24 House Extension Ideas: Photo gallery of inspiration from Don’t Move Improve
At Preview Studio we love the annual Don't Move, Improve! Awards organised by the NLA - a celebration of the newest and most innovative home improvement projects across London. While the deadline for the 2024 competition closes in a month, we look back at the 2023 submissions to pick out 24 ideas you should consider for your own extension.
The projects we've picked out from this year's awards include rear, side and wraparound extensions, loft conversions, garden rooms, and even a rare front extension!
Click on an image in the gallery below for more photographs, plans, information about the architect, and our explanation of the big idea.
Inspired to see what your home could become? Click on the link below to get started with us and we'll produce a sketch design that lets you see the potential of your home before you engage a more expensive architect or builder.
1 - Use accent colours to define spaces within an open plan layout, to add some 'pop' and a sense of fun.
Project: Colour Casing
Architect: District Architects
Extension Type: Wraparound rear and side extension
What stands out at first glance in this renovation are the bright green frames of the window and glazed door that face the garden, and are so distinctive compared to the standard anthracite grey. However, look inside and you'll see that the return on the rooflight is light blue, while the kitchen island yellow. Each colour relates to its location, with green referencing the garden, blue the sky, and yellow the warmth and heat of cooking.
There are clever ideas everywhere you look in this home, which won the Don't Move Improve 'Under £100k Prize', such as combining a kitchen island with an element of retained wall. This has almost all of the functional and spatial benefits of a standard stand-alone island but avoids the need for a more expensive supporting structure above.
Colour Casing by District Architects. Photographs by Megan Taylor Photography.
2 - Combine an extension with a sustainable retrofit, bringing the entire house up to a very high standard of energy efficiency.
Project: Low Energy House
Architect: Architecture for London
Extension Type: Rear extension
Any newly constructed elements in an extension - new walls, new roofs etc - have to be constructed to the current energy efficiency standards, but what about the rest of the house? Depending on when and how it was built, the existing walls could leak ten times as much heat as the new walls.
When the founder of architectural practice Architecture for London came to renovate his own home, he not only extended it to create a new glazed dining area, he also added insulation to all the existing walls, made them airtight, and installed an MVHR ventilation system to ensure a continuous supply of pre-warmed fresh air.
Materials with low embodied energy were chosen where possible, including timber, lime plaster and stone, which, as well as being a sustainable approach to construction, lend a sense of natural warmth and texture to the interior.
For more information see the Architecture for London website.
Low Energy House by Architecture for London. Photographs by Lorenzo Zandri and Christian Brailey
3 - Incorporate a courtyard between the new extension and the existing building.
Project: CLT House
Architect: Unknown Works
Extension Type: Rear extension
Many people would have chosen to add even more floorspace to their home rather leave an opening for a courtyard, but this plan by Unknown Works allows daylight to penetrate deep into the floor plan, and creates more opportunities for cross ventilation.
This project, which won the Don't Move Improve 'Unique Character Prize' also shows the impact of choosing a single solid colour to both unify the extension and contrast with the fabric of the existing building - in this case banana yellow!
CLT House by Unknown Works. Photographs by Unknown Works.
4 - Convert the garage into an internal space to bring in light and allow views out.
Project: Elizabeth Mews
Architect: Trewhela Williams
Extension Type: Garage conversion
Converting a garage into an internal habitable space can transform a home, by not only increasing floor area but also for the opportunity to add windows and bring light to previously dark spaces.
This extension and renovation of a mews house by Trewhela Williams, which won the Don't Move Improve 'Transformation Prize', also makes excellent use of it's rear courtyard, treating it like another room in the house and providing a seamless connection to the outdoors with a room-width pivot door.
Elizabeth Mews by Trewhala Williams. Photographs by Lorenzo Zandri
5 - Use a monochrome colour scheme to simplify a small space.
Project: DB Apartment
Architect: Studio Hallett Ike
Extension Type: Rear extension
Small spaces are especially vulnerable to appearing cluttered, and therefore often benefit the most from a minimal aesthetic. The kitchen in this extension by Studio Hallett Ike uses a pure white colour scheme to create the most minimal colour scheme possible, putting the visual emphasis on the new full height window and the views out to the garden.
This project shows the potential for even small amount of additional space to transform a 1-bedroom flat.
DB Apartment by Studio Hallett Ike. Photographs by Ståle Eriksen
6 - Design garden and extension together.
