STUDIO VERICAT

The Coastguard Cottages are a small terrace of houses near Millisle, built in the 1800’s they were once home to Navy Waterguard Officers who protected the coastline from smugglers. The houses have been modernised in a haphazard fashion over the years and our Clients wanted to undertake some refurbishment work and make the most of their beautiful sea view. The low ceiling height of 2.2m to the first floor rear room was made more oppressive by the dated timber panelling. The exposed coastal location had resulted in the uPVC windows failing, the existing flat roof becoming unintentionally green and lack of insulation meant the room was expensive to keep warm. The focus of the work was on improving this space along with refurbishment work to the main roof and a new kitchen. A new insulated flat roof with exposed ceiling joists provides additional height to the first floor room, the cantilevered structure needed to be completely rebuilt and was completed with triple glazed composite windows. The monochrome colour scheme to the rear elevation provides definition to the projecting windows and the simple white interiors brighten the north east facing rooms. These small but significant improvements mean the amazing views can hopefully be enjoyed for many years to come. 

Crol & Co Bermondsey Street opened in Summer 2023 and builds on the success of our Client’s first two independent cafes in south London. We assisted in obtaining planning permission for the new shopfront in the Bermondsey Street Conservation Area, obtaining Building Control approval for the new layout and preparing information for the lease agreement with their landlord. Crol & Co designed the eclectic interiors themselves and the new shopfront allows the cafe bar to completely open up and activate the street front.

A simple but clever garage roof conversion adds a generous ensuite and dressing room to the master bedroom of this house in Belfast. The shower room was designed to provide good accessibility.

The brief for this large detached house in the Malone area of Belfast was to improve the appearance of the west facing side of the house and increase the amount of soft landscaping. The proposal was to remove most of the hard landscaping and garage, replacing it with a new lawn and a veranda that incorporates the existing side entrance. The design of the new veranda echoes the original timber front porch and gives the side elevation a more open aspect to the garden. The selection of pink Victorian tiles was informed by the original pink terrazzo in the front porch. The simple material palette gives the intervention a strong continuity and belonging with the house.

This Victorian outbuilding was originally a carriage house and was being used for storage. Our Client’s brief was to bring it back into use as a garden room and home office.

The carriage house was set at an awkward height in relation to the garden, the approach was a steeply sloped concrete path and the garden at the rear was higher than the internal ground level. A new stepped approach was created and the existing doors were replaced to echo the original design. At entrance level there is a compact kitchenette and bathroom positioned below a mezzanine. A new raised timber floor brings the main ground level flush with garden at the rear. A steel ridge beam was inserted to allow the timber rafter ties to be removed and take full advantage of the spacious volume.

Studio Vericat provided detailed drawings for Building Control approval of the conversion and refurbishment of the outbuilding. The Client then worked with NMC Contracts to finalise the finishes and complete the project on site. It was awarded FMB Medium Renovation Project 2023 Winner in Northern Ireland and Highly Commended in the UK awards.

Photography by Elyse Kennedy.

This extension in Rosetta in Belfast is tiny charred timber clad addition to a lovely red brick semi-detached property.

Our Clients had a small budget but high aspirations for a contemporary design. We designed the smallest possible extension that would connect the existing back room to the kitchen and provide a dining space. The rear of the existing house sat awkwardly in relation to the garden and outbuilding on a corner site so the geometry of the extension was important in re-orientating the rear of the house towards the best aspect of the garden. The specification of a fixed window and a large door rather than an expensive sliding door system meant that a large glazed opening was able to be achieved. The existing pantry and boiler house were combined to create a utility room and a neat little WC was tucked under the existing staircase. The existing fabric was upgraded with new insulation to the walls and floors and an efficient combination gas boiler was installed.

By resisting building a larger project the Client was able to afford some beautiful materials such as the timber cladding, high quality aluminium clad windows and terrazzo tiles. The design provides a contemporary light filled space in contrast to the traditional front room and hall.

