Farnham

Porter Robson was appointed to develop the conversion, refurbishment and vertical extension of an existing office building in Farnham to create 16 new apartments.

The project makes extensive use of the existing building, retaining its primary steel frame, floors and elements of the external envelope while comprehensively reorganising the interior for residential use. A new upper storey increases the capacity of the site without requiring wholesale redevelopment, demonstrating how existing commercial buildings can be adapted to provide new homes while retaining much of their embodied structure.

The architectural strategy brings together retained and new fabric to establish a coherent residential identity. New oriel and dormer-style elements, windows and an extended roof form are combined with a material palette of brick, brick-slip and metal rainscreen cladding, allowing the additions to be clearly expressed while integrating with the retained building.

Internally, the building is reorganised around a central stair and retained lift, with four apartments arranged on each floor. The layouts provide a mixture of one- and two-bedroom homes, supported by new kitchens, bathrooms, services and upgraded common areas. The upper-floor plans also integrate the new vertical extension with the existing circulation and structural frame.

A significant part of the design process has focused on the coordination required when working with an existing building. Retained structure, new steelwork, fire compartmentation, acoustic separation, thermal upgrades, airtightness and building services are developed together so that new interventions improve the performance of the building while respecting the constraints of the existing fabric.

The result is a considered example of commercial-to-residential conversion, combining adaptive reuse with carefully targeted new construction to extend the useful life of an existing building and create additional homes within an established urban site.