About us

Technological advancements in remote-working have enabled many home-seekers to widen their property search to the edges of the Home Counties. The past years have seen renewed interest in small-town living. And homeowners beyond the southeast are watching their assets creep up in value. In parts of Berkshire, the housing stock is more desirable than ever, offering ample space and value for money within commuting distance of London, Oxford, Bristol and the south coast.

Towns like Newbury, an hour from Paddington Station, offer charming houses dating back centuries and a good assortment of modern developments with tight-knit communities of young professionals. We’ve observed amazing opportunities to renovate, expand and even build anew in deepest Berkshire.

We established Scenario in 2007 with a vision to develop a uniquely collaborative architecture. We take a considered approach to our clients’ desires, placing their aspirations for a new, architect-designed home in high definition.The clients’ needs are the main drivers of our design process. A beautiful, highly functional home is the product of a deep understanding and precise analysis of each client’s unique lifestyle – and that shows in our work. Scenario’s tailor-made homes tell the story of the owners – not the architects. Our landmark project Scenario House, located in Stoke Newington, was covered widely by the media and shortlisted for several prestigious architecture awards – including the 2018 RIBA London Awards. It demonstrates our successful approach to domestic architecture projects.

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Projects

Focal Shift fire place, first project as local architects in Shoreditch

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

The Scenario House, Stoke Newington during NLA Open house event

Starting your Fulham project

Fulham Architects Your Fulham project

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Most building projects in Fulham require approval from the local authority. Fulham 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 Fulham-based renovation, restoration, addition or new-build.

Focal Shift fire place, first project as local architects in Shoreditch

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

The Scenario house, Hackney during NLA Open house event

2017

Your Newbury project

We founded our small, dynamic architecture practice in East London and quickly expanded our reach beyond the M25. Our distinctive contemporary architecture appeals to clients making big changes in their lives that demand a transformation at home. Our portfolio illustrates a keen understanding of homeowners today. If you’re looking for a Newbury architect with a profound knowledge of the region and an open mind, please contact us and share your thoughts.

Our landmark project Scenario House demonstrates our commitment to transforming period architecture with an eye to the past and the future. The converted Victorian terrace house, with soaring ceilings and robust, contemporary materials was shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards.

If you’re considering a residential architectural project in Newbury, we’re here to help, whether it’s a renovation, extension or new-build. We've created a brief illustrated overview to help you understand each stage of the process.

If you are thinking about starting an architectural project in Hackney, 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 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 Hackney, E9.

Most projects would need planning permission, which in Stoke Newington, Clapton, Dalston, Shoreditch and all other Hackney Neighbourhoods will require obtaining planning permission from Hackney Council. Our extensive track record working with Hackney planning department and successfully securing planning permissions for our clients enables us to consider Hackney our home court.

  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.  

To help you understand in more detail what is required for obtaining planning permission in Hackney E9 we created a helpful and clear guide which you can download below:

How to get planning permission in London eBook

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Working with Scenario Architecture on your Fulham project

Fulham Architects Your Fulham project >> Scenario Architecture

This guide is suitable for people who intend to make alterations to their homes that will require the consent of their local council.

It is based on our own extensive experience and explains in simple terms the UK planning process and how to successfully navigate through it.

We have put together this guide to explain, in a simple way, how to put in an application for planning permission in Stoke Newington. It is aimed at people who want to make alterations to their homes that will require the consent of their local council. We have over 10 years experience of doing planning permissions and hope we can share some clarity on the process, and the main points you will need to think about.

Our boutique studio specialises in residential architecture, offering bespoke services for home additions, renovations and new-builds. Based in Hackney, 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.

How to get planning permission in London eBook

Working with Scenario Architecture on your Hackney project

This guide is suitable for people who intend to make alterations to their homes that will require the consent of their local council.

It is based on our own extensive experience and explains in simple terms the UK planning process and how to successfully navigate through it.

