Green Belt Home
A contemporary renovation designed to blend quietly into the Surrey landscape
Hillcrest is located near Ottershaw, within Surrey’s Green Belt. Our client wanted to add a new garage and guest suite while also updating the dated façade of their home. At the same time, we saw an opportunity to reimagine how the building sits within its wooded surroundings.
Our solution was to simplify and unify through a contemporary intervention that blends quietly into the landscape. We wrapped both the existing structure and the new garage extension in black cladding, alternating the boards vertically and horizontally, left to right and right to left, to create subtle shifts in texture across the elevations. The black finish continues around the sides and rear of the home in mineral paint, allowing the building to dissolve gently into its wooded setting.
At the front, the new hard landscaping became an integral part of the composition. The driveway folds upward to form planters and benches, giving the entrance a human scale and a sense of calm arrival while softening the boundary between house and garden. To the rear, we removed a redundant staircase and introduced a new timber stair and screen that conceals an outdoor laundry area and frames views to the garden beyond.
Hillcrest demonstrates how thoughtful design can transform and extend a Green Belt home while respecting its context showing that contemporary architecture in Surrey’s countryside can be both sensitive and bold, quietly disappearing into the woods.
Photography by Sarah Button.
