Delving Into The History – And New Basement – of Durham Cottage, Chelsea.
Built in 1850, for almost 2 decades it was the love nest of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh between 1937 and 1956. Being just 2,042 square foot in size, according to Zoopla, this cosy little cottage was sold in 2014 for just £6.8 million (apparently in totally unmodernised condition).
But major works are now being undertaken at the property, with a vast basement created to add a significant amount of extra space when preserving the character and uniqueness of a property with such a history isn’t an option. New UK basements must not be more than 1 storey high and not exceed the property footprint, plus a maximum of 50% of the garden. According to Architecture for London, a finished basement typically costs between £5,000 and £8,000/sqm excluding VAT and fees.
The basement excavation at Durham Cottage included part of the front garden, which also provided access for two massive steel beams (measuring up to 7.4 metres and weighing in at almost 3 tonnes) to be gently lowered about 4 metres down onto a new solid concrete basement floor in readiness for the two beams to be welded together and then raised into place to support the front of the house.
The lorry deployed was a 32 tonne rigid, with a crane maximum lift exceeding 11 tonnes at 6 metres reach, so easily capable of getting these steels safely and carefully into place.
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Photos courtesy of Carl Somner