Project: Walled Garden
Architect: Nimtim Architects
Extension Type: Rear extension
Often buildings are viewed in opposition to landscape, but by treating the garden as one of the spaces of the home, and designing it alongside the house renovation, Nimtim Architects have created a beautiful flow from kitchen, to dining, to lounge, to patio, pond, and secluded outdoor sitting area. Each zone is marked by a change of materials, but a similar palette is used throughout both the interior and exterior, including grey brick and timber slats, and warm, earthy colours.
Walled Garden by Nimtim Architects. Photographs by Jim Stephenson
7 - Insert a glazed link between new and old.
Project: White Patio House in Camberwell
Architect: Pashenko Works
Extension Type: 2-storey rear extension, mansard loft conversion, and garden room
Linking an existing building and a new extension with glass is an effective architectural strategy. Not only does it create a clear distinction between the new and old elements that helps tell the story of the building and how it changed over time - often important when dealing with historic building fabric - it help bring light deep into the plan.
In this comprehensive renovation by Pashenko Works, a two storey rear extension has been combined with a mansard loft extension and a garden room to significantly increase the floor area of the house, providing a home office, extra bedrooms for the kids, and a separate guest suite.
White Patio House in Camberwell. Photographs by Stijn Bollaert
8 - Do it yourself!
Project: Secret Garden House
Architect: Nic Howett Architect
Extension Type: Rear extension and garden room
Many of the renovations that are longlisted by Don't Move Improve cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, but architect Nic Howett proved you can build an award winning extension for less than £60,000. As an architect, Nic was able to design the extension himself, but he also did a lot of the building work too, choosing a raw timber aesthetic and simple materials that lend themselves to DIY construction.
Combining a rear extension with a garden room, his renovated home 'The Secret Garden Flat' won the Don't Move Improve Home of the Year award.
Secret Garden House by Nic Howett Architect. Photographs by Henry Woide
9 - Create a sanctuary.
Project: Brückenhaus
Architect: R2 Studio Architects
Extension Type: 2-storey rear extension
Extension are often used to add living, dining and kitchen space, or an extra bedroom. But they are also an opportunity to create a special sanctuary for yourself, as R2 Studio Architects did for their client. The upper level of the 2-storey rear extension features a sauna, outdoor shower and roof terrace, sheltered from view with vertical timber screening but allowing views out to trees and to the sky.
Elsewhere in the renovated home, an expressionistic colour palette has been chosen to create a unique cosy interior - the perfect place to retreat to after a session in the sauna and a cold shower under the sky.
Brückenhaus by R2 Studio Architects. Photographs by Andy Stagg
10 - Use wraparound glazing to connect to the outside.
Project: A Kitchen in the Woods
Architect: A Small Studio
Extension Type: Rear extension
Wraparound glazing with slimline framing has been combined with a minimal corner column to create unobstructed views out to the garden and trees beyond. Calling their project 'A Kitchen in the Woods', architects A Small Studio reoriented the existing 1950's terraced house from front to back, swapping the existing kitchen for a study space, and creating an extension that allows the new kitchen to be immersed in nature.
A Kitchen in the Woods by A Small Studio. Photographs by Manuel Vásquez
11 - Lower floor levels to improve headroom above.
Project: Leytonstone Loft
Architect: Rees Architects
Extension Type: Loft conversion
Finding that there wasn't enough headroom to make a proposed loft extension habitable, Rees Architects cleverly borrowed head height from the floors below by adjusting the ceiling heights. That minimal clearance was then augmented by leaving the roof joists exposed and adding rooflights, enhancing the feeling of space beyond the actual measured floor-ceiling height.
A palette of natural materials like timber, cork, rubber and marmoleum enhances the feeling of calm sanctuary, hidden at the top of the house.
Leytonstone Loft by Rees Architects. Photographs by Chris Snook
12 - Create double height space within the extension.
Project: Sky Lantern House
Architect: Proctor & Shaw
Extension Type: Rear extension
The rear extension to Sky Lantern House, designed by architects Proctor and Shaw, is visually striking, appearing as three intersecting cubes clad in cast glass, with one of the boxes popping up as a 'lantern' at first floor level. What is most impressive about this design, however, is the impact that lantern has on the interior space. Centred over the kitchen island, this double height volume adds so much to the sense of space and light in the open plan living area, while at the same time linking it to the study above.
A new stair was used to introduce void into the centre of the house, capped by a rooflight, creating another light-filled volume linking different levels.
