16 Property, Homes & Interiors Home Improvements, Self Builds & Renovations


Saturday 6th October 2018


and stamp duty are some of the main reasons why. Those buying a £486k house — the average London price according to the Office for National Statistics — can expect to pay around £14.3k in stamp duty. For Becky Williams, an


A guide to ground-floor extensions T


It’s no longer about moving up the ladder, but about sticking in one place and improving your existing space, according to a recent report from insurer Hiscox. Helen Warwick finds out why and gives some top tips on how to build a dream extension


he trend of building out rather than moving out has increased from 3% to 15%. Rising house prices


Key tips


Ask the right questions It’s easy to get carried away with the idea of that dreamy island kitchen, but you have to ask, will it actually improve how you live in your home on a day-to-day basis? “What you don’t want is for the existing house value and cost of the extension to exceed the ceiling price of the road,


” explains senior surveyor Adam Burr.


innovation consultant, she intentionally purchased her current home in Cheshire specifically to repurpose it. After an injection of around


£175k, the two-and-a-half-bed semi’s footprint has grown by an impressive 69% after a double storey back and side extension. There’s no denying the benefits,


but it can be a struggle, as Helen Parker, a London-based journalist, discovered when transforming her “damp and dark kitchen in a low and old rear extension”. With around £75k, she and her


husband went out an extra three metres. But there were “countless disasters”, and as Fiona Duke, co-founder of the Interior Design Collective, puts it, “you should never underestimate how stressful the process of an extension can be”.


Employ the right experts “Architects, structural engineers and interior designers are all trained to know how to make the best use of your space and can help come up with a solution that’s totally tailored to the way you live,


how long you’ll be living in the house and future-proof it,


” warns


Wilmslow-based architect Alison Taylor-Stokes. There’s also the risk that your brand new conver- sion will take up too much of your outside space. For interior designer Gemma Schofield of Lifestyle Interiors, she often marks out a ground-floor extension for clients so they can clearly see how much garden it’ll eat into.


” maintains London-based


interior designer Brooke Copp- Barton. They, too, are a fount of knowledge when it comes to the minefield that is planning permission that has to be consid- ered from day one.


Don’t always follow trends The trend for open-plan living is still going strong, yet it’s not always wise to demolish every wall to create one large space. “A lot of clients forget that when children grow up, you’ll prob- ably want some separate private lounge space. You need to think


Cosy: Extensions add huge value to your home PHOTOGRAPH: BROOKE COPP-BARTON


Stay on the ball Keep a log of everything you’ve agreed with your builders and run any new ideas past them as soon as possible. As Helen Parker discovered: “Sometimes I’d forget I hadn’t discussed a particular finish I wanted and would suddenly find myself up against a very tight deadline to source a product.


Finally, have a budget it and constantly review it “As soon as you start your build it can quickly become a bit over- whelming,


” says Fiona Duke from


the Interior Design Collective. “There will be constant decisions to make and costs can quickly spiral out of control. Always have a contingency fund — around 10% — kept to one side.”


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