Zumi - Dover and East Kent

Article on Peake Projects

2017-09-22T13:27:00.000+01:00

Converting a cellar

Above: Designed by Robert Dye Architects and built by Peake Projects, this existing cellar was made habitable by excavating down to create more headroom, as well matching the new floor level to a terraced area outside.

Refurbishing an existing below-ground area is a great way to enlarge a home that’s squeezed for space. Emily Brooks explains how these underground storeys can be made habitable and attractive

If you cannot extend your home upwards or outwards, then converting a cellar is a viable option for adding more space. These transformations work especially well if living area (as opposed to bedrooms) is needed, because they are already physically close to ground-floor reception rooms. Playrooms, games zones, home offices, TV dens and utility spaces are all great uses, and by putting these functions underground, they can also transform what’s happening upstairs – reclaiming that toy-strewn dining room could open up the opportunity to create a spacious kitchen-diner, for example.

Above: Double-height spaces are great for bringing light down from the floors above. This conversion project is by Robert Dye Architects, built by Peake Projects.

In a typical Victorian or Edwardian property, the cellar would have been used to store coal, food or other goods. It wouldn’t necessarily run under the whole house and was never intended to be a habitable space, so turning it into one can be a challenge. “Having an existing cellar tends to spur people on to start a project, because a lot of the digout work is already done,” says James Peake, director of building company Peake Projects. However, if there is any additional excavation to be done, particularly downwards below the level of existing footings, costs ramp up because of the need for structural work and extra waterproofing. “You will save something on the labour costs if there is already a cellar, but it will still be a big engineering process. It’s very disruptive,” says James.

Assessing suitability

Create a checklist to see how suitable your cellar might be for conversion. How big is the floorspace, and is it divided up into a smaller rooms that will need opening up? How dry is it? How tall are the ceilings? Is there good access or will that need to be created? Are there existing light wells or windows; and are they sufficiently large already or will they have to be made bigger?

Low ceiling heights, damp and a lack of natural light are the three big issues, all of which can be tackled with specialist help. Companies dedicated to subterranean work have sprung up in cities, where adding extra space underground tends to make the most financial sense, and they can even create whole new retrofitted basements. Not only can they provide the specialist engineering expertise needed for the project, but they offer everything in one package, from design to fit out.

Planning, regs & party walls

Above: Glass balustrades and a slim steel rail introduce more daylight to this basement staircase, which also features builtin storage. It was designed and made by Bisca.

If you want to make only light internal changes involving waterproofing (ie no excavation, underpinning or additional light wells that change a property’s outward appearance) then planning permission may not be required. But the government’s Planning Portal advises checking with your council first. Even if you think work falls under permitted development, it’s advisable to apply for a certificate of lawfulness to give peace of mind the project is legal.

Building Regulations approval will be needed for the works, unless the space is being used for the same purpose before and after (such as storage). Key areas that need to comply include ventilation, means of escape, damp-proofing and electrics. A surveyor can draw up plans for approval, but if you are using a dedicated basement specialist this will be a part of your package.

If you have neighbours in an adjoining property and you are excavating, underpinning or extending an existing cellar, the Party Wall Act comes in to play. While your neighbours can’t stop you from making lawful changes to your property, they can have a say in how and when your works are carried out. Robert Wilson of Granit Architects says that if you are not carrying out works to the party wall – ie, you are just waterproofing and fitting out what already exists – you do not need to inform them, but it’s a good idea to do so regardless. “Act how you would want your neighbour to act if it was them carrying out the work,” he says. At the least, Robert advises arranging a Schedule of Condition; a formal record of the condition of the next-door property. “Otherwise if you’re doing the work and suddenly you’ve got an irate neighbour on your doorstep saying you’ve made some cracks in his wall, you’ve got no comeback to say that they’re nothing to do with your construction project,” he says.

Waterproofing options

Above: In order to give the impression of more daylight coming into this TV den, Granit Architects added artificial lighting to the basement light wells.

The gold standard of waterproofing is a studded plastic cavity drainage membrane (CDM) lining the walls and a pump system. Rather than attempting to stop water from entering the fabric, moisture is allowed to trickle down the CDM into internal drainage channels before being pumped away. These systems require regular servicing, and the pump should be alarmed and have battery backup in case of failure.

