“Even though we had made all these changes, we still felt the house wasn’t reaching its full potential. We could have moved, but we love the location,” says David. Through his property development business, David was in an ideal position to get a team of builders and contractors on board to do any major structural work and to link up with architect Mark Scratchyard via their builder, Jamie Carter of Leeds-based Albion Builders. “Mark helped us to see the house totally
differently,” says Paula. “I was always thinking about things we could have done differently or better. I was always coming up with new ideas of designs I liked or rooms that inspired me on social media. I think we both realised that the house wasn’t quite where we wanted it, but we weren’t sure what we did want!” Not only that, but they had no idea where to start. With so many alterations and additions over the years, the only thing they were sure of was that the house didn’t ow very well. t was, says Paula, very disjointed and, in many ways, still quite dated.
But when Mark came up with an alternative plan for the house, Paula and David were bowled over by his vision and ideas.
may/jun 2024
They included a radical redesign of the whole
ground oor, knocking out an exterior wall across the back of the house to make way for a wall of sliding doors opening onto a covered patio area; removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room reconfiguring the hall and stairs and turning the entrance area into a two-storey glass atrium which would draw masses of natural light into the main living spaces.
“Between Mark and Jamie, they managed to get as many square feet as possible into the areas being developed,” says David. “The footprint of the house remained the same, but that was it. Everything else changed beyond recognition.” The plans were passed by Leeds City Council without any changes to the design or objections and the builders were on standby to begin work straight away – just months ahead of lockdown.
The family – including both daughters, their son-in-law and infant grandchild – all moved into one side of the house while the work was being done. The build team meanwhile started to demolish the internal walls between rooms that were being opened into large, light living spaces.
www.sbhonline.co.uk 31
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