New Forest Building Design Award Win

We are so happy to have had our Brockenhurst House recognised in the New Forest Building Design Awards this year, picking up the award for Best Residential Project – our second award for this project to date!

Our project has reimagined the distinctive 1970s chalet-style home set on the edge of Brockenhurst village. Our design was guided by three key ambitions: improving spatial flexibility, enhancing environmental performance, and strengthening the connection between house and garden. The finished project has created a contemporary, sustainable, and accessible home, without compromising the architectural quality of the spaces.

The judges commented that the project had a ‘noteworthy combination of modern, forward-thinking ideas, which referenced the local vernacular in materials, and employed good green credentials.’

They went on to praise the project, which they felt was ‘in spirit of the government’s advice over embodied carbon, with retention over replacement, and showcasing a retrofit scheme on a more typical modern dwelling found within the New Forest’.

This would not have been possible without our wonderful and inspiring clients, and our hardworking team of collaborators who brough this scheme to life – congratulations to us all.

Courtyard House cladding update

On our most recent site visit to Courtyard House, we were thrilled to see the roof completed, the scaffolding removed, and the external cladding almost completed, marking another positive milestone in the construction phase.

The vertical timber cladding wraps the whole building, helping to blend the new structure into the rural setting. Two complementary timber finishes have been introduced to subtly break down the building’s massing and add visual depth.

The work is now shifting to the interior works, and we are very much looking forward to documenting how this projects continues to evolve onsite.

Build It’s Best of Self Build & Renovation

We’re delighted to see Brockenhurst House featured in Build It’s Best of Self Build & Renovation supplement, which showcases the award-winning projects from the 2025 Build It Awards.

Brockenhurst House was the winner of the Extensions & Renovation category. The judges praised the project for its beautifully detailed, fabric-first approach, highlighting how thoughtful design can be truly transformative, even within an average budget.

The scheme reimagines a tired 1970s property as a contemporary, low-energy home. Carefully tailored to support the owners’ needs, the design incorporates a high degree of flexibility, ensuring the house is resilient, adaptable and future-proofed for years to come.

Courtyard House, January Project Update

We visited the Courtyard House site last week, located in the New Forest near the village of Burley, and were delighted to see that the building is now ‘watertight’; an important milestone in the construction process.

With the glazing fully installed and the roof now tiled, the project is now completely enclosed and protected from the elements. This marks a key transition on site, allowing the construction team to move their focus to the internal works, including plumbing, electrics, and finishes. From this stage on, the scheme will begins to feel more like a home and less like a building site.

Internally, the house feels spacious and filled with natural light, something we have worked incredibly hard to achieve on this narrow site. The internal courtyards, carefully cut into the building form, respond to the constraints of the elongated plot by drawing daylight deep into the plan and strengthening the connection between inside and out.

We look forward to sharing further updates as this New Forest residential project continues to take shape.

Best Architect Award

We are absolutely thrilled to have won the ‘Best Architect for an Extension Project’ at this year’s Build It Awards for our Brockenhurst House project.

The design has taken the tired 1970’s chalet home, and transformed it into a stunning, contemporary home to perfectly suit our clients’ needs. Their ambition was to extend and reimagine the property to deliver a home that could support their evolving needs, while remaining true to principles of beauty, sustainability, and architectural integrity.

The result is a refined, low energy home that champions passive solar design, natural materials, and renewable technologies, demonstrating how thoughtful architecture can elevate everyday living while responding to environmental challenges.

Our client stated;

‘From our very first meeting with Darren and Studio BAD team, it was clear that we had found someone who was listening and importantly hearing our ideas, priorities, and intentions. As we are of a mature age and this is to be our forever home. A warm and comfortable, accessible, and environmentally responsible property was our goal and with Studio BAD’s design and assistance we have been able to score it.
‘We are delighted with our completed home and are able to enjoy life without worrying about changing situations regarding aging, mobility and access etc.’

 

You can find full project details here. 

November Practice News

In this month’s update we have put together some frequently asked questions to help explain the SIPs build system following the onsite success at our Courtyard House project, we are celebrating our shortlist in the Build It Awards, and have an update from The Granary.

To keep in touch with our news, you can sign up to the practice updates here. 

FAQs about SIPs

We often get asked questions from our clients about SIP’s as a potential method for building. To help you get a better idea about the benefits of this system, we have answered a few of the most frequently asked questions; including what are the benefits, what are the disadvantages, and is the system cheaper to build with.

Read the full article here. 

Award Success

Our Brockenhurst House has been shortlisted in this year’s Build It Awards, in the ‘Best Architect or Designer for a Conservation or Renovation Project’. The annual industry awards that celebrate the most inspiring architectural projects and inventive products in the self-build sector, judged by industry leaders.

Brockenhurst House exemplifies how thoughtful, design-led architecture can elevate everyday living. What began as a tired 1970s chalet-style property has been transformed into a refined, low-carbon contemporary home, designed to support its owners’ evolving needs while treading lightly on the planet.

Full project details can be found here. 

The Granary update

It was great to see such positive progress on site at The Granary, our heritage project in the New Forest National Park set within the curtilage of a listed building.

The project has thoughtfully designed a scheme which converts and infills an existing open carport space on the ground floor aspect of the building, providing an additional bedroom on the first floor and extending the living accommodation on the ground floor.

The project is so close to completion, we cannot wait to share some professional photos with you soon. You can find full project details here.