One of the best views in London: new stairwell unlocks the potential of a five storey house

This early Victorian house is on a private lane close to Blackheath.  A new staircase tower was added to the house to relocate the stair and improve the dispostion of rooms on all floors and create interconnecting living spaces on the entrance and garden levels.  The staircase creates a circuit of spaces: lounge, kitchen/ dining, tv room.  The staircase landings and a new large balcony make the most of the panoramic views over London.  The detailing of the stair, joinery and room finishes are plain but refined, inspired by Shaker architecture and furniture: oak parquet- and strip flooring is used throughout the house, except for wet areas which are tiled. New plaster coving and mouldings, based on early Victorian designs were reinstated to all rooms. The house is fitted with a laundry chute, underfloor heating and a home control & entertainment system on all floors.

On this exposed site and close to the noisy A2 road our brief was to vastly improve thermal and acoustical performance of the external envelope of the building. Working closely with Knauf UK we inserted their Thermoshell Internal Wall insulation throughout and replaced all windows with Acoya double glazed acoustic performance windows.