Royal Crest House

Office to Residential conversion, Cheam

The property comprised a four-storey terraced building offering office accommodation at ground-floor and basement levels with residential above. We were tasked with converting the Office accommodation into self-contained Residential units, taking advantage of the General Permitted Development Order. In line with the GPDO, we had to first seek Prior Approval, which involved convincing the Planning Authority that despite the proposals being contrary to the LPAs policy in respect of parking provision, with fewer than 1 space per flat being provided, the proposals were acceptable. The National Planning Policy seeks a reduction of private car use through a reduction of on-site parking; the good levels of public transport and Residential Units sized to encourage single person and two person occupancy would help to achieve this.

Whilst we sought to maximise the level of accommodation with our proposals, the way in which the spaces were provided, placed and orientated in relation to each other and buildings and spaces surrounding the development was our primary consideration. With a deep floor plate, the ingress of natural light was a principal concern, and that led us to adopt a dual aspect design.

The habitable rooms (living rooms and bedrooms) were placed to the outside walls of the block. We introduced a reinforced concrete lightwell to the full length of the rear wall to increase the height of the windows to the Basement apartments. The circulation and ancillary spaces, (kitchens, bathrooms etc) occupy the central zone. We also decided to open up the Kitchens to the Living rooms in order to increase the natural light to the Kitchens. We lowered the basement floor to maximise the available height. This was particularly important considering the space lost due to the requisite acoustic separation between the Apartments.

We provided 4 x 2 bedroom, 3 x 1 bedroom and 1 x Studio suprisingly light-filled and airy apartments.

For open market properties, we felt that a understated, contemporary aesthetic with a neutral palette, was most appropriate. We prepared a full Fixtures, Furniture and Equipment Schedule, specifying all the fixtures and finishes.

Our services included Strategic definition, Preparation and Brief, Concept design, Developed design (including Structural Engineering), Technical design (including Structural Engineering), Construction (including Contract administration), and Handover & Close Out, ie Stages 0-6 of the RIBA Plan of Work.

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