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Journal

London Homes Are Overheating - But We Can Design Our Way Out of It

Video still of Sean Ronnie Hill of RISE Design Studio being interviewed by BBC London about overheating in homes. He gestures mid-sentence against a dark interior, with a BBC London caption naming him. RISE Design Studio.

I sat down recently with BBC London's Alice Bhandhukravi to talk about a problem that's quietly shaping homes across the capital: overheating. Only a small part of that conversation made the broadcast, but we spent the best part of an hour on why so many London homes are now too hot i …

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Backland development: building on the plots people overlook

A contemporary three-storey red brick house at dusk, with stepped gabled forms, chimneys, recessed windows and small balconies. A lower brick wall with perforated brickwork screening, an integral garage, clipped hedges and flowering planting front a block-paved drive. RISE Design Studio.

Behind houses, between gardens, down forgotten lanes, there's land in our towns and cities doing very little. Backland development is the business of bringing those overlooked plots into use, usually for housing. Done badly it's just squeezing a house into a gap. Done well it adds gen …

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Why feasibility is the right place to start

Front cover of RISE Design Studio’s Stage 2 Feasibility Report, featuring a minimalist gold design with the studio’s logo and key early-stage planning and sustainability considerations.

Most projects are decided, for better or worse, in the first few questions. Can we extend? Will the council wear it? What are we actually dealing with on this site? We treat those early questions as the real start of the work, not a formality to get past.

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A new clubhouse for Elmwood Lawn Tennis Club

Render of a single-storey tennis clubhouse with pale textured hempcrete walls and a pale standing-seam zinc roof carrying a row of sawtooth rooflights. A canopy shelters a café terrace with tables; people sit on the lawn and walk paved paths, with a tennis court and Victorian terraces behind. RISE Design Studio.

How hempcrete, a standing-seam zinc roof and CLT prefabrication shape a low-energy clubhouse in Kensal Rise.

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What a basement costs in London, and what drives it

A calm basement kitchen with a large stone island and bar stools, lit by daylight from a glazed wall onto a sunken courtyard and a concrete stair rising to the garden. Board-marked concrete ceiling, polished concrete floor, open shelving with ceramics. RISE Design Studio.

In London you can't easily build up or out, so a lot of homeowners end up looking down. A basement isn't the easy option, but on a constrained site it's often the only way to add real space, and done well it can change how the whole house works rather than just adding floor area.

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Small sites: the case for building in the gaps

A row of contemporary three-storey townhouses in pale pinkish brick, with stepped, stacked forms, deep window reveals and recessed terraces, set behind low brick walls and young street trees. An older brick house stands at the near corner. RISE Design Studio.

Every city has gaps: unused corners, leftover plots, the awkward edges between buildings. A lot of the housing we need could go on land like this, already inside the city, rather than on new estates at its edge.

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Building Within: The Sustainable Potential of Backland Development

Architectural visualisation of three low-energy homes on a backland development site, featuring natural materials, biodiverse landscaping and compact sustainable housing designed within an established residential neighbourhood.

Most conversations about housing start at the edge of towns and cities.

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How BIMx Helps Clients Understand Their Project Before It's Built

architect director sean ronnie hill and a client reviewing a project in their queen's park studio

One of the biggest sources of cost overruns on building projects isn't poor construction.

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Japandi Design: What Architects Can Learn From Japanese and Scandinavian Traditions

Japandi-inspired interior featuring natural timber ceilings, textured plaster walls, arched openings, woven floor coverings and carefully filtered daylight. The space combines Japanese and Scandinavian design principles with a focus on craftsmanship, natural materials and simplicity.

Japandi has become one of those terms that appears everywhere in interior design.

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Backland Development: Can You Build a Sustainable Home in Your Garden?

Architectural visualisation of a sustainable backland housing development with contemporary brick homes, shared pedestrian spaces, mature trees and biodiverse landscaping. Residents walk through a community-focused courtyard designed around low-energy living and gentle urban density.

One of the most common conversations we're having at the moment starts with a simple question:

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