The property, a handsome detached two storey house with an existing shallow basement, suffered from a poor connection with the rear garden as the site drops about half a storey from front to rear. The changes included dropping the basement floor to get more generous floor to ceiling heights. While doing this, we completely rearranged the layout to provide a large family room leading onto the garden via a small patio and stairs, together with a bedroom/ study and other ancillary rooms. A new rear extension was added at garden level to create a light and airy garden room opening directly onto the garden and new patio though large sliding and bi-fold doors; The half-hipped zinc roof form allows a visual link between the kitchen and garden without being overly dominant on the rear façade. Zinc, together with yellow London Stock brick, champagne coloured sliding / bi-fold doors and windows and a careful selection of the other materials create a modern and contemporary feel to the extension while respecting the traditional nature of the host building.