Planning renovation layouts
Reworking an existing house can be a great opportunity for creating a bespoke home that suits your exact needs, where you can enhance aesthetics, functionality and its value, says architect Julian Owen
Julian Owen takes a look at how to make sure you get the most out of everything an existing property could offer
People take on major renovations for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they couldn’t find a site for a new build or maybe they have found a hidden gem with potential. But unlike starting from scratch, success depends on the concessions that must be made to make the best use of an existing structure.
One client of mine who had just bought a listed building explained that instead of carrying out major alterations to the layout, he was going to adapt his own way of life to fit what was already there. At the other end of the spectrum, it’s possible to remove virtually all the walls of a building and extend it to the point that it looks totally different. However, this may not be a good thing if you obliterate features that were part of a property’s original appeal.
Works versus cost
Assuming that a building is structurally sound, some proposed alterations are so extreme that it is often cheaper to demolish and start again. A good example of this is when I am asked to upgrade bungalows and add a first floor. In this case, it often makes more economic sense to forget the refurbishment and rebuild; especially if the renovation project would involve removing most of the ground floor walls and adding an extension. Not least because there is a 20% saving on VAT for new builds.
For a project to be cost effective, any changes to a house layout must try to preserve the existing structural walls wherever possible. A judgement has to be made about how far the existing building should be altered. It is very hard not to be influenced by the existing layout, so a good way to start the replanning process is to prepare a list of ideal requirements, just as you would if you were starting from scratch. This should include the rooms you want and their approximate sizes. At the same time, you need an accurate scaled drawing of the house before it is altered, ideally without labels describing the rooms. Then you can put the two together and see how closely they can be matched up. The floor plans should not show walls that are non-structural because removing them is cheap and easy. Sometimes renovators may choose to remove a supporting wall if doing so becomes the defining feature of the new layout (more on this overleaf).
Renovating older houses
Properties built up to the 1980s were designed for a more formal lifestyle than contemporary homes. The kitchens
tend to be relatively small with a separate living and dining room. There is often one toilet on the first floor, usually separate from the bathroom. This arrangement is rarely appropriate for modern life and upgrading these homes is a regular source of work for architects and builders.
Typically, the wall between the kitchen and dining room is removed and extended to form a large open-plan space combining several different uses. Sometimes the living room is added as well, leaving a smaller snug or TV room on the ground floor to allow somewhere for an occasional bit of peace and quiet. This trend is fuelled by people seeing each other’s houses and admiring the way they have been remodelled. Whilst open-plan living looks great to a visitor, it does not suit everyone. This layout allows young children to be supervised whilst you get on with other tasks such as cooking, but is less practical once the kids have grown up and start doing homework.
Noise and distraction can be a problem for some, particularly when the hard floor tiles and plastered painted walls cause the sound of the television and washing machine to reverberate around the room. So if you are planning to live in the house for many years and raise a family there, you may wish to include a separate space on the ground floor for studying or create larger bedrooms which will accommodate a desk and computer.
Another common requirement when renovating older houses is that the main wall across the back of the house has to be removed at ground floor level, along with the dividing wall between the two rear spaces. This can be an expensive decision because the steel beams needed are often quite large and heavy. If parts of these two walls can be retained, or a strategically placed column installed,