Pace Architecture

30/10/2026

Project Stories: Lavender Bank 🌿
The house was only around ten years old.
But the kitchen was too small and the garden felt strangely disconnected from everyday life.
 
So at Lavender Bank, the question was simple:
How do you make the house work better without losing what already feels right about it?
 
The answer was a green-oak framed extension that borrows from a traditional farmhouse shape, but with a more contemporary edge.
 
Large glazed areas bring in far more natural light and open the new kitchen and living space up to the garden and Somerset countryside beyond.
 
The roof was carefully designed so it wouldn’t interrupt the view from the existing first-floor dormer, while the new timber cladding sits naturally alongside the stone and wood of the original house.
 
The result feels connected rather than added on. 🏡
 
The wider project goes beyond the extension too, with a natural pool in the rear garden, the former garage becoming a workshop and the old kitchen finding a new purpose as storage.
 
Delivered with Premier oak buildings, Oakmont Glazing and Olive & Barr.
 
Save this for extension inspiration and send it to someone planning a country home renovation.
 
Would you go traditional, contemporary or somewhere in between?
 
Designed from our Richmond studio, our work is inspired by the places people love living.

30/10/2026

What makes Richmond such a good place to call home?
It is difficult to put it down to one thing.

There is Richmond Park, the Thames and Kew, alongside established neighbourhoods, good connections into central London and a wide variety of homes with genuine architectural character. In 2026, The Sunday Times named Richmond the best place to live in London.

For many people, though, the appeal is really about how those things come together.
You can remain connected to London while creating a different kind of day-to-day life around family, community and the outdoors. And when someone is choosing a home here for the next ten or twenty years, the house itself becomes a big part of that decision.

An older property might have wonderful character but a layout designed for a very different way of living. Another may already have been extended, but the additional space has not necessarily improved how the rest of the house works.

At Pace Architecture, we think the best approach starts with understanding the property, its setting and the people who will live there, rather than imposing the same solution from one house to the next.

Our latest blog explores why so many people want to live in Richmond and how thoughtful architecture can help make the most of living here.

Read the full article:

Discover why so many people want to live in Richmond, from green space and local character to distinctive architecture and homes designed for long-term living.

27/10/2026

Project Stories: Lavender Bank, Somerset 🌿
Sometimes a home doesn’t need to be completely reinvented, it just needs to work better for the way you live.

At Lavender Bank, the existing house had a small kitchen and very little connection to the large garden beyond. The answer was a green-oak framed extension that takes its cues from a traditional farmhouse, while bringing in a much lighter, more contemporary feel.

Large areas of glazing now open the kitchen and living space towards the garden and Somerset countryside, while the oak frame, timber cladding and pitched roof help the new addition sit comfortably alongside the original house.

The wider project also included a natural pool in the rear garden, a new workshop created from the former garage and the old kitchen repurposed for storage. 🏡

It’s a good example of how an extension can feel generous and modern without losing its relationship with the character of the existing home. Delivered with Premier Oak Buildings, Oakmont Glazing and Olive & Barr Kitchens.

23/10/2026

Project Stories: Chisholm Road, Richmond
What happens when a home has enough rooms, but they are not quite working hard enough for family life? 🏡

That was the challenge at Chisholm Road, a Victorian property in the Richmond Hill Conservation Area.
The brief was to rethink the whole house, with better storage, more useful spaces for working from home, and a layout that supported both family time and entertaining.

The kitchen was redesigned with Roundhouse Design to make better use of a difficult existing space, while an unused nook in the basement became a dedicated office with a bespoke desk. This move allowed the new library to become a proper place to relax, rather than doubling up as a workspace.

Bespoke joinery was introduced throughout to create more storage, a family media room helped free up the ground floor, and the bedrooms, bathrooms, lighting and finishes were all reconsidered as part of the wider scheme.

Outside, we worked with Ruth Willmott Associates to create a garden that felt just as useful, with spaces for entertaining, a fire pit, BBQ area, plunge pool and a garden room with a gym and concealed bike storage. 🌿

The result is a home that feels far more considered, not because it became dramatically bigger, but because every space was given a clearer role.

If you could make one area of your home work harder for the way you live now, where would you start?

21/10/2026

PROJECT STORIES | SPENCER HOUSE
Sometimes the answer is not more space, It is making better use of the space already there. 🏡

Spencer House in South Croydon had previously been divided into several flats. That history had left the property with redundant staircases, kitchens and bathrooms, creating a poor use of what was already a generously sized house.
The clients wanted to bring it back together as one home for their growing family, balancing contemporary design with the character of the original building.

