The practice was appointed to work on an extension to a listed building, set within the village of Great Shelford on the border of Cambridge.

The property is a former 16th-century timber-framed guildhall. The building was then converted to industrial uses, and at one point was even a workhouse for the poor.  In 1827, it was modified into 3 tenements.  This created its current configuration of windows, doors, internal walls and a Victorian brickwork extension to the south-east corner of the property.  In the late 20th century a flat-roofed extension running the width of all 3 tenements was added to the rear to give additional floor space.

The construction and style of this extension are crucial to ensure the design suited the existing property and does not harm the original listed structure.  The scheme will see the review of different natural materials, which will allow the project to ‘breathe.’

The extension gave the client two additional bedrooms, a new kitchen and dining area, and replaced the existing 20th Century bathroom that was damaging the historic timber frame. The low profile butterfly roof was designed to ensure the existing windows and neighbouring property were not impacted. The scheme also retained to of the existing historic elements – cob boundary wall that was refurbished and repaired, and a victorian chimney stack to provide a key feature internally.