Creative in small spaces: stunning architectural jigsaw staircase was the missing piece in a London loft extension

Adding a loft's the easy bit. Building a staircase to reach it can be a real design challenge. 

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Philippa Stockley21 August 2019

People often dream of adding a loft extension to their home without considering one unavoidable implication — you need to build extra stairs to reach it.

Getting this crucial and hardworking bit of kit right is just as important as the extension itself.

Creating a staircase where one was not intended can be an architectural jigsaw puzzle, particularly in tight spaces. Get it right and it will double your enjoyment of the new space; get it wrong and it will always be annoying.

British-Israeli architect Amos Goldreich, 47, has worked for stellar international architects including David Chipperfield, but since running his own practice from 2010 he’s done plenty of domestic projects as well as larger ones abroad.

Designs on a home office: the owners wanted a peaceful study that would double as an occasional guest bedroom
Ollie Hammick

When a couple he’d known for several years asked him to extend their Tufnell Park upper maisonette into the loft, he saw that getting up there would be a challenge that would make or break the job — quite aside from converting a smallish loft in a fairly strict conservation area.

The owners, an academic and a physiotherapist, have two children, one grown up. They owned the top two floors of a Victorian three-storey end-of-terrace house and shared the freehold.

What it cost

A similar project excluding finishes/fittings would be about £150,000 to £180,000 — but all projects vary.

Their flat benefited at the rear from a half-landing with kitchen and small shower room in the dogleg, then a parquet-floored living room and bedroom on one floor, and two bedrooms and a family bathroom above. A decked roof terrace above the kitchen provided welcome outside space.

After 15 years they desperately needed more storage. They also wanted a peaceful study-cum-occasional guest bedroom.

The existing staircase was a practical, carpeted Victorian pine job with original turned spindles, in straight runs broken by the half-landings.

At its top, a two-door storage cupboard hogged space on the small landing. The loft hatch above had a pull-down ladder, leading to dark loft.

Finally the family bathroom, with horrid macerator loo, needed a total overhaul.

Conservation area

The couple were on a tight budget, so Amos looked first into off-the-shelf new stairs. This works out cheaper than bespoke if you find some that work.

A steel spiral set within a square-metre space would just fit, but had no handrails. And spirals are devilish to get stuff up and down. So it had to be bespoke.

The next challenge was the loft itself. In a conservation area you can’t use permitted development rights, and Islington council didn’t want the loft visible from the front.

And because this was an end-of-terrace, the council didn’t want it visible from the side, either.

So Amos’s initial idea of a wraparound dormered loft holding a bedroom and bathroom was ruled out at a pre-planning meeting.

Light and bright: white paint and an oak floor brighten the new space, which contains a desk and a double futon bed
Ollie Hammick

A fresh lease of life

Working collaboratively with the owners Amos designed a versatile loft room with a dormer French window and Juliet balcony at the back, a side window and a skylight. He set low-level cupboards into the eaves all around.

White paint and an oak floor make a bright room with a desk and a double futon bed. Terrific rooftop views are great for sundowners.

Following meticulous drawings the joiners constructed a modern oak-clad staircase leading up to the new room, with square-cut wooden spindles for a stylish screen-effect.

Filling the tight space, the staircase was complicated, with quite narrow treads and a steepish pitch, but it meets building regulations, which are very strict on staircases.

On each turn a concealed cupboard holds a vacuum cleaner or similar. And off the streamlined landing there’s now a concealed utility cupboard. Small sections of glass balustrade are well judged.

In the completely remodelled bathroom, Amos created a semi-wet room. And by concealing pipework below the new staircase he installed a properly plumbed loo.

Special extra-thin ceramic fibreglass-backed tiles on floor and walls come super-sized, which looks elegant and reduces grouting, but they need careful installation. Roomy mirrored cupboards finish it off.

The original Victorian stairs were cleaned, sanded, refurbished and stained to flatter the new oak floors and stairs above.

The living room parquet was gently resurfaced, while all the hall walls and the new loft were painted white for a unified, airy, gallery look.

The job took a year in all and the couple moved out for some of it. Their new loft room is a hugely enjoyed, versatile retreat, and the renewed bathroom and proper loo a joy.

The loft added extra space to the 1,210sq ft home, giving the former maisonette, now a triplex, a fresh lease of more useful, spacious and stylish life.

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