A barrier system is the alternative: unlike a CDM, which manages water ingress, this option holds it back. Old plaster is removed and the walls and floors made sound, before applying a tanking system – typically a waterproof cementitious slurry. The floor will need to be sealed, too. A waterproofing specialist will be able to advise on which systems are most suitable – the Basement Waterproofing Association is a good place to find one.

Design & layout tips

External light wells, topped by a grille or walk-on glazing (usually opaque to preserve privacy) can channel daylight down to windows. A sunken courtyard at the rear of a property, with glass doors and steps up to the garden, is an attractive way to bring in light, and link inside and out. But do bear in mind you’ll be sacrificing the chance to have a wide, clear and step-free access at ground level.

Above: In this project by Granit Architects, French doors lead out to a light well at the front of the house. They give the illusion that the room might be on the ground floor, but also provide a means of escape

Creating pockets of double-height space, so that brightness can be thrown down from above, is a great way of introducing daylight as well as drama, and walkover internal glazing works well, too. “A staircase can provide a really good source of borrowed light, especially if there’s a rooflight over it,” says Georgina Turvey of PEEK Architecture. Glass balustrades and open treads will help as well, although you’ll need to ensure the design adheres to fire safety regulations (see box, below left).

“We usually match the staircase itself to what’s going up above, even if the design of the basement is a bit more funky and contemporary,” says Robert. “They key thing is that it harmonizes at ground-floor level, so the handrail for the basement’s stair coordinates with the flight going up to the first floor.” This can help create a sense of flow between the new storey and the rest of the house.

Above: Moving playrooms, utility rooms and TV dens underground frequently has a profound effect on the ground floor, freeing up space; this project is by Basement Masters.

Layouts are usually dictated by where the most daylight can be found. “Always put ancillary spaces – loos, utilities, storage, plant rooms – in the darkest areas, concentrating living spaces around the light wells,” says Georgina. Openplan arrangements can help to encourage light to flow through the whole zone, but if that doesn’t suit your needs, fitting glazed internal doors or fold-back partitions that temporarily close-off space might be better.

When it comes to decor, pale colours will bounce light around, but if your space doesn’t particularly need daylight (as with a media room, for example) consider embracing that with dark walls and cocooning carpets. Access can often be an issue in converted cellars, so always check whether furniture will fit. Alternatively, buy flat-pack and modular pieces that can be assembled within the room.

Above: A glazed light well cover and tall glass doors bring maximum daylight into this new zone by Basement Works.

CONVERT & EXTEND

Cellars are often not large or deep enough to make them habitable without extra work. So some conversions that would, on the face of it, fall under permitted development come unstuck because of ceiling heights. The need to insulate the floor (to meet Building Regulations) means that headroom is lessened further, and so it becomes necessary to dig down under the existing footings. It is quite common for existing cellars to instead be used as a starting point for much larger works – excavating down and/or out towards the rear of the property, and even under the garden. This is structural work that requires planning consent, and the process is akin to retrofitting a new basement from scratch – underpinning party walls, removing soil, building new structural supports and foundations, and waterproofing – with all the disruption and cost this implies.

FIRE SAFETY

To comply with Building Regulations, there must be a means of emergency escape from a basement. This could be the main staircase (assuming it leads directly to a final exit, such as the front door) but may need to be a protected stairwell, which places some restrictions on design since it needs to be enclosed. Alternatives include an external door or window of a specified

minimum size and height, with a ladder leading up and out. If there are doors leading to the garden, this also qualifies as an escape route, if the outside space is as long as the house is tall, or the garden leads to a way out (as with a side alleyway). Some sprinkler and mist systems have been accepted by Building Regulations to be used in place of an approved exit.

