The Elms | Clapham, London

The Elms is fine example of a Georgian Palladian style villa that counts Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, among its former tenants. However, the building was subject to a number of unsympathetic and invasive alterations, prior to its Grade II listing in 1955. Having relocated to a modern, purpose built ward, Royal Trinity Hospice decided that conversion to rental flats would give the building a new lease of life and bring a vital regular revenue stream to fund end of life care nursing. Fortunately, some of the historic features, such as the grand 18th century mahogany staircase, original windows and plasterwork, were preserved, even if partially damaged or concealed by modern additions.

With the aim of revealing and restoring the remaining historic fabric, we stripped back all of the modern internal layers and transformed this run down and disused space into six stunning one and two bedroom flats. After successfully securing planning and listed building consents, we restored original historic features including the main staircase, sash windows, plasterwork, slate roof and leadwork. We reconfigured layouts, removed the modern staircases and lift, and upgraded the existing building fabric enhancing its thermal, fire and acoustic performance.