Belair Cottages, SE21

This listed building renovation is set within Belair Park, part of the Dulwich Estate. Belair Cottages is a Grade 2 listed building constructed as the coach house for the Palladian style Belair House. The brief was to restore the existing building, which had been poorly converted into flats, and create a modern, flexible living space suitable for a young family. The concept is to create an open, fluid ground floor living area by introducing a linear glass and steel pavilion linking the rooms created within the narrow existing building and visually linking the accommodation with the surrounding landscape.

The entrance hall provides a new circulation hub to the listed building giving access to the three primary ground floor zones: kitchen, dining and living. Privacy is maintained from the public park entrance with timber screens to the large arched windows to the front and by a freestanding rendered wall to the rear garden providing a buffer zone to the road.

The random existing out buildings have been replaced by a new single storey guest wing linked to the listed building via a glazed winter garden enclosing the entrance courtyard. The main bedroom accommodation is accessed via a two-storey top lit entrance lobby. The existing porters lodge will become a private studio. A new basement is proposed housing a gym, swimming pool and ancillary spaces.

Status: Construction

Client: Private

Floor Area: 690 sq/m