Sunbury Green is a development of duplex terraced apartments adjacent to Village Walk and Sam Levy’s Village in Borrowdale. It’s an ideal location down a very quiet street, just off the main Borrowdale Road, and within easy walking distance of all the amenities that Borrowdale has to offer – including shops, restaurants, banking and entertainment. The building is in a mock Tudor style, and each unit has a small garden space at the back. The whole complex is self-contained with a single gated entrance, so security is great. It’s ideal for singles, couples or young families.
The end of terrace corner property was bought in early 2023 when the owner was considering relocating from out of town to Harare. With just three months to completely gut and renovate the unit it was an extremely pressurised project. Work on the renovations started
in October 2023 and was completed by the end of December that year. The success of this construction project is thanks largely to a collaborative effort between APS’s (Architectural Planning Studio), Geoff Fox and Marisa Marques in close collaboration with Liz Howes from Howes and Homes together with her team of dedicated contractors and subcontractors.
They worked tirelessly under difficult conditions, given the sensitivity around neighbours, with noise and restricted working, loading and parking areas a concern.The property was originally built in the 80s. While functional is was dark and compartmentalised into separate, disconnected spaces. The kitchen was dated, cramped and cut off from the living space. The verandah had at some stage been enclosed from the garden with steel doors and windows and had an extremely low ceiling. The old parking garage had been unsuccessfully converted into a small dining area and utility room. According to building bylaws parking garages are required to have a lower floor than the main house so the difference in the floor level was a trip hazard which was addressed in the new design.
The exterior appearance of the units is controlled by the residents’ association, with the appearance of the front façade strictly protected, so most of the renovations were either internal, or confined to the more private garden facing facade. Standard units in their original form typically have a kitchen, lounge and dining room downstairs, with two bedrooms and a shared bathroom upstairs. The new renovation was designed for a lady with family and friends that often visit and regularly stay over, so the brief to the architect was to add an extra bedroom with an en-suite on the ground floor, as well as a new spacious open plan living area, and a garden facing verandah that can be used to entertain guests.
On the ground floor the solution was to remove the majority of the internal non-load bearing walls to connect the kitchen to the living room and create a more functional open plan space, benefiting from the shared light and ventilation from the glazed doors and windows.
The kitchen was completely refitted with new cabinets and counters (from Liz Howes’ cabinet maker Nhamo Muriwa) as well as a small island or breakfast bar that marks the transition to the lounge.
Ivory white re-constituted Corian stone counter tops from Life Granites help make the space feel light and fresh. New grey/green scalloped tiles from Earthen Fire were installed as a splash back and repeated in the lounge around the fireplace to link the spaces together in an elegant, aesthetic way.
The dated vinyl, parquet and carpet flooring from the kitchen, lounge and veranda was replaced with wood-look tiles linking all the spaces together and making the area seem larger and more integrated.
Parquet from the lounge was re-used on the staircase where the old carpet was taken out.
The client had a lot of input in the kitchen, lounge and bathrooms – selecting final paint colours and various fitted finishes, including the bespoke selection of the hand woven lampshades and mirrors (from Meltonka) as well as all new furniture chosen specifically to suit the unit, like the new dining table and chairs, couch and bar/island stools.
The steel framed glass doors separating the lounge from the veranda have been retained so the lounge can be partitioned off in winter when the fire is lit – alternatively the doors can be opened up in summer to ventilate the ground floor and keep the interior cool.
The roof on the verandah was raised about a metre and a half and replaced with an innovative roof light design consisting of translucent polycarbonate sheets above a slatted ceiling to allow natural diffused light to flood in.
In anticipation of the warm air build up directly beneath the roof sheets, a rain proof, ventilated abutment junction was developed by the architect. Tall glass and aluminium doors (custom made and fitted by Alumex Glass and Aluminium) at the front of the verandah can be folded back completely to create a link to the lush, private garden.
A paved patio consisting of black cobbles from (Homestyle Bricks) was added to the front of the veranda, for braai’s and other outdoor gatherings. The garden, which was seriously distressed during the renovations, was overhauled and refreshed by Sally Olivey and her team from Emerald Gardening Services so that it is a low maintenance oasis. An external garden gate and shed which are hidden away behind the foliage add extra utility.
The new master bedroom on the ground floor provides options for people not able to navigate stairs and is one of the few carpeted spaces in the house which, together with full length drapes across the folding glass doors, add warmth and opulence. New built in cupboards were installed, also from Liz Howes’ cabinet maker Nhamo Muriwa. The tall, full width folding glass doors make the bedroom feel larger and match the concertina doors on the verandah.
Upstairs on the first floor the renovations were confined to aesthetic finishes. A more modern balustrade was designed for the staircase and the landing. The two existing bedrooms were refreshed with a new coat of paint and the shared bathroom was renovated and updated incorporating some of the existing sanitary ware. It’s now fresh and bright and elegant.
Previously the exterior upstairs deck was not very practical as there was no cover for rain or sun, so a new translucent polycarbonate roof was added to protect the space from rain without blocking out the light to the adjoining neighbours. The deck now provides a useful laundry and drying area as well as accommodating water storage tanks and pumps.
Derek Kambarami from InfraDesign Associates provided invaluable consultation on the suspected subsidence beneath the kitchen foundations, and on the structural requirements, including reinforcing the upstairs deck.
The unit now operates efficiently, and mostly off-grid, with its own water storage and pump system (borehole water to supplement the council supply), as well as solar geysers, and solar photovoltaic panels and an inverter and battery system supplied by Richard Werrett of Inno-Tech Solar Systems.
This project is a rare example of meeting time, cost and quality expectations, and the combined efforts from all concerned have certainly given the unit a new lease of life for the owner and her family. It will no doubt be a happy home for many years to come!
Text by Michael Nott
Photos by Chris Scott Photography
From S&D ISSUE 66
