Love Walk II – ADC

Based in Camberwell itself, Knox Bhavan remodelled the house next door in 1995; they were appointed to this project in 2019, with the home completing in June 2022.

Speaking to AT, project architect Ben Hair explained how the brief looked “to create a home for [the client’s] third chapter – one which was designed for their current and foreseeable future as well as taking advantage of the rebuild to create as environmentally sound a home as possible.”

With the extension, the ground floor has been reconfigured, the stairway replaced and the entryway widened. Seamless thresholds have been introduced on the ground floor: jib doors unlatch for events and facilitate improved wheelchair accessibility; the extension and renovated garage are now level with the garden.

Situated in the Camberwell Grove Conservation Area, the project, known as ‘Love Walk II’, retains much of the original inherited structure and material due in part to these planning restrictions. The street elevation has been left unchanged bar the restored heritage window mouldings, while Knox Bhavan removed 20^th Century breezeblock additions, retaining the original Victorian brickwork and reusing bricks from demolished walls in the garden boundaries.

Two air-source heat pumps have been installed: in the reinsulated roof and in the two-storey extension of an existing breezeblock garage. The house – which now runs entirely on electricity – is projected to use 33.5 kWhr/m2/yr, including electric car charging and the rooftop solar panels.