Under Construction: Nearing Completion on Our Barnes Basement

Our extension, renovation and full-plan basement in the Castelnau Conservation Area in Barnes is nearing its final stages, turning what was once a neglected house into a cutting-edge, beautifully designed contemporary home worthy of its conservation area status.

The panorama at the top of the page shows the scale of the enormous temporary roofing which shields the roof when its tiles have been removed for repair and replacement.

Temporary roofing allows the contractors to work in (almost) all weathers, essential in a project that runs throughout winter and spring.

One of the many ways our Castelnau project is being brought up to current standards is the installation of underfloor heating. In the above photo, you can see the exposed overlay system with outlines for where we will lay the heating pipes.

The underfloor heating will provide individually zoned heating for the ground floor and basement, while the five bedrooms in the first and second floors will be heated with radiators. Trevor Fuller from Con-Serv Ltd. was responsible for the design of the heating, and you can read more about his work by clicking here.

This space will become the rear section of the open plan kitchen and living space, with floor the ceiling sliding glass doors (currently a plastic-covered void) which open directly into the garden over a glass walkway providing light for the basement.

Finally, here we’re looking down into what will become the basement, with excavators hard at work removing tons of soil and debris.

The concrete wall on the left forming the rear edge of the extension, above which will be the glass walkway leading out to the garden. This walkway will provide a light well for the rear basement floor, while also creating a beautiful, greenhouse-like underground space with paved floors and potted plants.

When complete, this full plan basement floor will provide almost 200sqm of additional space, which will house a play room, office/gym with ensuite bathroom and plenty of room for wine storage.