Turning a Collection of Small Rooms into One Family Space
An older Caldy home had become a collection of small, awkward rooms that kept family life divided. The project opened the ground floor into one generous shared space — while the family continued living in the house with young children throughout construction and the pandemic.
The customer story
The Problem
After living in their family home for many years, the owners had reached the point where its original layout no longer worked for them.
The older property was made up of a number of small and awkwardly shaped rooms. Instead of bringing the family together, the ground floor divided everyday life between separate spaces.
Their aim was simple: create one large, functional living environment where the family could cook, eat, relax and spend time together without feeling cramped.
There was an additional challenge. The owners wanted to remain living in the property with their young children throughout the works — a decision made considerably more complicated by the project taking place during the global pandemic.
What We Built
The project opened the existing small rooms into one large open-plan family living space and added a side extension to improve the overall arrangement.
A key detail was the relationship between the new interior and the garden. The clients wanted a seamless floor level across the different internal finishes and through to the external space. Because that relationship has to be established at structural and slab level, it was coordinated early in the construction rather than treated as a finishing detail at the end.
The completed space also incorporated details developed during the build, including the exposed brick fireplace and integrated LED lighting to the skylight.
Building Around a Family in Occupation
Our initial advice was for the family to move out while the major works were undertaken. When they decided they wanted to remain at home, the construction sequence had to respond.
The works and trades were coordinated around the family so that essential services could be maintained, including heating and hot water, while disruption was managed as carefully as possible.
That required more than simply completing the construction activities in the right technical order. It meant planning each stage around the fact that the building site was still somebody's home.
How It Improved the Way They Live
The fragmented ground floor became the shared family environment the owners had wanted. Instead of everyday life being spread between small rooms, the family could use one connected space together without feeling cramped.
The consistent floor levels strengthened the connection between the house and garden, allowing the inside and outside spaces to read as part of the same environment rather than two separate areas.
The result changed not only the amount of usable space, but the way the family could spend time together within the home.
How we got there
A house that no longer worked as one
The original house contained the space the family needed, but it was divided into small and awkward rooms. The clients wanted to replace that fragmented arrangement with one functional living space that the whole family could use together.
This was not an OPB Design & Build project. The design had been developed separately before OPB became responsible for delivering the construction works.
Planning around the family
The unusual part of the brief was the clients' determination to remain in the house during construction with their young children.
OPB initially recommended moving out, but once the family decided to stay, the programme and sequencing were planned around maintaining a functioning home alongside the building work.
Heating and hot water were protected wherever possible, and the different trades were coordinated to minimise disruption while maintaining progress.
Getting the details right early
One of the clients' priorities was a seamless relationship between the internal living space and the garden.
Achieving a consistent finished floor level across different materials inside and outside cannot be solved at the end of a project. The levels have to be understood and established much earlier in the build.
By coordinating those details from the structural stages onwards, the finished transition could be achieved without compromising the original intention.
Decisions during construction
Not every successful detail has to exist on the first drawing.
During the project, OPB helped the clients work through decisions and source materials, including the LED lighting incorporated into the skylight and the decision to expose the brickwork around the fireplace.
These details gave the completed space more character while remaining consistent with the overall aim of creating a practical family environment.
Understanding the final account
The original tender value for the contracted works was approximately £96,000. As the project progressed, the clients chose to add further scope to the works, and the final account was approximately £113,000.
The movement between the tender value and final account therefore reflected additional work added during construction rather than simply an increase in the cost of delivering the original contracted scope.
Keeping that distinction clear is important: the final project cost should be understood alongside the final project scope.
- Tender value
- ~£96,000
- Final account
- ~£113,000
- Includes further scope the clients chose to add
Build, finish & handover
OPB coordinated the construction works and specialist trades through to completion while the family remained in occupation.
The completed project delivered the open-plan living environment, side extension, level connection to the garden and individual finishing details the clients had been aiming for.
Just as importantly, it was delivered around a family continuing to live in the house throughout an unusually challenging period.
In their words
“We all love the result and found the whole experience very satisfying.”
The client’s own account of the project, published as they wrote it.
After living in our family home for many years we had decided we wanted to improve the overall layout due to having an old house that has a number of small oddly shaped rooms, our aim was to create one large functional living space that we could all live in and utilise together, without feeling cramped and enjoy as a family unit.
Paul had initially advised that we would move out of the property whilst the work was completed, however we wanted to remain in the property with our children whilst the work was completed which was complicated further by the global pandemic. Paul was happy with this and worked with us to ensure that we where not without hot water and heating throughout.
One of the key details we wanted to achieve was a seamless look from inside to out with a consistent floor level both across the different floor finishes inside and outside, Paul has great experience within the building trade and a great relationship with the different tradesmen ensuring our vision was achieved, always advising us along the way and identifying constructive ideas to achieve our goals.
Throughout the project Paul helped us when we where struggling to make decisions or source materials including things like selecting led lighting for the skylight and exposing the brick on the fireplace a feature we really love within the space. Paul really took the stress out of the project by managing the complete project arranging additional trades for us such as the fantastic team of roofers, joiners and electricians, taking full control of all the trades whilst managing the project.
Paul and his team were a pleasure to have onsite, this was really important to us as we were living so closely onsite for many months. We considered the team a friends at the end, they always turned up on time and were polite and considerate whilst working. Paul kept the site very tidy and well organised.
We had a possible problem early on in the project when some old plaster could of possibly contained asbestos. This was dealt with swiftly and the sample was sent off and luckily came back negative with minimum disruption to the build.
We all love the result and found the whole experience very satisfying. Paul’s always so considerate and understood our needs whilst living on the site throughout. We always felt supported throughout the project, Paul would always take the time to answer our questions and took the time to do so which we appreciated.
We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Paul and his team to friends and family and he will be the first person we will call on in the future should we be brave enough to do it again!
Gallery
Inside the finished home
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