Extension & renovation, Sussex

Features
Spacious extension to period house with the National Park. 
Energy efficient home with biomass boiler system and solar panels.

The Challenge

Georgia & John wanted a new family home in the country and so bought a rundown period cottage at the foot of the South Downs with a plan to transform and update it. 

Their brief included removing the 1960s rear additions and building new extensions to double the floor area of the living spaces and to provide a therapy room for Georgia’s home business.

Our approach

We designed both a two-storey extension and a single storey extension wing to take advantage of views to the Downs and to exploit passive solar gain. The existing parts of the cottage were thermally upgraded as far as possible and the new parts were highly insulated and made air-tight. The new home is heated with a fully automated wood pellet biomass boiler and underfloor heating which is supplemented with roof-mounted solar thermal panels.

The result

Brick and local sweet-chestnut timber cladding has been used to blend in with the existing cottage and the surrounding rural surroundings. The roofs are a mixture of clay tile to match the existing roof and zinc to make a modern statement.

Georgia & John are still enjoying the low energy and sustainable features that were central to the design and they love that their new home is comfortable, aesthetically pleasing and relatively inexpensive to run. 

The client's words

“Koru Architects made us reconsider our options and took us in a whole new direction what we hadn’t expected but are very happy with. They managed the whole project for us, dealt with the contractors and made sure everything went smoothly. It was very important to us that sustainability was central to the design, which included as many eco features as our budget allowed, such as super insulation, a wood pellet boiler, locally sourced wood for the facade and solar panels. Koru Architects thought laterally about the site and our requirements, for example planting trees in just the right place to provide shading. The extension, which we’ve been using for eight years now, is comfortable, aesthetically pleasing and was relatively inexpensive”

Georgia & John

Ready to discuss a project? Get in touch today.

01273 204065
info@koruarchitects.co.uk

Studio 221, 91 Western Road,
Brighton and Hove, BN1 2NW

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