Sky Lantern House by Proctor and Shaw. Photographs by Stale Eriksen
13 - Use structural glass to maximise the light and views from your extension.
Project: Kirkstall Road
Architect: patrick + rosie
Extension Type: Side extension
A minimal amount of floor area gained has a maximal impact in this extension designed by architects Patrick + Rosie. The use of structural glass allows for the creation of a volume with glass on three sides, including above. Combined with slimline fixed glazing with recessed frames, and the use of polished concrete flooring both inside and outside, this clever design creates a freeing sense of openness, and blurs the boundary between interior and exterior.
Kirkstall Road by patrick + rosie.
14 - Create a suite of smaller interconnected rooms.
Project: House for an Engineer
Architect: David Leech Architects
Extension Type: Rear extension
Because most rear extensions are used to create a large open plan living, dining and kitchen space, we forget that other spatial arrangements have their benefits too. The plan of this renovation by David Leech architects creates a series of smaller interconnected rooms, including a kitchen, parlour and WC oriented around small courtyard, and the dining room at the rear. The smaller rooms give flexibility and privacy, and allow multiple activities to happen at the same time in parallel.
Design details and colour choices make references to the British High Tech style of architecture - a playful choice for the engineer client.
House for an Engineer by David Leech Architects. Photographs by Johan Dehlin
15 - Design around existing trees.
Project: Banya and Garden Studio
Architect: Cooke Fawcett Architects
Extension Type: Garden room
This garden room in Hampstead was carefully designed around existing trees, including a special system of mini-pile foundations to minimise the impact on roots. The result is an organic form that feels immersed in nature on all sides.
The design by architects Cooke Fawcett and interior designers Black and Milk includes frameless angled glazing that bring both sky and the Hampstead woods into the interior.
The garden room is split into two buildings, a studio and a neighbouring sauna, with a plunge pool nestled between them.
Banya and Garden Studio by Cooke Fawcett. Photographs by Peter Landers and Philip Durrant.
16 - Angle walls to catch the light.
Project: Blurton Road
Architect: Emil Eve Architects
Extension Type: Rear extension
A rectangular form may be the most cost-effective way to maximise floor area of an extension, but there are other considerations to bear in mind as well, such as light and the path of the sun. Responding to a north-facing garden, Emil Eve architects created an angled return to this extension to a Victorian terraced house, with a large window to catch the morning sun from the east.
In the centre of the house the architects introduced a double height library space around a staircase. A glazed wall at first floor level makes use of the openness of the stair to visually link the kitchen and dining areas at ground floor with the lounge area at first floor, and allowing the north-facing dining area to borrow sunlight from the south-facing lounge.
Blurton Road by Emil Eve. Photographs by Adam Scott
17 - Use curves to scoop light into the interior.
Project: Brabourn Grove
Architect: SAM Architects
Extension Type: Wraparound rear and side extension
The curving roof and ceiling of this rear extension has been designed with the very practical goal of reducing the height of the wall at the boundary, but the impact on the interior is dramatic. Paired with a long rooflight and deep, white painted beams, the curving ceiling scatter a calm, diffuse light across the kitchen and dining room, and transforms the fabric and structure of this home into sculpture.
The rooflight and curving ceiling is just one of the tactics used to bring daylight to the interior of this Victorian terraced house. Another is the courtyard between the old house and the new extension, with glazing on three sides.
Brabourn Grove by SAM Architects. Photographs by Michael Franke
18 - Replace a poor extension with a better one.
Project: Brixton House
Architect: Studio Carver
Extension Type: Two storey rear extension, side extension and loft conversion with dormer
Many Victorian terraced houses have already been extended, and not always well. Replacing an existing poor quality extension with a well considered, well constructed one could have just as much impact as adding more floorspace would.
In the case of this house renovation designed by Studio Carver, a replacement for the existing two storey rear extension has been combined with a small side extension and a loft conversion, and a new link to the existing garden workshop space, to both increase floor area and improve the connection between different functions.
Brixton House by Studio Carver. Photographs by Richard Chivers
19 - Be bold with materials.
Project: Copper House
Architect: Studio Webster Dale
Extension Type: Wraparound rear and side extension
A palette of black wood, bright copper, polished concrete and herringbone parquet flooring create visual interest and link interior and exterior space in this wraparound rear and side extension by Studio Webster Dale. Concrete with exposed aggregate connect the bespoke benches in the garden, the patio, the kitchen floor and the kitchen island, while black painted fencing is echoed in the black painted joinery in the kitchen and living room.
