RENOVATION AND EXTENSION
Hayley Gooding and family transformed their 19th-century bungalow in the Edinburgh suburb of Portobello into a spacious family home through innovative design and careful consideration of space
BEFORE
LOCATION Portobello near Edinburgh
HOUSE TYPE Extension to Victorian terraced cottage
EXTENSION SIZE 12.5m²
BUILD ROUTE Main contractor with client project managing
CONSTRUCTION METHOD Masonry outer leaf and timber kit
BUILD TIME Five months
PLOT/HOUSE COST £155,00 (April 2010)
BUILD/RENOVATION COST £61,000 CURRENT VALUE £420,000
Since 2010, Hayley Gooding and her husband Neil have been actively renovating their 19th-century terraced bungalow in the Edinburgh coastal suburb of Portobello. Prior to moving in, they added a new kitchen, bedroom, and a box room, but in 2017 they embarked on an attic conversion project to gain extra space. Two years later, they embarked on their most significant undertaking yet —the third and final project to expand and reconfigure their house into their ideal long-term family home.
SEEKING SPACE SOLUTIONS
For Hayley and Neil, the decision to proceed with their latest project stemmed from the challenges of the house’s limited space, particularly with two young children in tow. Keen to remain in the area but constrained by the high prices of larger properties and the fact that mid-size family homes rarely come onto the market in this area, they turned to local Portobellobased architects, Chambers McMillan, to explore the potential of their modest bungalow.
“We wanted three spacious bedrooms, two bathrooms (one en-suite), and a more expansive kitchen and dining area for the family,” Hayley explains. “Our primary goal was to create a space where the entire family could dine and spend quality time together.” Architect Ian McMillan was tasked with optimising the house’s footprint to accommodate these desires.
Chambers McMillan’s plan included creating a new dining area to enhance the house’s functionality in line with the family’s needs, alongside the addition of a kitchen diner extending out into the rear garden. The double-height timber frame extension improved connectivity with the newly landscaped garden. Inside the main house, an en suite was integrated into the main bedroom’s former walk-in wardrobes, while the positions of the large bathroom and the small box room bedroom were swapped to enhance daylight and ventilation in the third bedroom.
MAXIMISING LIGHT
The project architect Ian M
