A Family Home Redesigned for the Years After the Children Leave
With four grown-up children, partners and grandchildren returning regularly, the owners wanted their home to work differently for the next stage of family life — creating a private master suite and a generous entertaining space that made the most of the Dee Estuary views.
The customer story
The Problem
The owners already had a large family home that had worked well while their four children were growing up.
But family life had changed. The children had flown the nest, several now had children of their own, and family gatherings increasingly meant welcoming four adult children, their partners and a growing number of grandchildren back into the house.
The home needed to work for the couple when it was just the two of them, while also being able to open up when the wider family came together.
Because the house is arranged to take advantage of its elevated position and views, the main kitchen is on the first floor. The opportunity was to create a large new living and entertaining space alongside it, with a balcony that made the Dee Estuary a much bigger part of the experience.
At ground-floor level, the owners wanted to rethink their private accommodation by creating a new master bedroom and ensuite, with the former master bedroom becoming a separate sitting room for the suite.
What We Built
The double-storey rear extension transformed both levels of the house.
On the ground floor, a new master bedroom and ensuite were created, with the existing master bedroom repurposed as a private sitting room. Together, the spaces form a much more generous master suite suited to the way the owners now use the house.
Upstairs, the extension created a large open-plan living space directly off the main kitchen, providing room for the whole family to gather, eat, relax and entertain together.
The new space opens onto a substantial balcony, allowing the owners and their family to enjoy the elevated views across the Dee Estuary and bringing the outlook into everyday life.
Our Design Input
This wasn't an OPB Design & Build project — the principal architectural design had already been developed with Glenn Cavill Architecture before construction.
However, one planning condition required privacy screening to the balcony, and this created an important design challenge: protecting neighbouring privacy without compromising the views that were fundamental to the project.
We developed a screening solution using clear glass to the front of the balcony to preserve the principal outlook, combined with fixed powder-coated steel brise soleil to the sides. The angle and spacing of the screening allow views through from appropriate positions while limiting overlooking towards neighbouring properties.
It was a relatively small part of the overall project, but an important example of resolving a practical planning requirement without losing the original purpose of the design.
How It Improved the Way They Live
The house now works around a very different stage of family life.
When the owners are at home on their own, they have a generous private master suite with a bedroom, ensuite and separate sitting room.
When the family returns, the first-floor kitchen and new open-plan living space provide somewhere large enough for children, partners and grandchildren to come together without the house feeling fragmented.
And the balcony has turned the view from a backdrop into part of the way the family uses the home — whether entertaining, eating together or simply sitting outside.
The project didn't replace the family home they had built their lives around. It adapted it so that it could continue working as the family grew up, moved out and started returning with families of their own.
How we got there
A different stage of family life
This wasn't a project driven by a shortage of bedrooms or by a house that had become too small. The owners already had a substantial home. What had changed was the way the family used it.
Four children had grown up and moved away, but family life hadn't become smaller. With partners and grandchildren now part of the picture, gatherings involved more people than ever.
The brief was therefore about creating a home that felt right for the owners every day while becoming a generous place for the whole family to reconnect.
Creating a new master suite
At ground-floor level, the extension created a new master bedroom and ensuite.
Rather than leaving the previous master bedroom redundant, it was incorporated into the new arrangement as a private sitting room.
This created a suite of connected spaces rather than simply a larger bedroom — somewhere the owners could retreat to independently of the main family areas upstairs.
Creating space for the whole family
The house's upside-down arrangement already placed the main kitchen upstairs to make the most of its elevated position.
The new first-floor extension built on that advantage, creating a large open-plan living space directly from the kitchen.
Instead of family gatherings being spread between separate rooms, the new arrangement provides one generous social space where cooking, eating, talking and relaxing can happen together.
Making the most of the view
The new balcony was central to the project, extending the first-floor living space outside and opening the house towards the Dee Estuary.
A planning condition required privacy screening to protect neighbouring properties. Simply enclosing the balcony would have undermined one of the main reasons for creating it.
Our solution combined clear glass across the principal viewing elevation with fixed powder-coated steel brise soleil to the sides. The screening was designed so that the estuary outlook remained open while views towards neighbouring properties were controlled.
The result satisfied the practical privacy requirement without sacrificing the experience the balcony had been created to provide.
Building to the budget
The early ballpark budget for the project was approximately £250,000. The final account was approximately £274,000, of which around £20,000 related to additional scope and variations requested during the project.
That means the underlying movement on the original works was relatively small, while the majority of the increase reflected additional work the owners chose to incorporate as construction progressed.
For a project of this scale, maintaining visibility between the original scope, subsequent client choices and the final account was an important part of keeping the commercial position understandable throughout.
- Early ballpark
- ~£250,000
- Final account
- ~£274,000
- Includes ~£20k of client-requested scope and variations
Build, finish & handover
OPB delivered the double-storey extension, new master accommodation, first-floor living space, balcony and associated external works.
The completed project gave the owners something quite different from simply 'more space'. It reorganised how a large existing family home works now that the family itself has changed.
In their words
The client’s own account of the project, published as they wrote it.
Looking to extend our family home in Heswall, we contacted the Open Plan Building Company to undertake the work. With views over the Dee Estuary, we wanted to add an ample living space with a balcony on the first floor, with a master bedroom below.
We worked with Glenn Cavill Architecture to design the new space, and they did a fantastic job of blending the new with the old perfectly, while adding some architectural interest with the large white columns, pitched roof, and windows.
Upstairs, the pitched roof gives a fantastic feeling of space, and the roof windows bring in an abundance of natural light. The large balcony is positioned perfectly to receive sunlight throughout the day and gives views over the Estuary.
Downstairs, the new master bedroom and bathroom are the perfect place for resting and, with the large bi-folding doors, give direct access to the garden as well as lots of natural light.
Externally, Paul and the team installed all new paving to the side and rear of the home as part of a complete landscaping package, completely refinishing the external space.
Gallery
Inside the finished home
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