Stair tower unlocks 3 flats

Three flats inserted above a High Street café - without access to the café.

Why is this special?

Moving the stairs outside allowed three flats instead of two. Getting planning consent for this was a local ‘first’. Building it without access to the ground floor, which stayed open.

The Challenge

We often say ‘limited space’ but in this case the developer didn’t even own the ground floor. They had taken on just the disused upper floors of a Victorian building and shared access at the back less than one metre wide.

Our Solution

Moving stairs in to an unheated extension. By proposing and getting planning consent for a light-weight external stair tower we could floor over the old stair inside the original shell, adding enough useful area at every level to provide one more flat than expected. But it had to be lightweight to be built on top of the shop roof which we couldn’t disturb.

The Results

An efficient layout with one flat per floor, all arranged on the same plan to avoid living rooms over bedrooms. All flats are double aspect with living rooms enjoying a view down Werter Road oppo-site and bedrooms at the rear away from traffic noise. There’s a nice pub next door too!