Our challenge was to transform a beautiful, but dated 1960’s home into a certified Low Energy (currently pending), light-filled family home and extend its life by at least 100 years. A previous extension pushed the house into the garden, making the back wall a retaining wall partly hidden by earth and cut off from the living area – and our clients still needed more space. We were determined to utilise the existing building to reduce our carbon impact, and respect the original design while introducing light, space and energy efficiency, ensuring the project met both RIBA 2030 and LETI targets. Instead of making changes to the ground floor, we excavated part of the garden to free up the rear elevation from the damp and cold retaining wall – allowing light to flood into the house through newly installed sliding doors. This was a cornerstone of our project ethos – honouring the original gaol of the 1960’s development, using landscaping to create privacy and retain its semi-rural air. The large triple-glazed windows and skylights allow plenty of light in, thanks to an internal restructure, and create beautiful vignettes of the lush surrounding landscape as you walk around the house. We introduced a new airtight roof, blown wood fibre insulation, F7 air filters and sustainable accoya wood exterior panelling to improve the health of the house and its inhabitants. By extending into the loft and installing two new dormers, this provides two home offices for our clients that allow sweeping views over London, allowing for more peaceful working conditions and work/life balance. The Dulwich Estate wouldn’t allow solar panels on its south facing roof, so we sourced integrated solar tiles that power the house entirely, and are the first firm to do so in the history of the Estate. It even contributes energy back to the grid, which programmer client Michael controls through the integrated open-source system he built. One of the issues with smart-powered homes is the fact the running systems are all separated. Collaborating with Michael, he used his programming skills to innovate a new open-source software that allows him to connect the different systems (MVHR, heating, water etc) to allow the home to run more efficiently and easily.