Private house in Hertfordshire. Sustainable retrofit, remodelling and extension

This locally listed C19 cottage at the heart of the Little Gaddesden Conservation Area had been unimaginatively extended in the 1980s, was awkwardly laid out and had no central heating.

As part of RWA’s proposals for the building, the rooms of the original cottage retain their scale and character, whilst the new additions open up the earlier extensions to the garden, providing a bright and airy family living space as well as a new bedroom upstairs.

Through a thorough and careful thermal retrofit of the house, its heating and hot water are all provided via an air source heat pump.