CONTACTS

Basement Masters 020 8443 7099 www.basementmasters.co.uk The Basement Waterproofing Association 020 8185 0263 www.basementwaterproofingassociation.org Basement Works 020 8877 0555 www.basementworks.co.uk Bisca 01439 771702 www.bisca.co.uk Delta Membranes 01992 523 523 www.deltamembranes.com Granit Architects 020 7924 4555 www.granit.co.uk Peake Projects 020 7207 4165 www.peakeprojects.co.uk PEEK Architecture 020 7734 3094 www.peekarchitecture.co.uk Robert Dye Architects 020 7267 9388 www.robertdye.com

DunRoamin, DunMovin

2017-07-21T10:40:00.000+01:00

Our journey round Kent continues... starting in Ramsgate in 2006, then Canterbury, Faversham, Folkestone and Sandgate, we are now in Dover. No posts here for 4 years, but less entertained by FaceBook than I used to be, and I like the idea of an uninterrupted scrollable journal, so back to blogging.

Our new house deserves a pictorial record as it is quite simply the prettiest we have lived in, with a garden to die for and clear views of Dover Castle from the garden and house. Fabulous.

I don't expect anyone other than myself to read this, it's pure self-indulgence, combined with opportunity to show off the house and garden to family and friends, but I'll also be feeding in historical vignettes and curiosties as they occur. I can't seem to stop myself collecting books, postcards and other bits and pieces of local history, so there may be items of a wider interest. And for the day job, there will also be bits from East Kent's hospital and healthcare history as I develop the archive of the local NHS Trust.

Now I just have to remember to post...

And Folkestone...

2013-07-01T11:04:00.003+01:00

July 1st, time for a new start. We've been in Folkestone since last November, and in our new house few a few weeks now, and just about settled. So it's time to get blogging again, with loads of old postcards and greetings cards, occasional photos of what's happening in the town, and a comment or two.

Strangely enough, we missed the red carpet welcome, can't see how that was overlooked. This great card dates to 1907, in the heyday of Edwardian cards, and clearly sums up the delight the town feels every time someone moves in . . . or something like that, anyway.

2013-03-01T08:42:00.001+00:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Latest Must-have Gadget!

2012-01-13T10:52:00.000+00:00

One to amuse the inner librarian (sadly, in my case, the outer librarian too).

Gadget News!

The "BOOK" is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover! Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information.
These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.
Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.
Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile computing crowd.
Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain.
A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.
The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it.
The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped in water
The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.
Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers.

Conversely, numerous bookmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.

The media is ideal for long-term archive use. Several field trials have proven that the media will still be readable in several centuries, and because of its simple user interface it will be compatible with future reading devices.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (Pencils).

Portable, durable, and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the entertainment wave of the future. The BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform.

and it's all true...

Oo, thankee sir, for noticing us peasants...

2012-01-10T06:43:00.001+00:00

I just read today's Telegraph review of the Sportsman - possibly the most patronising piece I've seen this year... I know it's early days, but it'll take some beating.

Check it for yourself.

Starting off with casual and dismissive comments about Kent as a place to go through rather than to, and Seasalter's apparent inbreeding, there's a great review as far as the food is concerned, although the paper napkin seemed to have caused a little bit of a problem.

Still at £100 each for the tasting menu lunch with wine for the reviewer and his girlfriend, this was reported as "astonishingly good prices". That'll be planet London then... grr.

I expect he want to be AA Gill, but doesn't quite have the wit for it. Still, the food sounded nice, as long as there's no food critics at the next table. it was nice last time I was there, and we escaped with a bill less than half of this one. We must have been doing it wrong.

A Valentine's Wish

2011-02-14T06:16:00.000+00:00

We've just exchanged contracts on a house in Faversham, needing a major renovation, but overlooking the creek and with bags of space and character. Expect photos of rotting timbers and piles of rubble, but for now we're focusing on its potential as the settling down home. Here's hoping!

This delightful card seems to be appropriate for us, and is lovey enough to work for Valentine's Day too.

Ignorance is Bliss

2011-02-04T06:32:00.000+00:00

Another piece of Edwardian whimsy - at first sight this is another romantic card, suitable for the approach to Valentines Day, but wait - open the flap, and there inside are 12 pictures of Ramsate at its finest.

The first 6 show the Inner Harbour, Victoria Pavilion, Harbour with Gates Open, the Marina, the Wtaerfall and the Westcliff Promenade.

The second group here shows Ellington Park, the Sands, East Cliff Promenade, General View Ramsgate, Madeira Walk and New Undercliff Promenade.

Those were the days... not quite sure which ignorance is bliss here - the courting couple ignorant of the young audience, or maybe one of them ignorant of the other's brood of children? You decide...

