Contemporary Glazed Addition to a Stone Cottage

A large extension has transformed this property, with amazing details such as glazed doors and timber cladding adding to the contemporary feel.

Tucked away in a quiet Norfolk village, this stone-clad cottage has undergone a huge transformation thanks to a large flat-roof extension, which has created a stunning open-plan family space. Despite being located amongst traditional farm workers’ cottages, this home was a relatively new property. It was built in the early 2000s on a garden plot in a design similar to surrounding properties. When the new owners purchased it in 2015, they saw an opportunity to put their own stamp on the house and dreamed of opening up the back of the property to create a better connection between indoors and out.

Working with architect Scott Brown at Holt Architectural, the owners’ dream was for a large open-plan family space and kitchen, with large glazed doors wrapping around the outside to fill the space full of natural light and break down the boundaries between house and garden.

The end result was a 87m2, single-storey, flat roof extension, which almost doubled the size of the cottage’s existing ground floor. Gone were the box-shaped rooms and small windows, and in their place was a bright and inviting space that the whole family could enjoy. “We wanted to create somewhere where everyone could be together, whatever they were doing,” says the homeowners. “Too often we’d found ourselves split across different rooms, all doing our own thing, but the extension means we can now spend a lot more time with each other.”

When it came to choosing glazed doors for the project, both their architect and builder recommended that the homeowners speak to IDSystems about whether to go for bifold or sliding glazed doors. The owners say: “We loved the really narrow frames of theEDGE2.0 sliding doors that IDSystems had in their showroom, but we had our heart set on opening the doors all the way up, so that in summer we could just step out on to the patio. So, in the end, the bifold doors won – although it was a really tough decision. Being able to spend time with the IDSystems team and really go into the detail of each system was massively important for us. They understood what we were trying to achieve in the new space and their input was hugely valuable to us in making the final choice between systems.”

With so much glass on the extension, the owners were initially concerned about the room feeling cold – especially since the extension is on the north elevation of the house and features a polished concrete floor throughout. To reduce the risk of this, IDSystems utilised the ultra-energy efficient SUNFLEX SF75eco aluminium bifold door system. This product is specifically designed to accommodate triple glazed units, and is one of the most thermally efficient aluminium bifold setups available. The doors’ exceptional energy performance has meant the finished extension feels warm and cosy, even in the middle of the winter.

Location: Norfolk

Extension size: 87m²

Total house size: 247m²

Construction method: Brick, block & steelwork

Building work took: 13 months

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