Hallam Street Flat Remodel

This project comprised the complete remodelling and refurbishment of a flat on Hallam Street, Marylebone, within an exceptionally old and characterful building in the heart of central London. Delivered over many months, the works were technically and logistically complex, requiring meticulous planning due to the property's location on a busy main street and the inherent constraints of working within a multi-occupancy historic structure.

The scope of works included a full reconfiguration of the internal layout, enabling the space to be reimagined for contemporary living while maximising flow, light, and functionality. A comprehensive interior renovation was undertaken throughout, incorporating engineered oak flooring — tongue and grooved, laid in herringbone — a bespoke kitchen installation, and the creation of a new bathroom. The project also involved resolving complex plumbing and servicing challenges, carefully integrating modern systems within the fabric of the existing building.

Restoring what was already there

A flat of this age arrives with things worth keeping, and the temptation on a full refurbishment is to take them out because taking them out is quicker.

The original cast iron radiators were removed, sandblasted back to bare metal and black powder coated. Powder coating rather than repainting matters here — it is a baked finish, it will not chip along the fins the first time something knocks them, and it holds its colour under heat for decades. They went back in looking like the day they were cast.

The original iron Crittall windows were restored rather than replaced. Crittall is a genuinely difficult thing to work on and an easy thing to lose: the standard answer is a modern replacement window, which is warmer and completely wrong for the building. These were taken back, made good and reinstated.

The flat was then fully plastered and decorated throughout, in Little Greene colours.

Electrics

A partial rewire was carried out, with the fuseboard and circuits altered to suit the new lighting scheme and the demands a modern flat actually places on a supply. Historic buildings are rarely wired for how people live now, and lighting design is the part that exposes it first.

The walnut wall

The reception has a slatted walnut acoustic media wall, designed by us, with a door to the bedroom and bathroom concealed within it.

The slats do real work — they break up reflected sound in a room with hard floors and high ceilings, which is what stops a beautifully finished flat sounding like an empty one. The concealed door is the harder part: the slat spacing has to run across the opening without a break, so the eye reads a continuous wall and the door only appears when it is pushed. That means setting out the whole wall from the door, not the corner.

Central to the success of the project was close collaboration with the property developer. Through a detailed and considered design process, his vision of a refined, elegant residence was brought to life. The resulting interior is modern, fresh, and luxurious, yet remains in harmony with the heritage and architectural character of the historic building.

The transformation also delivered a tangible financial return. The client was an investment buyer who purchased the flat for £600,000; following the works it was revalued by a surveyor at £900,000 — an uplift of £300,000, or 50%, on a project driven by design quality, material specification and standard of execution rather than square footage added.