Turning a Building into Flats in London Design Idea & Example
Kentish Town Rd NW1
Conversion of a dwelling into 3 self-contained flats including 2 storey rear extension, side extension on the first floor and mansard roof extension
Turning a Building into Flats
Explore our step by step project progress and use our proven approach to build new flats by extending and converting a high street building
Our client owned a classic Victorian building on a busy London high street. There was a large shop on the ground floor and a three-bedroom flat above. As there is excellent public transport in the area, it seemed like the perfect place to turn the building into flats and add new homes. But what would be the best way to extend the building to create additional flats?
Although the building itself doesn’t have any protected status, there are several conservation areas covering the surrounding streets, along with neighbouring locally listed buildings. It’s also in the line of a protected view of St Paul’s from Hampstead Heath, so there were limits to how high we could go. This meant that we would have to balance the many advantages of the site with thinking about a design that would look right in the setting.
Camden, London
Flat Conversion
Conservation Area
Brand New Two Self-Contained Flats
132% increase
20% increase
Solution
Making the most of sites suitable for car-free living is crucial for the substantial development of our cities. This property conversion project fits that description perfectly, with the London Underground and Overground just a short walk away. It’s also on one of the main cycling routes.
To increase the living space and add extra flats, we decided to extend to fill in the missing end of the terrace, building up from the stumpy and unsightly side extension. At the back, we designed a two-storey addition complete with crucial outdoor space for the future residents.
On top, we placed a mansard roof containing a one-bedroom flat – the modest height gain still left the building comfortably lower than a neighbouring building currently under construction, so there would be no effect on the protected view.
Where there was one three-bedroom flat, there would now be two two-bedroom flats and one one-bedroom flat, increasing living space precisely where it is most useful by turning the building into flats. The old flat had no cycle storage and no outdoor space, while the new flats would have both. And we think that the terrace looks much more harmonious with the previous jagged ending filled out.
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Urbanist Architecture
Urbanist Architecture is a London-based RIBA chartered architecture and planning practice with offices in Greenwich and Belgravia. We are on a mission to unlock the hidden potential of your site and deliver you a successful transformational change.
