The Strand

Between 1855 and 1963, 25 The Strand was a public house, The Alma Tavern. In the 1970’s it became a post office before being converted into a branch of Lloyds Bank when the front elevation was clad in stucco. In the last forty years 25 The Strand became shop (latterly a greengrocers) and most recently it was converted into a dwelling.

It was in extremely poor order throughout. The site spans between The Strand and York Road and, over time, most of the site had been built over in an unattractive and incoherent manner. The project involved demolishing two ground floor rear extensions housing a kitchen and a cloakroom and replacing them with a contemporary walkway/link in clear, structural glass, which provided access from the main house to the existing annexe in the garden, as well as to a new study looking out to an enclosed courtyard.

In the main house, the ground floor was reconfigured to create a spacious open-plan living room, and the first-floor rooms were also reconfigured to provide a larger front bedroom overlooking the sea, a bespoke, fully-fitted dressing room and two luxury bathrooms. In the annexe, the ground floor was extended to accommodate a garage, accessed from York Road, and the remaining space was fitted out with a luxury kitchen.

The first floor was converted into a guest bedroom suite, accessed via an open spiral staircase. The entire development was clad in weatherboarding and finished with attractive heritage windows. The completed project delivered a contemporary design solution, which met the clients’ brief and greatly improved his overall enjoyment of the house. In addition, the project made a positive contribution to the community by enhancing the Walmer Seafront Conservation area, and a dilapidated heritage property on the seafront was given a sustainable new use.

Annual CO2 emissions data (requested in kg/m2/year) was not provided.