01 / 11 Conversion & renovation
The Old Church
- Location
- Swaffham Bulbeck
- Project
- Conversion & renovation
- Status
- Completed
- Scope
- Former church to single dwelling
- Setting
- Conservation area · Green Belt edge
- Accommodation
- Four bedrooms
- Key moves
- New first floor · Side extension
- Envelope
- External insulation and render
An extraordinary space to call home.
A former church becomes a single home within a conservation area. The conversion preserves the generosity of the original nave and its tall windows.
Carefully inserted domestic spaces make this large volume work for everyday living, retaining the character that makes the building distinctive.
Context & Change of Use
The former church was converted to a single dwelling, requiring a sensitive planning approach within a conservation area on the edge of the Green Belt. Rather than domesticating the original structure, the design preserves its inherent qualities – particularly its double-height volume and large vertical glazing – while carefully inserting new domestic elements within it.
Spatial Strategy
The double-height nave and its large vertical windows remain the primary architectural experience. A new first floor is introduced as a lightweight insertion, positioned within the existing volume without overwhelming it, while selective removal of internal floor structure re-establishes the spatial hierarchy.
Framed views open between levels and across the main space. The result is a layered interior in which the ecclesiastical scale remains legible, but is now inhabited in a more domestic and functional way.
“The original ecclesiastical scale remains legible, but is now inhabited in a more domestic and functional way.”
Architectural Interventions
New elements are deliberately restrained and clearly contemporary, allowing the existing structure to remain dominant. A contemporary side extension provides additional accommodation, set apart from the original building to preserve its integrity.
Externally, the envelope is upgraded with insulation and render, improving thermal performance while keeping a simple, unified expression appropriate to its setting.
Material & Detail
The focus is the interface between original fabric and new insertion – where new floor edges meet the double-height window openings, and where the mezzanine structure meets the original envelope. These junctions are intentionally precise, distinguishing the building’s former and current life without visual conflict.
