About us

The team at Scenario Architecture specialises in restoring and enhancing the heritage fabric of London and the Southeast. We take a unique approach to our residential projects, applying contemporary angles to housing stock dating back centuries and building anew. Working throughout Greater London for more than a decade, we represent a new archetype for contemporary living: luxurious yet accessible, open and comfortable.

We founded Scenario in 2007 with a passion for client-led residential design that merges the contemporary with England’s incomparable period architecture. Our clients see us through every stage of the design process, so the finished product is entirely tailor-made – a home that respects its past, present and future and deeply understands the residents.

In 2018 our landmark project Living Scenarios was shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards. The Victorian conversion and extension in East London exemplifies our fresh, customised approach and our commitment to the needs of today’s homeowners.

Projects

Open-plan kitchen and dining room with a mother and child on the window seat, and the garden through glazed doors
Visitors around the kitchen island at Scenario House during the NLA Open House event

Full renovation of a family home, exploring the connection between living spaces

The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event

Starting your Sevenoaks project

Sevenoaks Architects Your Sevenoaks project

Most building projects in Sevenoaks require approval from the local authority. Sevenoaks architects can help you through the process, collaborating with council officials to see through your application. Scenario Architects has successfully steered clients through the permissions stage.

We’ve drawn up an illustrated synopsis to help guide you through the planning process for a Sevenoaks-based renovation, restoration, addition or new-build.

Living room with an arched fireplace opening set between built-in bookshelves
Visitors around the kitchen island at Scenario House during the NLA Open House event

Focal Shift fire place, first project as local architects in Hackney E9

The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event

2017

Your Sevenoaks project

Read our illustrated synopsis of the planning processes across London and the Southeast. It will help you to understand and navigate the permissions stage of your project, whether you’re undertaking a home extension, renovation or new-build.

Building, rebuilding or expanding a home in Sevenoaks requires adherence to building regulations dictated by the Sevenoaks District Council. This takes time and perseverance, but a good architect can guide you through the process. Scenario Architecture has a flawless record securing planning permission for our clients, and can help homeowners negotiate with local councils across the southeast.

We’ve created this guide to help steer you through planning in Sevenoaks, London and the Southeast. Download it below.

If you are thinking about starting an architectural project in Sevenoaks, be it a renovation, or an extension to an existing property or even a new build house we are here to help.

We created a brief and illustrated overview of the process to help you understand what to expect through the various stages of a residential, extension, renovation or new build project in Sevenoaks.

Most projects need planning permission from your local council.

  TIP: To find out the actual track record which any architects you may be considering has with your local council, go to the planning application search page on your local council’s website and use the search by agent option.  

Open-plan kitchen with a dark island, brass pendants and an oak dining table, below a double-height rooflight

Tip

Working with Scenario Architecture on your Sevenoaks project

Sevenoaks Architects Your Sevenoaks project

Our boutique studio specialises in residential architecture, offering bespoke services for home additions, renovations and new-builds. Based in Wandsworth, we practice across London and beyond.

A RIBA Chartered Practice, Scenario complies with the UK’s strict health and safety criteria. We collaborate closely with our clients throughout every stage of the process, from the design phase, through planning and construction. We aim to deliver every project on time and on budget.

Our skilled team works with the latest 3D design technology: real-time digital visualisations and virtual reality. We feel they are the most effective and efficient tools for seeing through our work, choosing fittings and simulating natural light.

This Chartered Institute of Building case study features a recent Scenario project, demonstrating the benefits of advanced technologies in designing for the domestic sphere.

Split-level living space with children at a built-in plywood window seat, below dark pendants and a glass balustrade
White living room with a black leather sofa and a hide rug, beside an inset wood burner and its log store

Working with Scenario Architecture on your Sevenoaks project

Established in 2007, Scenario Architecture is a boutique architecture studio focused on the high-end residential sector, working extensively throughout and around London. We specialise in every scale and type of domestic project, from interior alterations, through full renovations and refurbishments to new build homes. We offer a full bespoke architecture service tailored to fit your requirements and aspirations.

Our friendly and highly skilled team has the knowledge, experience and expertise necessary to take you step-by-step through the challenging and exciting journey of creating your new home. We will work together with you in close collaboration from initial design, through detail design and planning all the way to tender, construction and successful completion of your project on time and within budget.

Scenario Architecture is an RIBA Chartered Practice, which essentially means that we are compliant with the RIBA (Royal Institute of Chartered Architects) strict criteria, covering insurance, health and safety and quality management systems.

As early adopters of latest technology, we use as a standard for all projects a verity of innovative 3D design and visualisation tools to create and communicate design with our clients. Our experience shows that Real-Time visualisations and Virtual Reality tours are extremely powerful tools to streamline the process of choosing material finishes fixtures and fittings as well as simulating realistic natural light conditions.

