Highgate: C1878-85, Victorian garden flat tour with architect

As part of Muswell Hill Sustainability Group's Green Open Homes season: an annual opportunity to see sustainable domestic energy in situ, be inspired by emissions & energy reducing measures and pick brains for lived experiences and expert advice …

Join us for the ‘big reveal’: a 50-minute tour and Q&A opportunity with the architect Meital Ben Dayan of HBD Architects, around a stunningly completed project that was toured in-progress at Green Open Homes 2025.

OVERVIEW …
This project reimagines a Victorian garden flat in the Highgate Conservation Area as a flowing, light filled, comfortable and energy-efficient home. The architect’s brief was to improve thermal comfort, daylight and ventilation while respecting the historic fabric and introducing the additional living and working spaces needed, all within a modest budget.

The new layout opens the flat towards the garden. An extended kitchen and dining area flow onto a lowered patio to form a connection with the outside and an outdoor living space. Internal remodelling introduces a separate home office/ clinic, a reception and a new bathroom with improved connections and outlooks, while service spaces are reorganised to create a more efficient circulation. An internal courtyard and carefully positioned openings bring light and fresh air into every room avoiding dark or enclosed spaces.

Most of the original fabric is retained to reduce embodied carbon and maintain a tangible link to the original building. New construction uses natural, low-carbon materials and is carefully detailed to enhance comfort and reduce energy demand, creating a warm, healthy and efficient home that connects closely to both its immediate and historic settings and includes …

• Wood fibre natural insulation
• Sheep wool natural insulation
• Limecrete floor system with underfloor heating
• Shallow concrete foundations over compacted granular fill
• Timber frame construction including Glulam beams sized for UK grown timber
• Gabions as retaining walls
• Triple glazed timber windows & Doors (Eksalta Windows & Doors)
• Timber cladding – UK grown Thermowood
• Self-binding natural gravel (external surface finish)
• Air Source Heat Pump (Next Step Heating)
• Demand Control Ventilation System (Aereco)
• Airtightness and minimised cold bridge detailing
• Low VOC breathable paint (Earthborn)
• Reused materials and fittings: including tiles and bricks
• Layout designed to retain existing structure
• Thermal camera survey

THE HOMEOWNER SAYS ...
"The property is a one bedroom, ground floor flat in a Victorian terrace that has had very little modernisation. It had the original floor plan with a bathroom built at the back. The back rooms were dark and damp and the garden separated from the living space.
I wanted to bring light into the back of the flat and improve the flow of the rooms so that the garden became an integral part of the living space. We kept as much of the original fabric the building as possible and worked with as many eco materials and applied as many sustainability principles as my budget could afford.

The result is a beautiful, light filled and healthy space that is a joy to live in. "

THE TEAM …
Architect: Meital Ben Dayan, HBD Architects: meital@hbdarchitects.co.uk
Structural Engineer: Allt Environmental Structural Engineers: alltenvironmental.com
Contractor: Oasis Energy Efficient Buildings Limited
Air Source Heat Pump: Next Step Heating

TOUR DATES available for this house …
Sunday 15th November: 10am, 11.30am, 1pm & 2.30pm

PLEASE NOTE …
Tours will begin promptly at their start times
Full addresses will be emailed to those with booked tickets the day before the tour
If fully booked, a waiting list can be joined, and notice given to the first names on it if tickets are released and reallocated. If you can no longer use your booked ticket, please cancel it through WeGotTickets, so that it can be re-homed.

ABOUT … Green Open Homes
For 14 years, Muswell Hill Sustainability Group has been running a three-week Green Open Homes season every November, including expert speaker meetings on a range of energy efficiency topics, and tours of a cross section of 10 – 15 local homes that have been future-proofed against heat, cold, energy bills and emissions, amongst other climate change threats. They range from quick fixes to major installations to entire builds, with the intention of offering unbiased, experienced and – where installers are present - expert advice; to inspire, inform and encourage visitors considering similar.

MHSG is pleased to be presenting Green Open Homes this year in collaboration with Muswell Hill & Fortis Green Association, a long-standing (78 years!), independent, non-partisan amenity society, committed to protecting the local environment and quality of life across Muswell Hill, Fortis Green, and Alexandra ward