HEADLINE The structural and material transformation of a lower ground floor flat, in an 1870’s six storey apartment block off Gloucester Road in London, into a spacious home full of bespoke joinery and unique features. OVERVIEW OF THE SCHEME The lower ground floor - 'Basement' - flat is a ubiquitous central London housing type that presents unique structural, fabric, lighting and legal challenges. Whilst the brief was simple - remodel/extend keeping two bedrooms - the processes and details were highly complex. Structurally the project included excavation to existing corbel levels, heavy temporary/permanent steel works removing three load bearing walls, one of which was six storeys tall, and vault underpinning that needed a Highways permit amongst other consents. The client’s material vision was equally ambitious with lime and polished plaster walls, polished concrete floors, bespoke joinery and high tech services. DETAILED STATEMENT With no escaping the reduced opportunity for light and space of the existing flat - improving both was key in this transformation using high quality and, where possible, natural materials. The project started with a cathartic strip out of yard after yard of metal studs and plasterboard that lined almost every vertical surface - straightening walls, hiding services with ample room to spare and ignoring damp. A modest glazed extension to the rear has vastly improved the natural lighting to the bedrooms and bathroom whilst also opening up new social views between parent and child. The clear division of kitchen/living and bedroom spaces that existed before has been kept, but the former is more open and spacious containing a kitchen that can completely close away when in ‘living’ mode, providing ultimate flexibility. The material brief of the client then stipulated that natural materials were to be used wherever possible and so all external wall stud linings and internal stud walls have been insulated with wood fibre, boarded with wood wool board (as a gypsum alternative) and skimmed with lime plaster. The external insulation line also used rigid wood fibre and lime render/plaster where not in contact with a damp wall in order to help the Victorian brickwork breathe and remain in moisture equilibrium. With the polished concrete floor - whilst acknowledging that the material comes with a high carbon cost - we were keen that the finish was the structure; and so we have avoided a double slab which some polished floors result in. The highly bespoke finishes in the project were the result of an in depth design process between Client and Architect as the project progressed. All the joinery, hand built by the main contractor's joiner on site, uses either solid walnut/walnut veneered boards or walnut acoustic slatted boards before being finished with sprayed fronts. The vaults have undergone the greatest change - lowered and now containing a utility room and steam room, adding a bit of luxury to what were small, damp and dark spaces. These rooms, to an even greater degree than any other part of the home, display the craftsmanship of the maker with the hand finished polished plastered walls and specialist painter joinery finish (in order to blend them into the plaster) leaving a monolithic and consistent feel to the spaces. The overall result is a brighter and more healthy home - one that can become a renovation model for this typology, so prevalent in London.