HELPING THE ELDERLY / by Adrian Tuchel

Project of extension for an elderly couple

We contacted Adrian because we had greatly admired his thoughtful and creative approach to finding solutions to problems and his expertise at making ingenious use of small spaces.

My parents are in their 80s and have a small semi-detached house that has no downstairs bathroom and no space within the existing building to create one. With my father’s mobility declining, we were keen to see if it would be possible to extend their house in order to create not only a downstairs toilet and shower room but also additional living space, all with full disabled access, should it become necessary for them to live on one floor.

We were extremely grateful to Adrian for the sensitive way in which he approached the project, his careful questioning to identify our key requirements and the scope of our ideas, and his empathy and instinctive understanding of my parents’ needs.

As we had hoped, he came up with an excellent and exciting solution that makes optimum use of the small space available to the side and back of the house. Thanks to his skill, imagination and creative flair, the designs he created for the extension are also carefully planned so that the extension can be used flexibly, depending on my parents’ changing needs and circumstances. Crucially, his designs also provide disabled access into the house and back garden and throughout the ground floor.

Adrian has been extremely thorough, helpful and throughout the planning application process. We are delighted that the plans have been approved without any changes.