The Don't Move, Improve! 2022 shortlist highlights the best home improvement projects across the city.
London's most outstanding home renovation projects have been shortlisted for the 2022 Don't Move, Improve! awards.
Don't Move, Improve!, a project run by New London Architecture (NLA), encourages great design, celebrates the newest and most innovative home improvement projects across London, and encourages homeowners to embark on their own home improvements.
The annual competition – now in its 12th year – showcases the diversity and character of homes being redesigned in the city. Whilst the most common types of extension are rear and side with interior refits, there are some notable design trends for 2022. Interconnected indoor/outdoor spaces, use of wood and natural materials, a spectrum of greens to define living spaces, curved shapes, and statement ceilings are recurring themes amongst the shortlist.
'This year’s submissions delighted our jury with innovative approaches to structure, layout, materials and colour. We were looking for creativity, originality, liveability, and cost-effectiveness, as well as consideration of environmental impact and local context,' says Amy Chadwick Till, Programme Director at NLA and Chair of the Judging Panel. 'Don’t Move, Improve! aims to encourage great domestic-scale design across the city, so we are really pleased to have another shortlist that showcases a wide range of budgets, building styles, locations and homeowner needs.'
Over 200 family home extensions were submitted for Don't Move, Improve! but what homes made the shortlist? Take a look at the top 15 home improvement projects in London. Winners will be announced in May 2022.
Location: Lambeth
Designed by: Turner Architects
This kitchen remodelling and extension of a family home offers framed views of the house through the garden and a relaxed space for entertaining. It draws on the Italian style of the terraced house with classic and perfectly proportioned Romanesque arches. And the kitchen, previously small with no room for a table and disconnected from the garden, is now the focus of the house and the centrepiece of family life.
Location: Lewisham
Designed by: Archmongers Architects
Little Brownings is a home extension set in a three storey 1960s terraced house on the Dulwich Estate in Forest Hill.
This extension has improved the existing house without losing any of its 1960s character, turning it into an uncompromising modern house for years to come.
Location: Lewisham
Designed by: Fraher & Findlay
This home renovation project of a one-bedroom first floor flat looked at different ways to extend spaces at roof level.
The architects designed an inverse plan with the kitchen and dining spaces overlooking the rooftops, with the bedrooms underneath them. The result is a light living and landing space connected by a perforated metal staircase.
Location: Lewisham
Designed by: Benjamin Wilkes
This timber framed single-storey extension to a Victorian family home in the Lee Manor Conservation Area enlarges the kitchen space to accommodate the needs of a growing young family.
To reduce site wastage, bricks from the existing external wall were salvaged and reused on the flank walls. The pergola structure is formed by a series of oak ribs, offering both privacy and shade. Warm and tactile materials, such as clay render, oak, and terrazzo, create a bold and colourful interior.
Location: Lewisham
Designed by: Red Squirrel Architects
This renovation project of an existing two storey semi-detached Victorian house in Forest Hill has resulted in an open and light interconnected living space.This has been achieved through two small rear extensions and the remodelling of the lower area of the rear elevation, plus a landscaped external terrace – all achieved by adding only 10 square metres of additional floorspace!
Location: Southwark
Designed by: Proctor and Shaw
This project reveals a deep retrofit to the upper storeys of a Victorian home. Additional rooms and a master bedroom ensuite (which enjoys abundant light from a series of six windows) are created under the new highly insulated roof.The loft extension is a custom Accoya timber-framed window system, with a vertical coffered design.
Location: Southwark
Designed by: nimtim architects
This extension completely reinvents an existing 1920s semi-detached house through the addition of a single joinery element that brings functionality, warmth, and tactility to a reimagined family space.
Through fragments of arched alcoves, a motif throughout the new design, the joinery showcases the clients' collection of objects. The joinery partitions conceal structural elements, large sliding doors, and include glazed openings that allow playful glimpses to and from adjacent spaces.
Location: Kensington and Chelsea
Designed by: VATRAA
This is a conversion of a former artist studio into an energy efficient, four-bedroom home. Inspired by the clients' interest in spirituality and meditation, VATRAA explored the spiritual quality of the space through views, light and materials orchestrated in a simple, calm composition.
Location: North Kensington
Designed by: Oliver Leech Architects
This Victorian terrace house required a full overhaul. The clients wanted to celebrate natural materials, travel memories, and create a home perfect for entertaining. The design team stripped the house back to its bare bones, digging a new basement under the existing structure to provide a new kitchenette, guest bedroom and cinema room.
The use of simple materials, such as exposed Douglas fir timber beams and steelwork, polished concrete, and unfinished plaster, creates a raw and warm environment, which will age gracefully over time.
Location: Hackney
Designed by: Gundry + Ducker
The remodelled space in Bay Window House features the addition of a modern staircase connecting the ground floor to the new space below. The extension is designed in the form of a new bay window as a counterpoint to the original bays.
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Before & After: The ‘worst house on the street’ has been restored to its Victorian roots
Before & After: How an interior designer turned her loft into a boutique hotel-style bathroom
Before & After: A designer's bold kitchen reno with the colour her client's were too scared to try