Project feature in IMAGE.ie

The brief for this large house on Kings Road in Belfast was to allow our Clients to continue living comfortably in their family home rather than downsizing. They needed the house to be adaptable enough to allow one or two people to live entirely on the ground floor in the future and to provide accommodation for a live-in carer. The works included a new enlarged kitchen with a picture window to the bird table in the garden, a fully accessible bathroom on the ground floor connected to a room suitable to be a bedroom, an upgrade of bathrooms on the first floor and a new external terrace in the courtyard. The brief also included improving the energy efficiency of the house and our Clients had a keen interest in sustainable solutions. The solid ground floors, walls and roof were insulated and hemp insulation with an airtight membrane was used for the suspended timber ground floor. A locally designed and manufactured air source heat pump system was installed with new radiators throughout the house.

A replacement semi-detached dwelling on the tight site of an existing cottage that unfortunately had been left to deteriorate beyond repair. The Client’s brief was for accessible accommodation at ground floor level with additional bedrooms for family to stay when they visit. The compact footprint of the two storey element provides a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen at ground level and two bedrooms and a bathroom at first floor. The entrance porch provides screening of the front entrance from the road and the generous volume of the single storey living/dining room creates a sheltered south facing courtyard.

Photography by Elyse Kennedy

Clover Cottage has been featured in IMAGE.ie

update coming soon

The refurbishment of the ground floor of this house in Four Winds included the addition of a garden room, new kitchen, wc and utility room. The design opens up the views to the surrounding countryside and transforms the ordinary rear elevation. The metal clad fascia features a clever integrated awning.

Kitchen by Interior 360

Church Lane is a 4 bedroom semi-detached Victorian house in the village of Desford near Leicester. The house is noted as a significant building within the local conservation area and a lengthy dialogue was required with the planning department and conservation officer to obtain planning consent for the project.

The existing front door was on the side elevation and obscured by a poor quality single storey extension. The house lacked natural light and space for the family on the ground floor and felt disconnected from the long rear garden and the extensive views beyond. 

The house was completely refurbished and a high quality contemporary extension was added to provide a new kitchen and dining space connected to the garden at ground floor level, a family bathroom and en-suite to the master bedroom at first floor level and an en-suite to the attic bedroom. The main entrance was relocated to the traditional front elevation whilst the new side elevation has a more abstract form. The existing brick corbel provided a datum for a new minimal brick corbel detail which together with the subtly adjusted rear roof slope provides a transition to the contemporary timber clad extension at the rear.

Our Clients wanted more than just a ladder to access their loft.
The plywood staircase was carefully crafted, fitted and photographed by Design Onion.

The design for this carefully crafted extension to a typical small semi-detached house in Stranmillis evolved through the development of a very specific brief for the Client. The first floor layout has one bedroom, a dressing room and shower room. The extension to the ground floor steps down to garden level and provides a generous new kitchen and seating area, the large rooflight placed tight against the rear wall of the house maximises natural light in the original back room. The brickwork on the side elevation is very similar to the red tone of the existing, giving way to a concrete brickwork under fair faced concrete lintels on the rear elevation that stretch and step down to the boundary.

This double fronted house is located within a fascinating row of interlocking large terrace houses in Rosetta. The L-shape plans mean that some houses have two reception rooms to the front and a single room to the rear with relatively narrow gardens, others have a single room to the front but are much wider at the back resulting in very generous gardens.

Rather than downsizing the Clients wanted to refurbish and future proof their home and improve the connection and views to the garden. They enjoyed the traditional layout of the original bright front rooms but the kitchen was in the centre of the plan and the dining room to the rear was compromised by a cloak room and the views to the long garden narrowed by an outbuilding that housed the boiler and washing machine. The existing accommodation was more than adequate so the rear rooms were reconfigured to provide a kitchen/diner with large openings into the garden and a new utility room and shower room in the centre of the plan. The glazed door at the end of the hall provides long views from the front door through to the garden. The first floor bathroom and WC were also refurbished and the drainage pipework was simplified to improve the appearance of rear elevation.

