Priory Road

At first-floor level, a new terrace is introduced as a significant enhancement to the amenity provision, providing valuable private external space and improving the quality of outlook and daylight to the upper parts of the building. A new external stair is also added to improve direct access to the rear garden, strengthening the relationship between internal living spaces and outdoor communal areas.

Internally, the building is comprehensively reconfigured to create a series of six-bedroom co-living units. The layouts are rationalised to improve circulation, increase spatial efficiency, and strengthen the connection between private rooms and shared kitchens, dining areas, and living spaces. The arrangement ensures that each unit benefits from a balanced and usable distribution of communal accommodation.

A key driver of the design is the provision of meaningful and accessible amenity space for each of the reconfigured flats. This principle informs both the internal arrangement and the external interventions, ensuring that shared living is supported by generous and usable communal areas rather than simply increased bedroom capacity.

Nick Baker Architects were appointed by COHABS to refurbish and reconfigure 30 Priory Road, a historic townhouse within the Priory Road Conservation Area in West Hampstead, London. The project involves the comprehensive adaptation of an existing building previously subdivided into three separate residential units, transforming it into a contemporary co-living scheme while retaining the character and proportions of the original property.

The building had been left in a state of dereliction following a series of accumulative alterations. The proposals establish a coordinated strategy of internal reconfiguration, extension, and targeted external interventions to restore coherence to the building and support its long-term use as shared residential accommodation.

Many of the original decorative features are retained and restored as part of the refurbishment, including historic joinery, cornicing, and internal detailing. These elements are carefully integrated within the wider design, maintaining continuity with the building’s historic character while accommodating new interventions and upgraded services.

The project, currently under construction, delivers a pragmatic and carefully considered approach to the adaptation of a constrained historic property, balancing conservation, extension, and the provision of high-quality shared amenity space within a sensitive residential context.