Chelsea Brut, Kensington and Chelsea

2025 RIBA London Award  

House 
Pricegore Architects for private client 
Contract value: Confidential 
GIA: 215m² 

Chelsea Brut is the extension, refurbishment and retrofit of a four-storey 1960s townhouse, one of a terrace of four, in a dense district of central London. 

From outside, the building reveals few cues as to the comprehensive transformation that it has undergone within. The window upgrades, storage for bikes and bins, and an electric vehicle charging point were not sufficient to prepare the jury for the surprise in store on entry.

The house has been stripped back to the structure, extended down and to the back, replanned on every floor, and refinished with a consistent palette to deliver an environmental upgrade for a more sustainable future.

A piece of good fortune revealed the foundations to be set around 1.5m lower than the existing floor level, due to the lower level of the neighbouring property, which enabled a dramatic kitchen, dining and living space to be created with a 3.5m ceiling. This has been extended into the small oasis of a garden which forms a nature connection with the planted roof above the extension, screening the formal first-floor living area. The resulting sense of calm and peacefulness offers a welcome haven from the world outside the front door.

A second, connected living space provides a film room that doubles as a spare bedroom. On the top two floors, the architects have converted five bedrooms into three, to better reflect modern family needs, with a magnificent top-floor master suite.

While parts of the house have been dramatically transformed to create spaces of drama and delight, the real strength of this project is Pricegore Architects’ deeply considered and consistently applied design philosophy, to create a more sustainable and healthy home. Existing materials are exposed in their raw state, plasterboard is replaced with lime plaster, and lime slurry was applied to the exposed soffits of the clay-block floors. 

Internal insulation is 100-millimetre-thick breathable wood fibre, floorboards are reclaimed, and joinery was dyed, practically eliminating the use of paint throughout. The automated skylight drives stack ventilation in summer months. A new air-source heat pump provides hot water and underfloor heating, and two mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems manage air quality and minimise heat loss. Wiring is in place for future installation of solar panels and awnings, should planning consent for these be granted. The actual energy use of 66kWh per square metre per annum is 12 per cent lower than predicted.

The overall effect is of a home with a palpable sense of living, entirely reborn while retaining the character of the original house. It strengthens a connection to nature, while offering protection from the busy city that surrounds it. 

From closing the front door and descending to the kitchen space, and then following the sinuous ash handrail up three flights of stairs through living spaces and bedrooms, the jury was transported into a world of natural calm, beautifully isolated from the noisy, polluted road outside.

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RIBA UK Awards 2025 sponsored by Autodesk, EH Smith, Equitone and VELUX