The project was to extend a small 1st floor flat into the loft and create a new bedroom with dormer. A simple brief complicated only by the lack of headroom in the loft, the client’s design ambition and conservative planning rules in this conservation area of Edinburgh.

This street has the densest concentration of listed buildings in Portobello (54 in 120m). The planners were resistant to the idea of a dormer in this location at all but following long negotiations a rear dormer was conceded. We then made a case for a low profile, long dormer, more than twice as long as is normally permitted, because this had less visual impact than a dormer located near the eaves.

The project allowed a west facing picture window with an unusual view. It is clad in anthracite zinc by French artisans and includes an idiosyncratic splay to let afternoon light in, a fixed glass pane and a timber door for ventilation.