GLENPARKE ROAD HOUSE
HMO Conversion, Roof Extension & Refurbishment
Forest Gate, London. Completed Summer 2022
INTRODUCTION
Glenparke Road House is an end-of-terrace Victorian house in Forest Gate, converted from a large HMO into two family flats and completed in summer 2022.
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Over time the building had drifted far from its original use. Operated as a large HMO, the internal layout was fragmented and inefficient, and a series of low-quality rear additions had eroded both amenity and clarity. Despite its size, the house no longer functioned comfortably as a home.
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The brief was to rationalise the property and re-establish it as long-term residential accommodation, creating two generous family flats while retaining the essential character of the original house. The strategy worked with the existing fabric wherever possible, extending only where it would meaningfully improve space, light and usability.
THE OUTCOME
At roof level, a hip-to-gable extension and flat-roof dormer open up the upper floors, allowing the building to be split vertically without compromise. These additions follow established precedents along the street, sitting within the rhythm of the terrace and completing the roof form rather than competing with it.
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At ground floor level, the existing rear extensions were reworked rather than replaced. Their scale was reduced and their appearance refined, improving the relationship with the courtyard garden while significantly upgrading thermal performance. New glazing and doors draw light into the heart of the plan.
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The resulting arrangement creates two substantial flats. The ground floor unit is organised around a sequence of living spaces opening onto a private courtyard. The upper flat occupies the first and second floors, with generous ceiling heights, improved outlook and a calm separation between living and sleeping areas. Both homes are dual aspect and exceed minimum internal space standards.
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Externally the project is quiet repair and enhancement. The front elevation is tidied and restored, while the rear is unified through a restrained palette of render, timber cladding and steel-framed glazing. The intervention is deliberately understated, allowing the building to read as a coherent whole rather than a collection of parts.
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Reverting an over-intensified HMO to fewer, larger homes is a harder brief than it sounds, because the value logic usually runs the other way. Glenparke Road works because the roof extension made a clean vertical split possible, and everything else followed from that one move.