The brief involved extending and altering a Victorian terraced house in conservation area. After detailed negotiations with Southwark Planning and conservation, permission was granted for a contemporary extension. Traditional British terraced houses have an amazing unique asset - the garden. But in this case there was an external WC between the garden and house, which about sums it up. Opening the house to the garden by floor to ceiling windows to the ground and first floor extension enabled the house to flow into the garden and benefit form sunlight and views of the natural world - allowing the house to breath. The internal spaces were also opened to flow into one another and form new relationships and uses whilst retaining the innate character of the house. The new contemporary kitchen & dinning areas are linked by an innovative continuous insitu-concrete surface that begins as a counter top and ends in a bench. The under heated polished concrete floor in the kitchen/dining room is continued into the garden. The bathroom was relocated to form a transition space, with the possibility of expanding into the corridor. All the chimney places were opened to further extend each space, making a contemporary expression of a traditional feature.