A two-storey extension for a garden flat is arranged as distinctive dark and light boxes
WORDS CAROLINE EDNIE PHOTOGRAPHY DAVID BARBOUR AND ZAC AND ZAC
D avid and Sara Ure like almost everything about their home – the sandstone Victorian building it’s part of, the garden, their neighbours, and the Craiglockhart suburb of Edinburgh they live in. But the couple and their nine-year-old son Isaac had simply outgrown the two-bedroom flat.
‘Isaac’s bedroom was on the upper level of a 1970s extension to the back of our home,’ David explains. ‘The structure was cold and rundown, so Sara and I began thinking about making changes.’
Wanting more room and better-proportioned bedrooms, the couple spoke to architect Tom Armistead. ‘He said he could maximise the potential of the space within our budget of £200,000,’ explains David.
Tom’s design for a new two-storey, 55sqm extension on the sloping plot includes a lower ground floor with two bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom, and an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area on the upper ground floor. As the lower level reaches further into the garden than the footprint of the 1970s extension, the plans had to be submitted for planning approval. ‘My practice and the structural engineers came up with a simple and affordable structure,’ says Tom. The stick timber frame, built on site, features black-painted, heat- and pressure-treated pine cladding and a sedum green roof on the lower ground level, while the upper level is finished in white silicone render.
David, 39, and Sara, 44, who both work in marketing, got their permission through in October 2018 and the project got underway in May 2019, with the family moving into a rented home for the duration of the work because of the level of disruption. Demolishing the extension included taking down part of the flat’s back wall and an internal wall was knocked down to create the open-plan layout.
The project team faced a major challenge because, with no rear or side access to the back garden, the only way to get materials to the flat is through the house’s front door and hallway, which is shared with the building’s other homeowners. They had to rely on the neighbours’ understanding when ferrying supplies to the site and removing the demolition and excavation waste. Thankfully there were no delays, t
