Salmon Lane, London E14

Client: Family of four
Construction Cost: £240k
Duration: 32 weeks - Winter 2020/ Summer 2021
Borough: Tower Hamlets

The property is located in Limehouse within the York Square Conservation Area and is a great example of a mid Victorian terrace.

The property itself had previously undergone some interesting reconfiguration in the 80's, however this previous work was past its useable life and the brief was focussed on improving the quality and function of the various rooms and functions in the house, but also much better integrate the lower 2 floors of living accommodation, particularly the basement which was dark and disconnected form the rest of the house.

Due to family living overseas, another key part of the brief was to create a guest bedroom with separate shower room, in order to create a degree of privacy and autonomy when family came to stay for extended periods of time.

During the initial options phase of the project we identified 2 key strategies that were somewhat different from each other, in terms of location of living and guest accommodation, and how best to utilise the basement rooms. The chosen strategy was to locate the kitchen and dining space in the basement, but to remove the floor to the existing ground floor rear reception; whilst this obviously lost valuable floor space at ground floor level, it connected the whole of the basement living accommodation with the rest of the house, flooding the basement with natural light, and creating a physical, visual and audio connection between the kitchen & dining spaces in the basement, and the family living room and circulation spaces at ground floor level.

The existing guest bedroom within the rear projection (at lower ground floor level) was enlarged and refitted, with the existing WC and open plan shower removed with a new dedicated guest shower room relocated half a floor below within the basement - doubling as a family/ children's WC.

The 2nd bedroom (within the rear projection at upper ground floor level) was refitted with integrated wardrobes, and the ceiling was removed to create a vaulted ceiling with large format rooflight - massively increasing the natural light and character of the room.

The family bathroom was also reconfigured and refitted, providing a large double ended bath, double sink, separate shower, laundry cupboard & boiler cupboard. A new heating system was then incorporated with new modern column radiators to all rooms. As usual a select palette of standard materials and products were used to provide a coordinated, high performance & cost effective finish.


TEAM

Architect: ARCHEA
Building Control: Assent South East
Engineer: DEC Consulting Engineers Ltd
D&B Contractor: Abbey Lofts