Ranelagh Residence is a job that Susanna and I, at Kingston Lafferty Design have been working on since September 2010, when we first carried out an architectural survey on it. At the time we were both studying for our Masters in London and were yet to set up the company officially. When we returned to Dublin, we were subsequently taken on board to undergo a complete development of the site. It is a job that has captured our attention, consumed a lot of time and required our blood, sweat and tears at times! It has been the best learning experience that we have had to date and so far has involved completing a full planning application, a full tender package and finally a full construction drawing package.
Ranelagh Residence is a beautiful, protected, 19thCentury, Georgian, Townhouse located on a quiet square in South Dublin. Both the property and the rear garden have fallen into a deteriorated state. Proposed works include the complete renovation of the interior, the reconfiguration of the first floor layout, the excavation of the basement floor to increase head height, the demolition of an existing mezzanine bathroom and porch to the rear, the significant excavation of the existing garden, the construction of a double height solid timber conservatory at basement level and the full landscaping of the rear garden.
Now, after completing the long process to get to construction phase, we are ready to begin on site tomorrow with the help of our newly appointed contractors Redbrick construction. This is an exciting day for everyone involved. The project is due to take 25 weeks with a completion date of the 16th of August, all going well! Hopefully there will not be too many nasty surprises along the way. We are going to be documenting the progress each week on the blog so that you can watch the transformation unfold. See below for some of the before pictures….
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| The Front door |
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| The view from the entrance hall |
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| The view into the office from the entrance hall |
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| The office |
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The existing cantilevered bathroom that is being demolished
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| View to existing cantilevered bathroom from first floor |
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A view into the what will be the new double bedroom with walk in wardrobe.
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| First floor bedroom with sloping floor. Floor to be raised to make it level. Partition wall to be demolished to form larger double bedroom. |
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| Hot water cylinders to be removed. Space to be turned into a bespoke walk in wardrobe. |
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| View from rear garden door up to front door. |
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| Rear door to garden that is to be demolished. This will become an archway leading to a cast iron spiral staircase into the double height conservatory. |
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| Steps down to basement from rear door |
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| View from basement up to rear door. Basement level to be reduced to provide more head height. 2x new steps to be added to staircase. |
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| Under basement stair storage. Stone walls to be underpinned during excavation. Hole was dug to determine water level. |
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| Basement bedroom/gym. Walls were covered with plasterboard which has now been removed. |
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| View of kitchen. Timber panels used to cover the walls. Since being removed, the plaster has been revealed to be damp and deteriorating. The kitchen is to be completely transformed. |
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| View 2 of the kitchen. Wall is to be re-built as it is in a poor state. |
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| View out to garden from existing glass porch. Glass porch and existing garden to be demolished. This will become the entrance into the new extension. |
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| The lowest part of the garden. This is the only area at basement level. All to be excavated. |
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| Rear view of house. Existing extension and glass porch to be demolished. Garden to be excavated. New extension to run across full width of property. |
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| View from back of garden |