An early Valentine

2011-02-01T06:27:00.000+00:00

A little treat fo rthe scrap people out htere - if you can't make something lovely with this, you're not trying hard enough! This delightful Valentine is unused and undated, but I guess comes from the 1910s or 1920s. Maybe someone can date it better than that...

It opens out to reveal the poem, sent by the girl in the picture who pleads to be saved for the tedium that is her fate if she doesn't get her man. At least I think that's what she's saying.

Ramsgate 1929 - Legless

2011-01-31T06:38:00.000+00:00

Sent to Wally Brown in Reading in 1929, this postcard bemoans the lack of leg in this garter. Still, it raise the hope of finding the bare leg somewhere I suppose...

Horse business

2011-01-27T10:51:00.000+00:00

I seen Manston airport is about to become a horse-importing airport, according to this story on the BBC site.

Ostensibly to offer a service for the Olympics, the £250,000 investment seems to be expecting a lot from a few short weeks next year, so maybe there's other expected uses - Chinese live Panda imports perhaps... 'Normal' meat for food brought in 'on the hoof' can't be economic as air freight can it? Maybe it's about horse racing... Still, the management team at the airport must have a good idea of potential clients for the new service. Mustn't they?

Ramsgate 1920

2011-01-24T06:14:00.000+00:00

Kids and dogs both look a little worried when faced with this monster crab, but it's mostly harmless, lifting to reveal a strip of photographs of Ramsgate's delights.

Ramsgate 1914 - just a line . . .

2011-01-20T14:03:00.000+00:00

"Dear Sister, just a line to let you know we are spending 8 days in Ramsgate had lovely weather returning home tomorrow Sunday love to all from all yours and Ada is very brown from the sun". Obviously punctuation wasn't too important when at the seaside... and the picture is of some highly acrobatic young ladies dancing along the planiking, with one twirling a very flimsy line to some chap who is clearly just pretending to require a rescue. Cunning. Still, they seem to find it funny.

Postcard time . . .

2011-01-19T16:05:00.001+00:00

After a long pause, it's time for some more cheerfulness, courtesy of the classic seaside postcard. Today's dates back to 1910, and was sent to Foley Street in Maidstone with the brief message "Arrived safe, it is fine down here". All fine as long as you don't find yourself unexpectedly trouserless near a donkey...

Fibre Broadband for Faversham, Sandwich and Sheppey

2011-01-13T16:42:00.000+00:00

BT have announced that Faversham, Sandwich and Sheppey are among 41 market towns to receive fibre broadband by Spring 2012. This technology offers download speeds of up to 40mbps (and upload of 10mbps), easily enough to access the most exciting bits of online media, although resellers may supply only at speeds of up to 5mbps - still an improvement on copper wire connections on the whole. Either way, it's generally good news, meaning that the big city connections won't get an unfair advantage over small town businesses.

See the story in ZDNet and Computer Weekly to get a bit more detail.

Standard Quay, Faversham

2011-01-11T22:42:00.000+00:00

Not often you see your local area featured across three pages of the Guardian - we've only been living here a few months, but we appreciate the creek and its heritage of boat building and the long commercial history of the quayside. Today's article highlights the uncertainty facing Standard Quay as the owner declines to renew leases and generally adds to the uncertainty about the area's future.

Obviously as newcomers we know we're not qualified to comment in detail, except we do like the essentially scruffy nature of a working quayside, next to the more modern attractions such as antique dealers, upholsterers, garden centre and other delights. Hard to see what will happen, and very hard to see how attractive it will be if it's over-developed, but we'll keep our fingers crossed that it's not destroyed in the pursuit of profit and modernisation. The article talks about ideas for a wine bar, restaurant and other amenities - hmmm... well maybe, but not at the expense of what made the town what it is, surely.

Judging by the comments, there's some local opinions similar to ours too.

Absence makes the blog last longer

2011-01-11T06:38:00.000+00:00

Almost a year since my last post, time to pick it up again. New Year's Resolution #36475. So much to do, so little time. Well actually plenty of time, just poorly organised.

Here's a picture to start me off again - a picture of a dragonly taken at the Albert Kahn museum gardens in Paris last Summer.