As James puts it: “The space was already there, our job was to reconnect it and make it work for the family.”
That meant reconfiguration rather than extension. We introduced a double-height glazed slot to bring natural light into the centre of the deep floor plan. The staircase became a series of landings with views across the central void and towards the garden.

Pocket doors created interconnected ground-floor rooms, while a metal-clad intervention gave the rear elevation a strong contemporary identity. Its colour was chosen to echo the original red brick string courses, connecting old and new.
The result is a light-filled, coherent family home designed to work for many years to come.

One house. Reconnected. ✨
Explore the Project Stories carousel to see how each design decision contributed to the transformation.

Do you think your home needs more space, or could a more considered layout change everything?

15/10/2026

What makes Richmond's homes so special? 🏡

Richmond has a wonderful mix of architectural styles and that's a big part of its charm. From historic houses and traditional terraces to modern family homes, every property has its own character. If you're thinking about renovating or extending your home, it's worth understanding how its original features, surroundings and local planning requirements might influence your plans.

In our latest blog, we explore Richmond's architecture and share some useful considerations for homeowners looking to make changes while respecting the character of their property.

Take a look at our guide here 👇

Richmond’s architectural character is one of the reasons people choose to live here. It is also why changing a...

05/10/2026

Could York House be Twickenham’s forgotten treasure? 🏡
For James Munro, it is one of those buildings that deserves far more attention than it gets.
“There are many significant historic houses in the borough of Richmond, including Ham House, Marble Hill House and Turner’s House, but perhaps one overlooked architectural treasure is York House in Twickenham.”
The Grade II* listed house dates from the seventeenth century, but what you see today is the result of many different periods of change.
As James explains:
“Its architecture reflects centuries of alteration, with eighteenth-century remodelling and later Victorian and French influences creating a fascinating layered character.”
That character continues inside too.
“Richly detailed cornices, ceilings, fireplaces and an impressive oak staircase reveal the quality of its craftsmanship.”
Its formal gardens, terraces and riverside setting add another dimension, but perhaps the most interesting thing about York House is that it has never simply become a relic of the past.
It is still used for civic purposes today, which means it continues to play a role in the community around it.
James sums it up nicely:
“Despite its importance, York House remains surprisingly understated, making it a genuine hidden gem of Twickenham and worth a visit.”

What historic building in Richmond or South West London do you think deserves to be rediscovered?
Save and share this with someone who loves local architecture and history.

28/09/2026

We’re excited to share that a new Pace project is getting underway at Lexham Gardens. 🏡

Over the next year, Pace Architecture, Pace Projects and Sandra Flashman will be working together on the full refurbishment of a two-bedroom top-floor apartment in Kensington.

The images we are sharing now are early mock-ups and renders, so this is very much the beginning of the story.
The apartment belongs to a retired French couple and the brief is not about dramatically changing the layout. Instead, the focus is on making the existing space feel much more considered through materials, lighting, furniture, artwork and finishes chosen around the way they actually want to live.

For James Munro, it is a significant milestone; an exciting and substantial collaboration with Sandra and Pace Projects involved together from the outset. That means the design, interiors and construction can be developed as one joined-up process rather than as separate stages.

We’ll be sharing more as the project moves forward, including site visits, progress updates, design decisions and some of the key construction moments. The glazing installation should be a particularly good one to capture, with a crane due to be involved. 👀

Completion is around a year away, so there is plenty still to follow.

Which part of a refurbishment do you most enjoy seeing come together: the early ideas, the messy middle or the final reveal?

11/09/2026

A new full-house renovation has been completed at Campden Grove, Kensington.

We’re worked in collaboration with Agathe Skalli Interiors and Insideout London to help create a home where the architecture and interiors feel connected from the outset.

Projects like this work best when the wider vision is shared early. It allows decisions around layout, materials, finishes and the way the home is lived in to develop together, rather than as separate layers.

What makes a home feel truly well connected to you?

10/09/2026

A first look behind the build at Cottenham Park Road.
Work is now underway and the house is beginning to change.

At this stage of a renovation, much of what you see is structure rather than finished design, but it’s also when the ideas developed on paper start to become much easier to understand. Spaces begin to open up, relationships between rooms change and the future home gradually starts to reveal itself.

This video captures some of those first steps at Cottenham Park Road. We’ll be sharing more from the project as work progresses, so keep an eye out for the next update.