Internal alterations & extension, Belper, Derbyshire

This project comprises a modest single storey extension - this part really couldn’t be simpler, just a mono-pitch roof built off the back of the house - that combined with some ingenuity with the replanning and opening up of the interior, makes a compact terraced house surprisingly spacious once you pass over the threshold of the narrow entrance - deceptive even!

The house “as found” was in largely original condition, albeit with a small kitchen extension already added. In common with many terraced houses it featured what is colloquially in Derbyshire called a “jitty” (or in Sheffield / Yorkshire a “ginnel” or “jennel”), an alleyway leading to a side access principle door into the house and onwards to the back yard / garden, which itself featured some unpromising outbuildings that cluttered the area immediately outside the house.

By bringing a greater part of the jitty into the house, a new hallway and compact shower room is added. By taking part of the wall of the jitty out, the hallway space flows into the open-plan kitchen / dining area; while the formerly enclosed staircase is opened up and given a more generous unwinding foot into the main space. The knock through into the roof-lit extension continues the expanding spacial experience towards a highly glazed elevation to the back garden, a nice touch (requested by the client) is the bifold window - something perhaps much more useful and nicer to experience than a bifold door?