The Avenue, Pinner is an EnerPHit-standard retrofit that quietly transforms a mid-century suburban house: behind the modest street façade, a three-storey rear extension reconnects the home to garden and pool, while reclaimed London stock brick, pared-back precast concrete, and sustainably sourced hardwoods ground the architecture in craft and longevity. Expansive triple-glazed openings harvest passive solar gain, centring on a double-height dining space with a library gallery that draws light through the plan. Exceptional airtightness, high-performance insulation, and MVHR deliver fresh, stable comfort year-round. The result is a calm, contemporary, ultra-low-energy family home—and a clear model for low-carbon suburban living.
Client: Private
Local Authority: London Borough of Harrow
Plot Type: Suburban
Project Type: Residential – Single Family Home
Sustainability: Low Energy Retrofit - EnerPHit
Internal Area (GIA): 320 sqm
Set within leafy Hatch End, this EnerPHit-standard renovation recasts a mid-late 20th-century detached house as a low-energy family home. The street façade keeps its original render-and-brick character—quiet to the road, generous to the garden—while a new three-storey rear extension reshapes how the house gathers light, frames views, and connects daily life to landscape.
A restrained, honest palette anchors the architecture: pared-back precast concrete floors and soffits provide thermal mass and a calm, monolithic tone; reclaimed London stock bricks add texture and circular-economy value; and sustainably sourced hardwood frames to the large openings bring warmth to touchpoints and durability to the envelope. Expansive glazing is oriented and shaded to draw the sun deep into the plan for passive gains while avoiding summer glare.
At the heart of the home, a double-height dining space rises to a library gallery above—an intimate perch for reading that overlooks the table and gardens beyond. This vertical room binds the house together, pulling daylight through the centre and creating visual connections between levels. The ground floor flows from a state-of-the-art kitchen to covered external dining terraces; beyond, the landscape steps down to a pool and planting beds of contrasting textures for year-round interest. Elsewhere, a cosy home cinema, an additional bedroom, and a contemplative roof-level room balance sociable spaces with quieter retreats.
Built to EnerPHit performance, the fabric-first strategy delivers exceptional comfort and efficiency: a highly airtight, continuously insulated envelope; triple glazing and thermal-bridge-free detailing; and MVHR supplying fresh, filtered air with minimal energy. Low-VOC finishes, efficient electrics, and provisions for future renewables further reduce operational impact, while the reuse of brick and the exposed precast structure cut embodied carbon and simplify maintenance.
The result is a timeless, resilient family home—materially honest, beautifully lit, and deeply connected to nature—where performance and craft work as one.
