works including the built in cupboards and wardrobes, all the new windows & doors (or those that needed replacing) were all custom made and manufactured from our joinery workshop in Mitcham.

The project outwardly retained the 115 year old Victorian style and embraced the minimalist design within.