The Victorian village school in the middle of this very sensitive conservation area was converted to residential use and extended in 2000, but the works left a confused and unsatisfactory layout with a dark interior. The challenge was to redesign the house to improve the quality of the internal spaces and make more of the opportunities which the site offered. The large original school room was isolated from the garden and the rest of the house, and this room was also rather too big for a comfortable domestic space. The key was to move the staircase into the old school hall to reduce its overall size and to improve the circulation generally. The design of the new elements is clear and legible, making extensive use of a pre patinated zinc cladding, and a very large dormer roof on the South facing side to both improve headroom and to bring more light into the building.