Our Approach - Chelsea Town House Case Study

Stage 1 - The Planning

Before submitting a planning permission application we had to decide whether to keep the building as one house or whether to split it into two houses. After extensive market research and discussions with local agents the decision was taken that there was less risk and more financial value to be gained in dividing the property into two houses and not creating a basement. We felt that keeping the house as one dwelling and adding basements to a two basement scheme would result in capital values becoming too high for the location at the completion of the project.

Working alongside our planning consultants and architects we successfully gained permission to do the following;

subdivision of the property into two single homes.
the erection of a full width lower ground floor extension to each property of 5m depth.
the addition of a three storey closet wing extension to each property.
the lowering of the gardens to LG level on each property.
Insertion of various roof lights to optimize natural light in both properties.
Alterations to front and rear fenestrations to improve the appearance of each building.
The square footage was increased from 4,917 sq.ft to 5,727 sq.ft.

Stage 2 - Final Concept Agreement

The Victorian terrace was to be more traditional in design with traditional panelling and joinery throughout, bronze ironmongery, a shaker style hand-built kitchen, Lefroy Brooks, sanitary ware and beautiful Italian marbles in the bathroom.

The larger infill house was to be more contemporary in design with a strong colour palette of greys, whites and blue, specially designed architectural beadings and cornicing with a more modern twist, chevron design marble floors, clean and bronze detailed and a contemporary joinery, contemporary handmade kitchen with Wolf and Sub Zero appliances.

Stage 3 - Detailed Design

Whilst waiting for planning permission we worked alongside our architects to come up with a number of layout schemes to optimise the space, sense of flow and light within the house. After much deliberation and discussions with local agents the final layouts were agreed:

With final layouts agreed we began detailed specification and design of each house. All the interior design on this project was undertaken by Gallagher London.
Specification of all architectural and hard finishes - floors, stones, kitchen units and appliances, bathroom marbles and tiles, sanitary ware, ironmongery, panelling and cornicing and skirting and carpets.
Specification of all joinery.
Design and specification of Lutron lighting scheme alongside our specialist lighting designer.
Design of gardens alongside our landscape designer.
Design and specification of all mechanics and engineering and AV systems - aircon/Lutron/Savant/security systems and cameras.
Design and specification of all furniture, soft furnishings and accessories.

Stage 4 - The Build

Both houses were first stripped out and the gardens dug out so that lower ground floor to garden was all on one level. The Victorian terrace house was a quicker build due to the larger in-fill house being constructed entirely from concrete which meant it was far more time consuming to open up floor plates, install services and hold up the building for digging at lower ground level to create better ceiling heights. Completion of the build for the two houses took 14 months.

Stage 5 - Marketing and Sales

The Victorian House (2,542 sq.ft) was sold off market three months before completion of the build for over £2,000 per sq.ft. The in-fill house “Netherton Lodge” (3,185 sq.ft) was sold one month after completion for circa £2,000 per sq.ft