A residential ground floor renovation and rear extension in Bromley

The Kimber House brief was to update a 1960’s home on the outskirts of London with a complete ground floor renovation and rear extension to better accommodate this growing family. The semi-detached property still featured its original layout, including an integrated garage to the front and separate kitchen and dining spaces. The family, with young kids, sought to modernise the property with an open plan layout offering spaces connected with light, sight and use.

Planning permission was obtained to extend the property to the rear and convert the garage into a living space, while maintaining the level change between lower and upper ground floor.

The end result is a family room at the front of the house, complete with a bespoke built-in joinery unit that doubles as storage for the kids’ toys and a peaceful window nook used by the family for reading, yoga and play. A custom-made timber slat dividing wall, which can be slid open and closed, separates the lower family room from the upper level kitchen, allowing for a move from open plan layout to intimate spaces.

The kitchen’s clean design is centred around inclusive modern family living, with a generous island the focal point of the space.

The materials - from the hand-thrown bricks forming the new extension, to the white-washed exposed timber rafters that frame the skylight, allowing natural light deep into the property - form the heart of the space. Underfoot, a heated polished concrete floor gives the rooms a warm feel.

Externally, the extension is a combination of grey-hued bricks and a soft rust coloured zinc roof. A splayed sliding door opening connects the kitchen to the garden beyond; flanked by vertically stack-bonded brickwork on either side, the zinc roof wraps down to meet the doors from above.