Eternal Design and Build

Insights

Notes from the work.

Technical writing about how residential construction is actually carried out in London — by the people building it.

Below ground

01Full-height steel Crittall-style glazing at Brompton Square looking out to the rear courtyardWhat is involved in a London basement extension?From first survey to final waterproofing inspection, the sequence that governs a residential basement project — and the points at which it can go wrong.Technical02Caithness Road W14 — view along the ground floor from the reception room, beneath a timber beam and post, to the dining table and kitchenUnderpinning a London residential propertyUnderpinning is one of the few operations where the cost of getting the sequence wrong is measured in somebody else’s building.Technical03Reception room at Brompton Square with steel doors opening to the rear courtyardUnderstanding basement waterproofing and tankingA basement is not made dry by a product. It is made dry by a design, an installation sequence and a maintenance regime that survive the next thirty years.Technical

Structure

01Kitchen joinery at Achilles Road seen through the new structural openingStructural alterations during major house refurbishmentsEvery wall you remove was doing something. The question is only whether anyone has worked out what.Technical02Caithness Road W14 — the rear of the house from the garden: the three-storey outrigger above the concrete ground-floor extension, with its fixed window and pivot doorManaging neighbouring structures during basement worksOn a terraced London street the most important structure on your site usually belongs to somebody else.Construction Management

Roof and envelope

01Loft conversion bedroom at Melrose Gardens with fitted cupboards under the slopeLoft conversion options for London period propertiesThe roof you have, the street you are on and the position of your staircase decide what kind of loft conversion you can build. Preference comes fourth.Projects02Caithness Road W14 — front reception room with a timber sash window, built-in ash joinery and window seatChoosing timber sash windows for London propertiesTwo sash windows can look identical on a drawing and differ by thirty years in service life. The difference is in the timber, the glazing detail and the paint.Materials

Services and comfort

01Caithness Road W14 — dining area with a long timber table beside the ash staircase, and the garden at the far end of the houseUnderstanding MVHR in high-end residential refurbishmentMVHR is straightforward to specify and easy to compromise. Most of the compromise happens on site, in the six weeks before ceilings close.Building Performance02Caithness Road W14 — rear reception room under exposed timber beams, with a full-height pivot door and a deep-set window looking onto the gardenASHP and underfloor heating in residential refurbishmentsHeat pumps do not fail because the technology is unproven. They disappoint because the building around them was designed for a boiler.Building Performance

Heritage

01Reception room at Brompton Square with reinstated chimneypiece, cornice and oak flooringWorking on listed residential buildingsListed building consent governs what may be done. Everything after that is a question of how carefully it is done.Heritage

Programme and site

01Extension at Ceylon Road with the doors folded back to the garden, lit from above by rooflightsPlanning a London house extensionAn extension is a small building attached to an old one. Nearly all the difficulty is at the junction.Projects02Reception rooms at Melrose Gardens seen in sequence through the new double doorsPlanning a complete house refurbishment in LondonThe decisions that determine whether a refurbishment runs well are nearly all made before anyone arrives on site.Projects03Front elevation of the Grade II listed house at Brompton Square, Knightsbridge, with restored sash windows and railingsManaging construction on constrained central London sitesOn a Knightsbridge terrace there is no compound, no storage and no room to be wrong about a delivery. The project is won or lost on logistics.Construction Management