When we produce accurate and reliable construction information we use the latest 3D BIM technology, (BIM stands for Building Information Modelling) which means that all project information is derived from a single accurate and coordinated 3D model. Using this cutting-edge technology collaboratively with other consultants as well as contractors has proven to save time and cost for our clients.

A case study featuring one of our projects was published by the Chartered Institute of Building, demonstrating the great benefits of this advanced technology specifically with domestic projects.

Scenario Architecture in London deliver design and architectural expertise for residential projects. We were established in 2007 by Ran Ankory and Maya Carni who both trained with the AA School of Architecture. Scenario have grown to an award-winning team of nine. We have been featured in Dezeen and Elle Decoration UK.

Our highly experienced team of architects Stoke Newington work with clients using innovative 3D and Virtual Reality technology that simulates your new home before the first brick is even laid. This simulation technique allows you to see beautiful scenarios, designed to fit your life. An organic process, it often influences the choice of materials and design methods.

If you are looking for a top architects Sevenoaks, we can help with your project. We are a RIBA Chartered Practice and we operate across the following areas and postal districts: Camden, Dalston, Hackney, Hampstead, Highgate, Haringey, Islington, East London, Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea, Mayfair, Notting Hill, North London, West London, West Hampstead, Shoreditch, Southwark, Stoke Newington, N1, N6, NW3, N16 and E5.

Start your Sevenoaks project

Dining table and built-in bench under a drum pendant, beside full-height glazing onto the garden
Grey kitchen with a copper pendant and a polished concrete floor, opening onto the garden
White kitchen under a large glazed roof, with a black dog sitting by the units

Full-width extension opens to the beautiful garden of this Victorian property

Complete renovation and extension of a family home

A glazed roof draws daylight deep into the plan

Scenario is an established architecture practice focusing on contemporary residential design. We take on projects of every scale and scope, from home refurbishment, renovation and expansions to new-builds.

Victorian renovations are more compassionate today than they’ve ever been, with homeowners striving to preserve architectural elements like decorative cornicing, ceiling roses, skirting boards and dada rails. Sash windows are being replaced by specially made wood reproductions and wood-burning fireplaces recouped after being sealed off for decades. Paint companies like Farrow & Ball have built multinationals out of replicating the de rigueur colours of Victorian times. And new tile ceramicists are bringing back traditional motifs with contemporary silhouettes, for front gardens and foyers. Hardwood floors have made a comeback, with timber salvage and reproduction going strong.

Most renovations focus on transforming the core of the home, and revolutionise the kitchen and bathrooms in the process. To recoup the extra floor area today’s families have become accustomed to, Sevenoaks architects are extending into voids in the lofts and side returns common in Victorians. Small period kitchens can open up into the side return without eradicating period features; in the recovered space, a corner can be reserved for a powder room or utility room. Ditto the loft: pushing up the ceiling and pushing out dormer windows can make new space available for an en suite bathroom.

With extending out into dead space comes the welcoming in of natural light. Upward-facing Velux windows become possible once the upper floor is properly extended and the main floor pushed out beyond the confines of the original footprint. If a second-storey extension is permitted in your plans, an internal void can bring natural light from the top floor downwards, and vice versa.

Sevenoaks Architects In our clients words

scenario-architecture-testimonial-brendan We wanted to renovate our house in a conservation area in central London. Given this involved a complete demolition and new build with an extra floor on top, getting planning approval was always going to be tricky. Scenario did an amazing job on the new house 'envelope' and throughout the planning phase. We couldn't have wished for better from them and having succeeded in gaining planning approval owe them a very big 'thank you'.
scenario-architecture-testimonial-simon Scenario designed a kitchen extension for us, and we are delighted with the results. The process was well organised, planned and delivered, and the whole team were a pleasure to work with. I would highly recommend them for their design, planning and project management skills.
scenario-architecture-testimonial-james Worked with these guys on the internal development of our office. From start to finish they were great. They got what we wanted first time and really made working with them very easy. Their aftercare has been great too helping us deal with something that they were not involved with in the first place. Will highly recommend them to anyone. See all Google reviews

Working with Scenario Architecture

At Scenario, we design residential homes of various scales and complexities, from refurbishments and renovations to home expansions and new-builds. A RIBA Chartered Practice, we comply with the health and safety criteria dictated by the UK’s professional body.

Our architects use 3D design technology to achieve the best results possible. Visualisation tools and virtual reality are extremely efficient for choosing fixtures, simulating natural light, maximising available space and seeing our designs come to life. Read this Chartered Institute of Building case study featuring a Scenario project – it demonstrates the benefits of advanced technology for residential architecture.

