Latham Road - Cambridge  

Aim: create nurse's living quarters, plus a wheelchair-friendly bedroom, bathroom and garage – all with style and flair.

How: an octagonal turret; a new room for the nurse; conversion of original garage for patient use; a detached garage with storage space over.

Planning Solutions: the turret houses a staircase and is topped with a lantern light and weather vane: this gave the design flair demanded by this forward-thinking client. It leads to the nurse's new first-floor bedroom and shower room. An integral garage was converted into a wheelchair-friendly bedroom and bathroom. A new detached double garage, with storage room above, was partially sunk into the ground to lessen its impact in Cambridge's conservation area.

Works carried out: turret and first-floor rooms built; French doors and windows added to original garage; floors levelled and ramps formed; trees removed on garage site; ramps dug; remote controlled doors installed; internal staircase to storage room created.

Special details: newel post capped by carved apple. When the apparently whole fruit is grasped, a carved bite, complete with teeth marks, is revealed. The ground-floor room was slightly too small for a special piece of furniture, so the wall was adjusted to fit, and echoes the curves of the wood.