Extensions · Worcestershire · 2023

Whiteoaks — Two-Storey Annexe, Detached Garage & Full Landscaping.

Item: Whiteoaks — Two-Storey Annexe, Detached Garage & Full Landscaping
Rating: 5
Author: JRC Developers Limited

A whole-property scheme at Whiteoaks: a two-storey rendered annexe, a new detached double garage, a hand-cut oak porch, tiered retaining and boundary walls in reclaimed brick, and Indian sandstone landscaping throughout.

Overview

Whiteoaks was one of those jobs where almost everything outside the original walls of the house is ours. The property sits on a plot that drops steeply away to one side, so before a single brick of the new accommodation could go up, the ground itself had to be re-engineered.

The finished scheme takes in a two-storey rendered annexe with its own French doors, a detached double garage with rooflights, a hand-cut green oak porch to the front door, tiered retaining walls and a new reclaimed brick boundary wall to the road, a fresh gravel driveway with block paved edging, and Indian sandstone paving running the full length of the property.

It ran through 2023 with our own gangs on groundworks, brickwork, carpentry, roofing, rendering and landscaping — one team, one programme, one point of contact for the client.

Groundworks

Re-engineering a plot that fell away on every side

The side of the plot dropped hard towards the boundary, and the footprint the client wanted for the new annexe simply didn't exist yet. The first phase was pure groundworks: dig out, cart away, and hold the retained ground back permanently.

We built tiered retaining walls in dense concrete blockwork off strip foundations, tanked and drained behind, then dug the internal footprint out between them to formation level. Every course was set to a laser and every level worked back to the finished floor level of the new building so the paving and thresholds would land correctly months later.

Working in a tight side access with a mini excavator and a dumper meant sequencing carefully — spoil out before materials in, and the boundary wall left standing until the very last moment.

New brick and blockwork retaining wall with strip foundations and the excavated footprint for the Whiteoaks annexe in Worcestershire — Strip foundations poured and the first retaining walls up — the footprint set out inside them.

Mini excavator digging out the annexe footprint at Whiteoaks between new blockwork retaining walls with tanking and brick capping above — Digging out between the finished retaining walls — tanked, capped and drained before any spoil was removed.

Excavated and levelled footprint at Whiteoaks surrounded by tiered reclaimed brick and blockwork retaining walls — Formation level reached. The tiered walls behind hold the garden back permanently.

Specialist brickwork

“Still laying at almost 55” — the boundary wall to the road

The frontage needed a proper wall: something that looked like it had always been there, not a modern estate wall. We used reclaimed-look facing brick in a stretcher bond off a concrete footing, with weathered stone copings reset along the top and brick piers with stone caps at the gateway.

It's a long run, built by hand on a slope, with the coping levels stepped so the wall follows the road without ever looking like it's falling away. Andy laid most of it himself — the site photo that became our most-shared post that year, captioned “still laying at almost 55”.

The same brick and the same detailing carry through to the retaining walls, the annexe plinth and the terracing at the back, so the whole property reads as one family of materials.

Close-up of the reclaimed brick boundary wall at Whiteoaks with weathered stone coping, built by JRC Developers bricklayers — Reclaimed-look facing brick with reset stone copings — laid by hand, gauged to the road.

The full run of the new brick boundary wall along the driveway edge at Whiteoaks with traffic cones during construction — The full run along the frontage, coned off while the driveway sub-base was excavated behind it.

The annexe

A two-storey rendered annexe that keeps the cottage the hero

The new accommodation is a two-storey structure set behind the house, deliberately quiet in its detailing so it never competes with the original white cottage. A red facing brick plinth grounds it against the retaining walls; above that it's a smooth silicone render in an off-white to tie back to the house.

Deep boxed eaves with a moulded band, black rainwater goods, white casement windows and full-height French doors to the ground floor give it a crisp, almost coach-house feel. The roof is hipped and clay-tiled to match the tone of the existing roofscape.

Air conditioning was fitted and the external unit tucked down the side elevation behind the retaining wall, out of every sightline from the garden and the drive.

Completed two-storey rendered annexe at Whiteoaks with red brick plinth, white French doors and black rainwater goods — The finished annexe — brick plinth, off-white render, boxed eaves and full-height French doors.

Side elevation of the Whiteoaks annexe showing the rendered upper storey, brick plinth and discreetly sited air conditioning unit — Side elevation — plant sited out of sight behind the retaining wall, paving and gravel margin already in.

Detail of the smooth off-white render, boxed eaves and clay tiled hipped roof on the new build at Whiteoaks — Render, eaves band and tile detail — the bits that decide whether a new build looks right or looks new.

Garage & roofing

A detached double garage, roofed and rendered to match

Alongside the annexe we built a new detached double garage with a hipped clay-tiled roof, two conservation-style rooflights and a wide sectional door finished in heritage green — a colour picked to nod to the cottage rather than disappear into the render.

Rendered walls, matching boxed eaves and coach lanterns either side of the opening tie it directly to the annexe. Set on the new gravel drive with block-paved edging and a level threshold, it takes two cars comfortably with room to work around them.

New detached double garage at Whiteoaks with heritage green sectional door, rendered walls, rooflights and clay tiled hipped roof — The finished garage — heritage green door, rooflights over, gravel drive and block-paved threshold.

Hipped clay tiled roof and rendered elevation of the new Whiteoaks buildings seen over the reclaimed brick boundary wall — New roofscape seen from the road, sitting behind the finished boundary wall.

Oak porch

A hand-cut green oak porch for the front door

The original entrance was a plain door straight into the elevation. We cut and pitched a green oak porch frame on site — posts onto brick plinths with stone pad stones, curved braces, a pegged tie beam and a hand-cut truss — then roofed it in clay plain tiles to match the house.

It was assembled at low level and lifted into place in one piece, plumbed off the brickwork and pegged. No kit, no visible fixings, and it will silver down over the next few years to look like part of the original cottage.

Hand-cut green oak porch frame pitched on site at Whiteoaks, standing on new red brick plinths with stone pad stones — Frame pitched and pegged, plinths built, ready for battens and clay tiles.

Completed oak framed porch at Whiteoaks with clay tiled roof and the new gravel driveway with block paved edging in front — Finished porch and driveway — gravel with a block-paved apron and a level entrance threshold.

Landscaping & handover

Indian sandstone, gravel margins and a driveway that ties it together

The external works were as much a part of the brief as the buildings. Indian sandstone paving runs from the rear terrace, down the side of the annexe and around to the house in a random-coursed layout, laid on a full mortar bed with falls away from every wall.

White gravel margins sit between the paving and the brickwork to keep splash off the render and to give the drainage somewhere to go. Brick terracing and steps step the garden back up to its original level, and a new gravel driveway with block-paved edging finishes the frontage.

It's a scheme where the last 10% — the margins, the falls, the coping levels, the transitions between materials — is what makes the whole thing feel finished.