Design and Build

This was a very prestigious design project in Manchester of a luxurious duplex penthouse, the sort of project we are more accustomed to doing in London over the years and highlights how Manchester is changing by the day.

The project was broken down into three sections:

1. The roof terrace
2. The open planning living floor
3. The sleeping floor (3 bed, 3 bath)
4. Firstly, we have designed and installed the roof terrace as phase 1. From our 3D designs below, you can see what we were striving for and from the original/work in progress photos you can see what we started with and how things were re-designed.

Both ourselves and the clients wanted to take advantage of the summer months to do the outside terrace work, where we stripped back and removed nearly all that existed and then started to install and create our vision. We are very adept at working in such logistically difficult spaces with previous work both in Manchester and London, priding ourselves on our efficiency, cleanliness, consideration that keeps good relationships with staff and residents, for such work is very specialist and as such requires a special touch and careful planning, as well as a lot of hard work. For there is no place for a skip and limited space and time to offload. Indeed, to do these sort of jobs 7 stories up you really have to care!

As you can imagine logistically as mentioned it is very hard work, but I think the phase 1 pictures speak for themselves and how close to the original 3D designs they feel.

In design terms, levelling out a bizarre step change in level that was killing space, dismantling and moving the BBQ area to a better location has completely unlocked the space as per the design making it feel twice as big and way more useful space to entertain. Indeed, there is such a joy in redistributing space to work better for you no matter where you are. For there are usually space killers and, in this case, there were two glaringly obvious ones.

Finally the Jacuzzi, it was going on every count! It was old and knackered on every level and simply pointless to repair, the couple who bought the flat said they didn’t think they would use one, so it was cut up into 20 odd pieces and carried down as this was never installed up the narrow turning stairs it will have been craned in when they built the flats!

2. Next we looked to the first floor in phase 2 and the open plan living space with panoramic views. Here we didn’t change the layout rather tweaked it to work better then ripped right back to shell the tired old fit out, replacing it with a new kitchen area, dining area and lounge area. Then finished it down to the cushions. Using high end brands for all areas and bespoke customisation where necessary. Again, I think the pictures before and after speak for themselves.
3. Next the final phase of phase 3 was looked at which was the ground floor where you enter which represents the living quarters of the penthouse and 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms (as well as boiler room and utility room). Here we designed it around a centre piece Mural that is one of our edgy unique signatures. The Mural was African themed and designed to remind them of their many travels there. The mural itself was used to disguise the utility room, boiler room and third family bathroom doors. The mural rich in vibrant colour was then offset with a bright white feel in a floor starved a bit of natural light by the bedroom doors.

Once in the rooms there was plenty of light and we looked to continue the vibrant colourful theme contrast with a light contemporary clean theme, which I think works really well in the three bedrooms.

As always in these holistic all in build and design projects we have also undertaken all the technology developments of lighting etc.

Overall, this project has been a pleasure to do! Revamping a very large but an underperforming 90’s build, that they would never build again in favour on narrow taller towers, with an average original fit out and layout to something truly unique.

Here we have designed a lighting scheme for the inside and outside of this fabulous Manchester penthouse. The property exists over two floors, with a large roof terrace on the top floor. We have designed and installed a Rako lighting system with 28 zones of control and dimming. For extra ambience, we have installed 50 downlighters, and LED tape to give both colour change and warm white. We have also installed wall lights, pendants and lamp lights where required.

Lighting Design

Here we have designed a lighting scheme for the inside and outside of this fabulous Manchester penthouse. The property exists over two floors, with a large roof terrace on the top floor. We have designed and installed a Rako lighting system with 28 zones of control and dimming. For extra ambience, we have installed 50 downlighters, and LED tape to give both colour change and warm white. We have also installed wall lights, pendants and lamp lights where required.