We have put together this guide to explain, in a simple way, how to put in an application for planning permission in Stoke Newington. It is aimed at people who want to make alterations to their homes that will require the consent of their local council. We have over 10 years experience of doing planning permissions and hope we can share some clarity on the process, and the main points you will need to think about.

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 Stoke Newington, we are based here and 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 Hackney project

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

Complete renovation and extension of a family home

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.

A genteel pocket of London, built around a dip in the Thames, Fulham is known for its peaceful residential streets and creative lore. Less industrialised than Hammersmith, to one side, and less swish than Chelsea, to the other, it enjoys a cosy neighbourhood feel with pretty workers’ cottages and pockets of green. Intimate streets with roomy Victorian and Edwardian terraces lead out to the river and Fulham Palace, an ancient bishops’ manor. These are the most attractive places to live in the area. The leafy roads leading towards Fulham Road and New King’s Road are the most fashionable. Fulham’s artisanal heritage – started with the weavers and glassworkers of the 17th century – continue today. Artisan studios occupy disused industrial buildings and a historic foundry. Hubs of design shops pop up all over the neighbourhood.

One of the biggest housing booms in Victorian London played out in Fulham. The area’s tall, sturdy, generously proportioned houses make safe and attractive prospects for a family home, with nooks and crannies to exploit and decent-sized gardens in which to extend. Because the layout of the typical Fulham home is part of London’s residential architectural canon, Fulham architects – and of course architects from across the capital – are well versed in their potential.

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, Fulham 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.

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

Complete renovation and extension of a family home

Fulham 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

We specialise in residential architecture of every scope and scale, from new homes and top-to-bottom refurbishments to home extensions and renovations. Our London-based architects work closely with our clients from the drafting phase through to planning, tender and construction, tailoring every detail for ultimate efficiency. Visit our online portfolio to find a project that best represents your vision.

Our practice takes up the latest 3D design technology to save time and money throughout the design process. This Chartered Institute of Building case study uses a Scenario project to illustrate the benefits of advanced technology in residential architecture.

Scenario is a RIBA Chartered Practice, complying with RIBA’s strict health and safety criteria.

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

Change is the only constant when it comes to living in the UK. We exist in a dynamic era in which lifestyles transform not only with age but also technology, globalisation and natural events.

Even the suburbs, exurbs and rural areas – places historically slow to evolve – have undergone massive changes over the past few decades. Villages are modernising, farms are being subdivided, brownfield sites are being developed, outskirts are growing and neighbourhoods are gentrifying. Planning regulations have had to adapt to changing circumstances. The great urbanisation happening around the world has also spurred an exodus from the big cities, as they become less affordable.

What characterised a typical home last decade will hardly be the case today. Yet tailoring a home in the southeast comes with some responsibility for respecting a past that goes back millennia. The area around Newbury, Berkshire, is an area of outstanding natural beauty, part of the North Wessex Downs. The adjacent village of Donnington formed alongside Donnington Castle, a 14th century ruin with two crenellated towers featured in the history of England’s Civil War. And to the south is Highclere, the Victorian stately home that featured in Downton Abbey.

The town itself has a selection of medieval and Georgian listed buildings. Yet no matter how upmarket the neighbourhood, in this part of the country there exists a local character and uniformity that must be maintained, so that altered homes complement the existing fabric. The best housing defers to the landscape, the neighbours and what was there before.

Out here, youll likely be able to find an affordable house that doesnt require complicated strategies to achieve planning permission when you want to alter it. Architects who know the region will appreciate the local heritage while improving on it. Newbury architects who have experience dealing with the local authorities can transform a house with a past into a house with a long and happy future. There are few technical problems a skilled architect can’t solve with creative thinking and a good contractor, so it makes sense to think big. The good-sized gardens have real potential too.

A skilled Newbury architect will understand how to transform a property of any style or respectfully plot a modern structure within the landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions