Mill Hill House

Located at the bottom end of a long and private, residential garden to an existing semi-detached house within the Mill Hill Conservation Area in Acton, the site was identified as a backland plot for potential development, this guided largely by two critical factors; the potential side access via an existing side alleyway, and the existing adjacent mews houses sat to a neighbouring private cul-de-sac.

Culminating from sequential and successive, strategically considered planning applications, planning approval was attained for the construction of a new private dwelling arranged over three floors, two above ground with a basement storey below. The new development shall comprise a 5-bedroom house, served by front and rear sunken garden lightwells.

The design was contextual in it’s scale and massing, informed largely by the adjacent two-storey, mansard-roof dwellings, these providing justification for a development of this nature. The proposed design demonstrates matching eaves and ridge lines, and similarly present roof dormers and a protruding entrance porch.

Beyond this however, a refreshing contemporary aesthetic is established through minimal detailing coupled with a simple material palette of red brick, pigmented concrete, timber and glass. Typical traditional construction details are replaced with effective contemporary alternatives, where overhanging eaves and gutters are replaced with concealed drainage channels, traditional window mullions and subdivisions are replaced with tall, slim-framed, timber windows, and a lean-to front porch is replaced with a sculpted angular, flat, planted roof entrance porch. A large, distinct full-height dormer maximises light intake and view to the first floor rooms.