House ripped apart before being transformed into stunning award-winning home

Wales Online

11-05-2025

House ripped apart before being transformed into stunning award-winning home
From the dust and rubble, a stunning new home has emerged packed full of design detail and ideas to copy
The house was completely ripped apart
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
Having building work done to your home can be stressful, especially when you are still living at the property, and in 2022 one family in Penarth were about to experience losing the whole rear section of their home whilst staying on site during the demolition and rebuild.
But after nine months of living next to the project, Vale of Glamorgan-based Atlantic Dwellings Limited has created a stunning and surprising double-storey dream extension for them that has not only changed how they live but has also won a prestigious award for its creativity and build quality.
‌
The visually beautiful and yet practical rear extension to the traditional terrace home has been crowned the best medium sized renovation project in the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) Cymru 2025 awards, described by one of this year's judges as "an impressive project that stands out from the crowd". For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.
‌
But just as important to the project as the design and attention to the build that the award recognised is a company's relationship with the clients, especially if, such as in the case of the Penarth terrace, they stay living at the site while the project is delivered, often including demolition at the start of the transformation process.
Inside the award-winning, two-storey extension packed with design ideas to love and steal
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
Along with fellow director Paul Tedder at Atlantic Dwellings Limited, Christian Bowerman explains that the ethos of the construction company is to have the highest regard for the clients during the project, that they are at the core and that communication is key.
Article continues below
He says: "Caring for the family and respecting the spaces that you leave them on site to live in - we are always very considerate of this, we always install a temporary kitchen so essentially they can try and live their lives as normally as possible while the work goes on - so typically transplant their existing dishwasher, work top, sink, oven and microwave - whatever we possibly can and suggest they buy a portable induction hob too.
The first floor principal bedroom was gone as was the kitchen
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
"Whilst they do have to accept that their living space is reduced they don't feel displaced, they are still living in the home.
‌
"B roadly it's about a lot of care and consideration and treating the home you are in as if it were your own and it is your own family.
"If you can plan so you can keep a family in a home during refurbishment then in actual fact, in our experience, overall they are much more comfortable and stress levels are much lower and ultimately the less you are stressing the family the better the working relationship will be."
But this can be tested through a noisy and dirty demolition phase when the site looks a mess and a large chunk of the former home is gone.
‌
Christian says that when you're at the demolition phase of the project you need to be very careful otherwise you can damage another element of the building or take something down that was unnecessary, or someone on the team gets hurt - a lot of planning and consideration needs to happen.
The result of the nine-month project is an award-winning home
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
He said: "With this particular project we were trying to retain more than we ended up retaining.
‌
"It was better to take down more than we had originally thought and these decisions always need to be done in conjunction with the client or homeowner and explained carefully.
"Generally our experience is so long as you are considerate, explain why it needs to happen and what the benefits are, the pros and cons, people are very supportive of our approach.
"The home owners were slightly alarmed when they saw how much had gone but they totally understood."
‌
The new first floor bedroom has a bonus mezzanine level
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
The new two-storey rear extension is not what you might expect. It is certainly not a standard build, as well as being packed with many creative ideas to find and admire and maybe even copy.
There's a new, open-plan kitchen diner that opens out onto the garden but maybe it's the new en-suite bedroom that is the surprise.
‌
It is designed into the side of the structure on the first floor and includes not only some eye-catching unusually shaped windows but also a bonus upper level.
The view from the mezzanine highlights the eye-catching geometric windows in this new bedroom
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
Christian says that this bonus mezzanine level was a challenge that was definitely worth the effort, creating an extra space for working or relaxing in an area that would have been dead space, and that the view of the roof structure, geometric windows and the bedroom below is the extra visual reward for climbing the ladder.
‌
But Christian says the mezzanine is just one of a number of features to highlight that makes this home special.
He says: "There are many extra design elements like the LED strip light that runs in-between the two steel beams and the countertop that just flows into the floating kitchen window.
These features are not about spending money, they are about really thinking hard about how you put things together and again that takes great planning.
‌
He goes on to say that the easier path is to not have any of those technical interactions between, for example a window and a worktop because you have to be millimetre perfect, there can't be a mistake, but the result of this extra design detail is worth it.
One key element of the ground floor design was the visually appealing ceiling above the dining area, replacing a standard and, some might say, boring flat ceiling with a design feature that gives the space extra life - the exposed beam structure.
Christian explains: "Architects call that expressed ceiling joists and what you get through this really neat design is the most incredible shadows cast through the day's sun as it pours through the roof light, like a sundial effect."
‌
The expressed ceiling joists creates a moving 'sundial lighting effect' below
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
It's the crowning glory of the space that is Christian's favourite area within the home.
He says: "I really like the shared kitchen living space.
‌
"I think being able to share time making and eating food with family and friends is a really nice thing to do but it's even better when you have a nice space to do it in.
"The polished concrete floor is a victory, i t's an expensive thing and it's not something that you can change easily, but it creates an industrial look that has worked really well."
But it's the way the project has transformed the homeowners' lives and the demonstration of what can be done at a modest family home that Christian is most pleased with.
‌
He says: "In a classic turn of the century terrace house there's something quite magical about having the combination of the original with the new, a beautifully well-built period property combined with an amazing modern space attached.
"This is very much a 'one-off' house to this family and a one-off certainly to this street, if not this area, and that's the difference between doing this to a period property compared to opting to buy a new house that's been built by a national home builder.
"Big is not better, we firmly believe that. T his is your typical terraced home which this project shows can be totally transformed."
Article continues below
Attention to detail during the project such as the worktop floating seamlessly into the protruding window helped clinch the award
(Image: Atlantic Dwellings Limited )
Christian says the homeowners were " really, really tickled" by their home winning the FMB award and are planning to attend the UK final with the company in September, but for the team who worked on the project it was also a fantastic outcome in the face of stiff competition.
Christian says: "It was an absolute delight and a surprise too, because there are some great tradespeople and companies in Wales, so it's a thanks to our business but especially to our team because without them, we couldn't do anything." For more property stories join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group here.