We gained planning permission for the new shopfront to the second branch of Crol & Co coffee shop located within the Borough High Street Conservation Area in London Bridge.

Cranfield Road is within Brockley conservation area in South East London. The house is typical of the area and has an existing single storey outrigger at lower ground floor level. The modest extension provides the house with a new kitchen and dining room and the design also significantly improves the aspect to the garden. The stepped roofline defines a generous volume for the dining area and gives borrowed light to the existing staircase. 

Walcot Square was built around 1839 as part of the Walcot Estate in Kennington, London and is a Grade 2 listed building. Strict planning regulations and restrictive covenants only allowed any extension of the property to be single storey infill.

The existing 3 bedroom & single bathroom home was extended, internally reconfigured and refurbished to create 4 bedrooms, a bathroom/utility room and a wetroom to make it more suitable for a growing family. At garden level, a large new opening and a small extension provides a new kitchen and dining space filled with natural light from the large glazed rooflight and provides improved views and access to the garden.

Initial designs for a small house in the countryside.

Stapleford House is a large Victorian private residence in a village near Cambridge. The house had previously been refurbished and extended in a haphazard way meaning that the orientation of the living spaces and general layout did not take advantage of the large gardens, natural light and views.

Studio Vericat were commissioned to undertake a feasibility study to develop an improved layout. The proposals included the addition of a contemporary sculptural extension, a new double height lobby and stair, and a new entrance on the side elevation with covered access from the garage.

After successfully working on a small extension to a house in Hither Green, South East London,  Studio Vericat was recommended for several more projects in the same area. This series of small residential extensions were developed for planning approval and tender.  The properties are mostly within the Manor Park conservation area and the planning regulations for the houses backing onto the public park were very restrictive.

Wildwood is a large country house near Bishop’s Stortford. The new pool house replaced a traditional timber summer house and was carefully designed to permitted development parameters.

The generous accommodation provides a bathroom, changing room and large entertaining space to complement the existing swimming pool and can be used as occasional overnight accommodation for guests.

The angled west facade addresses the swimming pool and main house and the large aluminium glazed sliding doors provide views to the surrounding countryside. Internally there is a polished concrete floor throughout and externally Western Red Cedar is used as shingles on the roofand horizontal timber cladding on the walls.

Leysdown Road is within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in South East London. The proposed single storey ground floor extension, loft extension and refurbishment was granted planning permission through permitted development. 

The ground floor plan has been reconfigured to make use of part of the narrow garage as a study and create a large open plan kitchen, dining and living room that look onto the south facing rear garden. The hip to gable loft extension will provide a generous master bedroom and en-suite. 

Draper House is a 24-storey tower block in Southwark that was completed in 1965 by London County Council and at the time was the tallest residential building in London. It is now one of the few post-war developments remaining in Elephant & Castle due to extensive redevelopment of the area. 

This 2 bedroom maisonette on the 18th & 19th floor and was completely refurbished to provide an open plan layout with a oak parquet floor on the lower level and a new bathroom on the upper level.

The home was featured in the Twentieth Century Society C20 magazine in 2015.

We lived for over 10 years on the Draper Estate in Elephant & Castle, London which was designed in 1958 by London County Council and included Draper House, 2 low rise residential blocks, shops, a pub and offices. 

As the area around us started to be regenerated it felt that our housing estate was becoming neglected and we became interested in helping improve our surrounding environment through voluntary community work. 

Susan was actively involved in the local residents association, applying for several grants for both capital works and activities, organising many successful community events and assisting the development of the association into a registered charity.

Throughout an extended period of major works to Draper House by the local authority we provided advice to residents and commented on proposals. Our knowledge allowed us and other residents to challenge the often underwhelming local authority proposals and have an influence on the final outcome of the project that lead to a significant visual improvement in the design of areas such as the entrance, communal corridors and signage.

Susan also started the community gardening initiative on the estate with local group Mobile Gardeners and helped oversee the transformation of the community hall and extension of it’s garden.