This research project is a provocation that reimagines and retrofits the ubiquitous London terraced house, retaining the front elevations, insulating, double glazing and adding an upper extension made of cork as a ‘warm hat’. The Sustainable Terrace House also includes communal gardens, pedestrianised zones and new planting schemes to enhance community.

Who is on the project team? 

Jonathan Tuckey, Jasmine Low

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

Terraced houses comprise approximately one in six of all buildings within the UK. Largely revered by planning policy, these historic streets are integral to the structure of our built environments. However, it has become evident that these homes aren’t equipped for contemporary living, with the majority having poor energy efficiency and non-existent insulation. In response to these inherent flaws, Jonathan Tuckey Design have devised The Sustainable Terrace House scheme. 

The proposal reimagines Lothrop Street, in the north London neighbourhood of West Kilburn. This area is governed by Queens Park Community Council, established as London’s first Parish Council following a referendum in 2012. The neighbourhood is a conservation area that contains 50+ listed buildings. It is was one of London’s first housing estates when it completed in 1881. 

The existing street is a sleepy residential grove that is suffocated by parked cars, street clutter and narrow pavements. Flanking the road sit two-story Victorian terraces that have been subject to little change since their completion. 

Our scheme not only seeks to improve the lives of the local residents, but also to inspire a retrofit revolution that will sweep the nation and significantly increase the space and energy efficiency of our housing, which accounts for 30% of the UK’s energy consumption. 

The Sustainable Terrace House will implement several components for the existing built stock and landscape architecture. Additional floors, reconfigured internal layouts, communal gardens, pedestrianised zones and new planting scheme will all contribute to a better social dynamic throughout the community.

What is your design approach?

Our design approach was orientated around the ideology that good design, sustainability ambition and quality of life don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We wanted the wider scheme to reclaim the street and create a place that encourages and enhances community connection. 

Social engagement will be created through the introduction of communal gardens for residents, reachable through the rear private courtyard of each property. Alongside tree planting and rainwater recycling, this public realm will contribute to a regenerative approach through allotments, offering space to connect, grow, and learn from one another. 

Spill out spaces, bicycle racks, seating and planters offer spaces for the residents to meet socially and enjoy regular casual interactions that will build familiarity, a sense of safety, and closer community relationships. 

West Kilburn is a residential maze of gridded streets hemmed in by The Grand Union Canal to the south and railway yards to the north. A redesign of the existing streetscape will provide optimum accessibility, with the removal of parked cars accommodating seamless pick up and drop off opportunities, whilst freeing space for rain gardens. 

Delicate restoration is required of the Victorian buildings to celebrate their nuanced character. Interventions are planned not to detract from the qualities present in the neighbourhood, on the contrary they will enhance and add to. The area will retain its identity with the benefit of a modernised infrastructure. 

The additional floors will create a stronger unification between home and street, accommodating extra rooms to form multi-generational dwellings suitable for extended families.

What is your climate strategy?

Currently the buildings are poorly insulated. In order to retain the proportion, grace and exquisite brickwork of the front elevations, we devised a method that would minimize any insulative interference to the façade. Double glazing would half the inefficient surface area of the Victorian exterior, whilst an upper cork extension would manifest as a ‘warm hat’ to the head of the homes, significantly improving this thermal envelope.

The rear facades, in contrast, are functional and minimal and therefore would be altered to accommodate maximum natural insulation.

The rooftop extensions would be composed entirely of cork. Components will be prefabricated, allowing quick assembly to reduce construction time and minimise disruption to residents. This versatile material would be structural, insulative and weatherproof. Cork has an impermeable and dense composition, ensuring interiors stay cool during summer and trap heat in winter. The cork will be visible both on the exterior and interior, providing a sympathetic visual gradient from earthy weathered brick to mottled textural bark tissue. 

Energy is generated using a communal air source heat pump (ASHP), which is far more efficient than gas boilers, resulting in residents using less energy and saving them money on bills. This communal ASHP is located in a noise baffling enclosure within the rear gardens, minimizing noise pollution. Additional energy is supplied by rooftop solar panels. 

A brize soleil reduces solar gain entering the house in summer, and allows heat to disperse when required. Natural insulation is proposed throughout, complimenting the breathability of the existing materials.

How have you engaged the community?

The master plan will give back to the people of West Kilburn. It will introduce residents to public outdoor space that was previously underutilised, compromised and isolating. With a shifting mindset in the use of petrol cars, it is an opportune time to rethink the potential for our streetscapes.

Our design ethos looks to reconnect people at a time when the world is becoming increasingly insular. With more people working from home, we want to optimise the role that one’s environment can have on their emotional and mental well-being. We’ve introduced a designated ground floor, front facing office, compartmentalizing time spent between work and recreation. This will enable those working from home to gain a tangible feeling of the activity that the street exudes. 

The expansion of the buildings total volume increases the usable floor space of each house and enables the masterplan development to easily cover its own costs. In addition to this, a reconfiguration of the building’s interior would enhance spatial flow, layout and dispersion of natural light. The rear editions of the existing homes would be demolished and replaced with extensions that improve orientation of kitchen and dining areas and open up access to the private and public gardens.

The proposal is considerate of the protected context. Preservation of existing heritage is imperative but modifications are balanced to equip them for a contemporary world. This retrofit tool kit can be applied throughout the UK, to protect significant buildings whilst improving the outlook of achieving national sustainability targets.