The copper cladding that defines the extension when viewed from the outside is continued in the kitchen splashback, and echoed in the warm reddish hues of the herringbone parquet floor.
Elsewhere in the house, terrazzo tiles on the bathroom wall contrast playfully with the black herringbone tiles on the floor - another subtle visual link between spaces.
Copper House by Studio Webster Dale. Photographs by Fred Howarth Photography
20 - Turn the kitchen island into a jewel.
Project: Courtyard House
Architect: Yellow Cloud Studio
Extension Type: Rear extension
Many open plan kitchen / dining layouts already centre around a kitchen island. This design from Yellow Cloud Studio uses a beautifully rich, deep green marble to turn the kitchen island into a jewel-like statement - as visually important as it is functionally important. The effect is enhanced by the paired back minimalism of the rest of the interior.
A courtyard provides additional daylight and opportunities for cross ventilation to the kitchen, dining room and study, as well as views of a bonsai tree.
Courtyard House by Yellow Cloud Studio. Photographs by Yellow Cloud Studio
21 - Use breathable materials in the extension to transform indoor air quality.
Project: Breathable House
Architect: Mike Tuck Studio
Extension Type: Rear extension and loft conversion
The existing Victorian terraced house suffered from poor air quality and high humidity levels, caused by an impermeable pebble dash wall finish paired with poor ventilation. A default response would be to install a mechanical ventilation system - a feature of most low energy houses and all passivhaus homes. However architect Mike Tuck took an alternative approach and designed this extension with naturally 'breathable' materials that allowed water vapour to slowly move from the inside to the outside.
Material choices included solid cork insulation instead of the more common plastic boards or mineral wool, a layer of cork cladding on the outside and lime plasters on the inside. The natural materials lend a softness and warmth to the extension that carries through to the interior.
Breathable House by Mike Tuck Studio. Photographs by Luca Piffaretti
22 - Extend to the front.
Project: Finnis Street
Architect: Studio Manifest
Extension Type: Two storey front extension and rear extension
So many of the renovated properties featured in Don’t Move Improve date back to the Victorian era we can forget that newer buildings can be extended too, and present opportunities that can't be found in many older homes. For example, the staggered plan of this 1980's terrace, in which some houses are set-back deeply from the road while others have only a small defensible space allows for something never seen in Victorian terraced houses - a front extension.
Cleverly used by architects Studio Manifest to create a new entrance and office space at ground floor, and a family bathroom at first floor, it has been paired with a single storey rear extension to transform the layout of the house.
A double height window with a view to the new pond makes dramatic use of the space opened up by reconfiguring the stair.
Finnis Street by Studio Manifest. Photographs by Emily Marshall
23 - Use the stairs as an opportunity for double height space.
Project: First Haus
Architect: Young and Co
Extension Type: Loft extension and garage extension
Loft conversions usually necessitate additional stairs, which are often designed for maximum efficiency to produce the greatest floor area. But considered another way they are a way are an opportunity introduce spatial interest and a feeling of generosity into a home.
This design by Young and Co integrates stairs into the living area to create a sense of drama and connection between levels.
First Haus by Young and Co. Photographs by Luke Young
24 - Use recycled materials.
Project: Green House
Architect: [Y/N] Studio
Extension Type: Rear extension
Recycled materials can be just as beautiful as new ones. In this renovation of a Victorian terraced house designed by [Y/N] Studio, a reclaimed parquet floor salvaged from a school sports hall provides character and a lasting, high-quality finish.
The extension, designed to appear like a lean-to 'greenhouse' includes a timber 'terrazzo' floor formed with waste wood instead of stone or marble, while the kitchen worktop is made from 70% reclaimed materials and complements the organic patterns of the floor.
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![[YN] - Green House - Rear Extension Bench.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6468cd897ff181388c13424d/1696944186406-EF3D7WR4HOJAUC17X5VD/%5BYN%5D+-+Green+House+-+Rear+Extension+Bench.jpg)
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![[YN] - Rear Extension - Green House - Proposed Plan_1.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6468cd897ff181388c13424d/1696944202714-YKOSACEW7ZYTENWFGPT8/%5BYN%5D+-+Rear+Extension+-+Green+House+-+Proposed+Plan_1.jpg)
Green House by [Y/N] Studio. Photographs by Lorenzo Zandri
Inspired to see what your home could become? Click on the link below to get started with us and we'll produce a sketch design that lets you see the potential of your home before you engage a more expensive architect or builder.