This waterfront property on a steep sloping site down from the road towards the water needed to have its access improved for both the family and their elderly relatives. The drop from the street down to the existing pool on the harbour was a massive 20m.

 

We looked at options for installing a lift within the property but that didn’t get us up to street level due to the stepping site and existing house location. This then didn’t achieve the aim to make the whole house accessible from street level. The solution was a glass lift, including the shaft, so the bulk did not impact with shadowing onto the neighbour. This then linked the existing Garage level and the three levels within the house. We had to excavate into sandstone at the lower levels to achieve this.

 

We also reconfigured existing rooms within the house to improve the function of this large existing house.