Lime mortar where lime mortar belongs. Breathable insulation strategies. Joinery that respects the proportions of the existing building. Heating and ventilation that work with the fabric rather than against it. None of these are radical; all of them are choices that get made or unmade in the first weeks of design.

For Tavistock cottages our approach is to walk the building with the client and identify what’s worth keeping, what’s not, and where the project can introduce something new without jarring against the old.

The best period refurbishments are barely noticeable. The building still feels like itself, just better.