In our client's words

Dalston is less a defined London territory than it is a neighbourhood of like-minded people. Roughly defined in the west by the A10, the city’s oldest Roman-dug road, it floats between Clapton, Hoxton and Islington. But more than its geographical location, it expresses itself with its liberal, tolerant, international attitude.

The working-class population that first settled here in the 19th-century, rippling out from the Regents Canal, converted farmland into industrial sites and small Victorian cottages. They were joined by immigrants from multiple countries and religions, together building up a modest community outside the confines of the City of London. After a postwar slump, the neighbourhood came alive toward the end of the last century. Artists began settling here, spilling out from Hoxton and Shoreditch, seeking inexpensive post-industrial workspace, artistic freedom and places to exhibit their art. As per the rules of gentrification, young professionals and families followed. They’ve transformed the old warehouses, factories and stables into appealing and spacious homes. And in the brownfields between them, architects have designed experimental contemporary homes, creating housing where none existed while pushing the boundaries of their craft.

Live-work spaces, purpose-built apartment blocks and modern terrace housing have sprung up among the historic brick and contemporary timber constructions, giving the neighbourhood a dynamic and unpredictable character. People of all cultures and brackets live side-by-side, and businesses are popping up to serve them. They combine to make Dalston an area of great potential, for people who seek a multicultural atmosphere and an unconventional lifestyle.

If you’re a fan of heritage housing, look to the streets radiating east off Stoke Newington High Street and Kingsland Road. Streets like Forest Road and Richmond Road, leading to Gayhurst Community School and London Fields, are chock-a-block with tall, broad Victorian family homes and repurposed factories. With the old brick and ironwork maintained, new residents are slowly fixing them up and maximising their potential. Further north, Shacklewell Lane, Sandringham Road and St Marks Rise are attracting new buyers to the grand tree-lined streets. Homes here rise to four storeys, many of them in need of an upgrade. Buyers seeking a fixer-upper, or a tired family home on which to put a personal stamp, would have lots of opportunity here. At the heart of this enclave sits St Marks Dalston, one of the largest neighbourhood churches in the country – larger in area than Southwark Cathedral. Its Gothic rose window and French-inflected tower, built a century ago, dominate the road.

Loft extensions are more of a rule than an exception in Dalston, as are side-return kitchen extensions. Local architects like Scenario are well versed in the expansion and renovation process here, and manoeuvre their designs successfully through the planning and heritage departments. The results are often stripped-back, light-filled versions of the original Victorian architecture, offering vast entertaining spaces and private nooks for growing families.

Further Reading

The affluent, family-oriented reputation of Sevenoaks makes it a great place to come from, live in and move to. Located a few moments outside the M25 ring road, it connects to London Bridge Station in less than a half hour and Charing Cross thereafter, making it popular with professionals. And the wealth of top schools – public and private – produces the next generation.

Like most market towns south of London, the area grew up more than a thousand years ago. A logical stop between the Kent coast and the city of London, it became popular with travellers and pilgrims heading to and from Canterbury, inspiring its motto: Floreant Septum Quercus, or “May the Seven Oaks Flourish”. The Sevenoaks market, still a major presence in town, has operated constantly since the 1200s. The Vine cricket ground is the oldest in the world.

The whole of Sevenoaks is ringed by green, so that every home in town sits within walking distance of a vast park – most of them protected by the National Trust. The High Street, slicing the city in two halves, veers off into Deer Park, a bucolic idyll inhabited by red and fallow deer. The 1,000 wild acres are a vestige of the 15th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, who built the great house Knole at the southeastern edge of town 600 years ago. The lavish stately home passed down to King Henry VII and then to Queen Elizabeth I – she gave it to her relatives the Sackvilles, who maintain it to this very day. The house has its own 26-acre walled garden, which inspired writer Vita Sackville-West; the house itself inspired Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando.

Knole sets the tone for the elegant housing stock across Sevenoaks – which alternate between the local brown and red brick, with touches of white. Family homes dominate, running from small two-bedroom cottages to rambling estates. Homes bordering the parks tend to be the largest, oldest and most coveted. But where many families feel they can make their mark is in the serpentine streets lined with postwar homes just outside the centre. Here, with the right architects, homeowners can add contemporary two-storey annexes to the rear façade, rooms over attached garages and expand basements beneath. If you’re interested in learning about the potential of extending or renovating a home in Sevenoaks, explore our site or ask your preferred architect. A good architect will pilot your project through the Sevenoaks regulations process and liaise with you throughout the life of your home extension or renovation.

Frequently Asked Questions