The couple who bought this house were moving to Cornwall to make a new life. They planned to go sailing, make prints and paint, making the most of the water and the light in one of Britain’s sunniest places.
Key design aims were to connect the building with its potentially lovely garden and to capitalise on the property’s outstanding views across the Fal Harbour.
Remodelling has added a garden room at ground level, accessed by a new stairway. The room’s roof provides the platform for a sundeck and balcony overlooking the river and its valley. Meanwhile, teamwork with local landscape designers has fulfilled the garden’s potential.
We delivered this as a turnkey project, with the clients absent from Cornwall for most of the design and build period. We collaborated with them largely by telephone and email, sharing 3D visuals at each stage to ensure they were happy with our proposals. We also scheduled periodic meetings to monitor progress and debate the finer points. They particularly appreciated the way we oversaw the tendering process and managed the build to ensure value for money and high-quality work from the contractors.
A property which they initially described as “the ugliest block building in Cornwall, on a sloping site” is now much admired. A visit seven years on confirmed that their new life is everything they hoped it would be and the relationship between the house and garden has been a constant source of joy.