A handsome Victorian dwelling of red brick situated within a Conservation Area in Colchester, the existing garden rose steeply towards the rear of the plot. We were asked to design a single storey addition to the rear of the house and develop the landscaping to take account of the change in level. We proposed a simple white rendered addition linked to the existing house with a bespoke frameless glazed link. We extended the existing living room, which became a kitchen with a dining area. A new utility room was created from the original kitchen. We responded to the change in level of the site by designing a stepped planted terrace with integral seating. Boundary fences, constructed from horizontally laid cedar timbers, provide privacy for a pond with sun terrace located within the upper level of the garden. A screen with concealed lighting at the end of the plot completes the picture. At the lower level, the new building has an ecologically-friendly planted roof, echoing the organised rectangular pockets of lawn at the upper level of the site. A poured concrete floor flows through the kitchen and across the terrace, together with the white rendered walls, unifying the exterior and interior spaces. In contrast with the white render, an existing internal wall is left as exposed brickwork. Concealed lighting is located within the lower edge of the kitchen worktops and behind etched glass doors. A wall of built in display shelving provided an opportunity to design a window seat beneath the frameless glazed link. As the client was keen to manage a lot of the construction work, the build was organised so that local tradesmen built the shell of the main structure and specialist sub-contractors were employed for the glazing, green roof, render finish, concrete floors and joinery.