87 Farquhar Road, Edgbaston
Lapworth Architects has returned to 87 Farquhar Road in the Edgbaston Conservation Area to revive a long-standing brief. An earlier permission for substantial extensions was allowed at appeal in June 2013 and later accepted by the council on a resubmission, but it was never built. New owners have asked us to refine the scheme for a modern family life while keeping the house firmly within the character of Edgbaston.
The site occupies a prominent corner at Farquhar Road and Pritchatts Road. It sits within the Calthorpe Estate, surrounded by large detached homes and mature trees, with the University of Birmingham campus across Pritchatts Road. Plot depth and width are generous by local standards, which makes the corner highly visible and places a premium on proportion, spacing and planting.
Our design keeps the original house as the lead voice and shapes the new accommodation as a calm evolution of it. The street elevations read as a complete composition that respects the building line and safeguards the green setting that defines this part of Edgbaston. This approach mirrors the appeal Inspector’s view that a larger dwelling can still sit comfortably here when it remains visually subservient to the host, maintains set-backs, and protects boundary trees to retain the sense of spaciousness at the junction.
Key moves follow the local language identified in our area analysis. The façade is lengthened to suit the breadth of the plot, with a two-level plain tile roof, tall feature chimneys and paired return gables framing a central entrance. Half-timbering with rendered panels appears in selected gables to echo nearby precedents, while materials and window proportions sit within the familiar Edgbaston palette. Existing in-out drives and boundary trees are retained to preserve the settled character of the street.
Inside, the plan brings clarity to everyday living. Family kitchen and dining spaces open to the garden for daylight and easy hosting, while formal rooms continue to address the street. The revised layout avoids showy gestures and focuses on comfort, circulation and storage so the home works as well on a weekday as it does when entertaining. For homeowners searching for architects in Edgbaston or architects in Birmingham, this is the kind of careful enlargement that protects what you love about the area and upgrades the parts of the house that matter day to day.
Planning is treated with the same discipline. Earlier decisions established that the massing can be larger without harm when the ridge is kept lower than the main house, detailing follows the host, and the building line and garden depth are respected. The council’s later officer report confirmed the re-submission matched the allowed appeal, with approval subject to typical conditions on materials and construction safeguards. Tree protection follows BS 5837 and demolition of the side annex is managed to protect roots and boundary planting.
We coordinate submissions through a consistent digital workflow that includes UK Planning Gateway. It helps us produce council-ready information, keep version control tight and reduce avoidable queries, which is valuable in conservation areas across Birmingham.
If you are looking for architects in Edgbaston or architects in Birmingham and you want a house that feels like it has always belonged here, this is our approach. We calibrate scale, detail and planting to the street, and we plan the inside around how you actually live.
