A Writers Tale, Hackney

Once the project was complete – and our clients had lived in the house for a while – we asked them to share their reflections on the experience. Here’s what they wrote:

"Matthew Giles and his team worked with us on a complete redesign of our terraced house in Hackney. This involved reconfiguring the rooms on all three floors and largely replacing the rear of the house. We wanted the house to be both a home and also, in the basement, a place where we could have two offices. A particular challenge was to allow light into what had been a very dark, almost claustrophobic space.

In consultation with us, Matthew came up with amazingly resourceful and effective solutions. He designed a metal mesh floor on the ground floor and a metal mesh staircase leading down to the basement. Along with the beautiful metal and plate glass rear of the house, it brilliantly solved the problem of the dark basement.

There were an enormous number of decisions to be made, both large and small, with new bathrooms, a new kitchen, and Matthew came up with fabulously creative solutions while constantly being attentive to what we want. He collaborated with us constantly through the process.

It was only when the job was finished and we properly moved in that we realised that the designed wasn’t just visually impressive but it was also a wonderfully practical space for living in. Also, the radical use of glass, metal, wood and concrete was always in harmony with the of history of this nineteenth-century building.

We couldn’t be happier with the result and we would strongly recommend him."