We’re delighted that ‘Hampstead Town House’ – a retrofit of a 5-storey modernist home in North London – has been shortlisted for a 2026 RIBA London Award.

We are looking forward to meeting the jury and showing them around the house next month!

A big congratulations to our amazing client and project team;

Structural Engineer: @priceandmyers
Services Engineer: @mwl_group
Cost Consultant: @stature.london
Contractor: Re-build London
Planning Consutlant: SM Planning
Joinery: @vialle_and_co
Hayhurst & Co Team: Jamie Wakeford Holder, Alex Boyce, Laura Mohirta, Nick Hayhurst

Photo Credit: @kilianosullivan

@riba @ribalondon #hampsteadtownhouse #hayhurstandco #hampstead #modernist #home

Hampstead Town House

Designed at a time when energy use and thermal performance was not as considered as it is today, the house comprised an uninsulated concrete frame supporting an external brick leaf on large cantilevers that thermally bridged inside to out. The brief was to repair, renew and spatially reinvigorate the house for its new owners without comprising the integrity of the original architecture.

The house is now heated with an ASHP, walls and soffits heavily lined with insulation and with replacement double-glazed oak windows that faithfully match the fenestration of the existing house. An approach that minimises heat loss and energy consumption and creates a sustainable and healthy home.

The dining space is twice as tall as it is wide and features a new cherry-clad coffered arched ceiling. The mirrored linings on the adjacent angled wall expand the sense of the space and provide an awesome geometric form with daylight and tree canopies reflected back into the room below.

Photo credit: @kilianosullivan

#hayhurstandco #hampsteadtownhouse #hampstead #modernist #london

Hampstead Town House

The existing floor plates were opened-up in order to enter the home in the middle of a triple height void stretching over 7.8m and with long views out the rear window and on into the tree canopies beyond. An internal spatial gymnastic act from lower ground to first floor that mimics the drama and poise of the external structural cantilever that stretches from the first floor to the third.

Down the stairs is a dining space which is twice as tall as it is wide and features a mirror-lined angled frieze that ricochets daylight and tree canopies back into the room. The kitchen is a further 3 steps down to the front.

The living space is located on the first floor, the main bedroom suite on the second and two bedrooms and a bathroom on the third accessed by the existing stair turret which has been insulated and lined in vertical timber cladding.

Photo Credit: @kilianosullivan

#hayhurstandco #hampsteadtownhouse #hampstead #retrofit #londonhome

A new home – Hampstead Town House – is published on our website today.

‘Hampstead Town House’ is a repaired, renewed and rejuvenated modernist home executed with spatial poise, drama and delight.

Designed in 1970 by the Architects Igal Yawetz and Howard Radley, the existing home sits on a micro-sized 30m2 footprint bookending the adjacent Victorian villa. The design threads a new 7.8m triple-height void through the house now comprising 6 internal floor levels, 2 roof terraces and 5 different types of stairs to create a newly-connected sense of vertical living.

Traditional modernist linings such as reclaimed parquet and cherry and walnut linings have been installed: some in their authentic modernist form and others, like the dining room ceiling, with a new sculptural form and dynamic which is reflected in internal high-level mirrors. The tiles from the existing sunken bathroom have been re-used to provide new sanitaryware and a connection to the house’s original opulence.

‘Hampstead Town House’ is both faithful modernist restoration and spatial and sculptural re-order.

Photo credit: @kilianosullivan

#hampsteadtownhouse #hayhurstandco #hampstead #modernisthome #retrofit