Georgian townhouse in Harbour Conservation area
Pend have completed the extension and reconfiguration of a Georgian townhouse in the Conservation area Newhaven, Edinburgh; a three-storey stone property set back from the water's edge, close to the green cycle and pedestrian paths that trace the line of the city's old railways down towards the coast.
The clients, Ali and Brian, and their family, came to the project with a succinct brief. More light, a better connection to the garden, and a family space that could hold the shifting rhythms of daily life, rather than the seldom-used formality of the room it would replace.
Situated at the end of a terrace, distinguished by curved stone gables that set it apart from the terraces around it, in theory, the house itself is unusual in comparison to its neighbours. In practice the site's topography had never been resolved. The ground slopes away to the rear, leaving the lower ground floor feeling basement-like, submerged, and starved of light.
A tired conservatory and a failing shed sat awkwardly at the garden edge, barely connected to the life of the house. Additionally, the entrance sequence itself had become compromised, routing guests and children alike through narrow corridors and utility spaces before they ever reached the home proper.
Pend's articulation begins at the threshold. The old conservatory and shed have been replaced with a single new volume, housing a small porch, flexible utility and office space, and a new living area which is connected to the existing kitchen. Descending the stairs from the front door, the sightline now runs straight through to the garden, offering a moment of clarity where before there was only obstruction.
The curve of the new circular rooflight meets the historic curve of the building’s gable, drawing light deeper into the darker corners of the plan. The utility and office space is stepped back to allow direct light in from both eastern and southern aspects.
The circular form was not an arbitrary flourish; it is a direct response to the building's original curved gable, echoed again in a circular window set into the new office. In a setting Pend describes as "city coastal" rather than conventionally seaside, industrial and maritime in equal measure, this considered geometry gives the extension a quiet architectural logic, rather than a borrowed one.
CONTINUES
The new facade comprises long-format Roman Red Water-Struck brick, chosen to sit alongside the existing stone gable while continuing the language of infill brickwork already present along the boundary wall to the street, flanking the extension and house.
Windows and doors are timber-framed with an aluminium external coating, a decision driven by
the practical difficulty of maintaining exposed timber through the temperate Scottish climate. The roof light is triple-glazed for efficiency, with the remaining glazing meeting standard regulatory performance.
Pend extended their scope beyond the building to take on the landscape design in full. A snaking path now knits the garden into distinct zones, offering a direct and legible route from the new back entrance in place of the previous awkward access, along with a dedicated terrace for morning coffee. What was once a sequence of obstacles has become a considered, unhurried arrival. Ali and Brian chose to continue the brickwork into a brick border detail, now woven into the paving design, allowing them to enjoy the character of the long format brick from inside.
Newhaven typifies extension architecture as it should, bringing defined additions to an existing property, with clarity and without a sense of compromise. Through contextual interrogation and constraint bearing logic, Pend has lifted the home tenfold, as a place that now connects, compartmentalises and charms, inside and out.
