Extending an old house is the easiest way to damage it — and one of the best ways to make it work for how you actually live. The difference is whether the new part knows it is the junior partner.
A good extension to a period home does not try to disappear, and it does not try to compete. It sits slightly back, takes its proportions and materials from the original, and leaves the old building clearly the main event.
That means getting the unglamorous things right — ridge heights, window proportions, the junction where new meets old, and a breathable build-up that will not trap moisture against four-hundred-year-old fabric.
Owners often expect a fight with the conservation officer. In our experience the applications that go smoothly are the ones where the design already respects the building — so the thinking we do before an application is usually what decides it.
And we would rather tell you an extension is the wrong answer for your house than build one that diminishes it.
The same care runs through everything we do, including our Grade II listed restoration at Wickham Skeith.
A free Heritage Health Check gives you a specialist’s read on the building and what an extension would really involve — before you commit to drawings. No obligation.