European Air Traffic

2010-04-16T06:30:00.006+01:00

The Telegraph this morning uses a graphic from the brilliant site http://www.radarvirtuel.com/ which gives a real time view of all aircraft movements in Europe - and shows the complete lack of them across most of it at the moment. Clicking on an aircraft gives all the information air traffic control have - model, destination, origin, height, speed etc. Filters add airspeed, airports or altitude to the map itself beside each teeny plane icon.

Fantastic example of instant access thanks to the good old Internet. It's just like the services we've all been looking at to track then non-existent Euroferries fleet, but airborne. 159 aircraft airborne at the moment. Fabulous. Enjoy.

Gull watching at Whistable

2010-01-26T12:26:00.002+00:00

Well they were watching me, and more specifically, eyeing my chips. Still, a refreshing change to be able to eat chips on the beach at Whitstable on Sunday, even if those beady eyes were monitoring every move... Very orderly though, one per post and one between each post - I think the collective noun for seagulls is a mob, but this lot were more like a platoon.

Isn't it pretty... on a global scale

2010-01-08T06:48:00.002+00:00

This amazing image was on all the news bulletins yesterday (taken by Nasa's Terra staellite on January 7th 2010), but just in case you missed it here it is to enjoy and marvel at. I don't know which I find more impressive - the 100% covering of snow or the technology that allows such a picture to be captured in the first place, but either way here is Mother Nature at her most powerful. And despite what the Daily Express said yesterday, just because we're freezing, it doesn't mean global warming is a myth. Doh.

And for comparison, here's a non-frozen view.

Snow Snow Snow

2010-01-07T06:29:00.003+00:00

A picture postcard evening in Canterbury, just enough snow (at last) to be able to go "isn't it pretty". So mid-evening, a gentle walk round town, and a couple of pictures showing a snow-topped cathedral, still displaying its Christmas tree. No people around, hardly any restaurants open, a magically quiet town for a change.

St Augustine's Hospital, Chartham

2010-01-04T06:27:00.004+00:00

An aerial photo of St Augustine's Hospital at Chartham, long since closed. This picture was taken in the 1980s, and shows the sheer scale of our mental hospitals before the redevelopment and closure of many of them. Easy to see, even from the air, how patients could be simply stuck there for decades, a small cog in the health machine, doomed to be institutionalised, even with the best available care. In an era when mild educational disabilities could be a ticket in, many of these hospitals were the size of a small town.

I have a small booklet outlining the history of St Augustine's, but if anyone has any old photos, ephemera or memories to share I'd be happy to add them to the archive of East Kent Hospital history that I am slowly compiling. All original material can be returned once a copy has been made - and this applies to material on any hospital in East Kent. I have a list of about 50 so far, and the archive is still just a few boxes and several shelves in the library, but 2010 plans include a web-based database, a web site and a couple of filing cabinets to help make this vital local history more accessible to all.

More to come on other hospitals - watch this space.

Kings Wood

2010-01-03T17:47:00.003+00:00

A New Year's Day walk - some crisp snow underfoot, crystal clear skies, and some beautiful scenery. Cobwebs were properly blown away, and resolutions made (sorry) to return for another walk very soon.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T16:19:00.003+00:00

Even if I'm only saying it to myself, Happy New Year one and all. 2010, mmm, new year, new decade, no idea what to call it - the tens, the teenies, or simply that bit just before the new twenties... who knows.

And then there's the resolutions.

No.1 No New Year's Resolutions. Damn. Failed already, oh well...
No.2 Don't list them, just do them, that way they'll be more of a suprise if I catually achieve any of them.
No.3 No more resolutions.
No.4 OK, just one, do more blogging. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we.

There, I feel much better after that, I hope everyone feels even better after midnight.

Northdown Road Fire

2009-05-22T06:12:00.003+01:00

One of my Margate-living colleagues pointed out that the properties destroyed by this fire included an arcade owned by... drum roll... a certain owner of fire-susceptible amusement properties. If this is true, is there seriously no-one in the fire, police or insurance industry that can put a list together and come to the conclusion that most normal people came to years ago, that fire is seen in Thanet as a normal property redevelopment solution?

Should the HIPS pack needed to market a property include a Godden-proximity-search, as well as the council, environmental and water searches?