In Aldeburgh, Suffolk, nimtim has refurbished and extended a modest bungalow to create an accessible and adaptable home designed around the changing needs of its owners.

The clients, Julia and Simon, had been living in a basement flat in north London that could not be adapted to Julia’s mobility requirements resulting from her multiple sclerosis. In 2018, they began looking for a property they could shape around their needs, with the intention of creating a long-term home.

A visit to the coastal town of Aldeburgh in 2020 proved decisive. Its slower pace and proximity to the coast offered the lifestyle they were looking for. In 2021, they purchased a typical bungalow with a large rear garden and commissioned nimtim to create an accessible home that could adapt with them over time.

Designing for connection and adaptability

nimtim stripped back and reorganised the existing bungalow, replacing its small, enclosed rooms with a more open, continuous ground-floor plan. The threshold-free layout incorporates wide sliding pocket doors and generous circulation spaces suitable for a wheelchair, allowing easy movement throughout the house. At the entrance, a gently sloping ramp is integrated into the front garden to provide wheelchair access without separating it from the surrounding landscape.

The main bedroom is positioned on the ground floor alongside the principal living spaces. Sliding pocket doors disappear into the walls, allowing the bedroom to open fully onto the kitchen and living areas or to be enclosed when privacy is required. The arrangement keeps the bedroom connected to the shared spaces and everyday life of the house while allowing it to function independently when needed.

This connection continues vertically. An upper mezzanine accommodates Simon’s workspace while remaining acoustically open to the ground floor, allowing easy communication between the two levels. The mezzanine also includes provision for a future live-in carer’s bedroom, allowing the house to respond to changing circumstances without substantial reconfiguration.

At the centre of the home is a generous kitchen and pantry designed around the couple’s routines, including Simon’s interest in cooking and preserving. Lowered work surfaces and accessible storage are incorporated into the joinery, while a double-height void topped by a skylight brings daylight into the centre of the plan.

A separate ground-floor sitting room is used for hosting guests, watching television, and practising yoga. A sliding door separates it from the main living spaces, allowing it to operate independently alongside an adjoining shower room when guests are staying. Opposite, a dedicated study containing books and artwork provides Julia with a more private retreat.

Materials and longevity

Material choices were guided by longevity and low maintenance, alongside the clients’ preference for warmth, texture, colour, and individuality. nimtim developed a layered palette of exposed and natural materials intended to age well and require limited intervention over time.

Externally, Evermore is clad in deep red Viroc, a cement-bonded board selected for its durability in the exposed coastal environment. Aluminium doors and windows are colour matched to the red facade, with a related burnt orange tone carried into the bathrooms through the use of microcrete.

The central living spaces are lighter and more neutral. Two Clayworks clay plaster finishes are used on the walls, creating soft, matt surfaces that respond to changing daylight. Timber flooring introduces warmth, while microcement provides a seamless surface within the threshold-free wet rooms. The kitchen and pantry cabinetry is finished in pale duck egg blue.

Adaptation and environmental performance

The environmental approach begins with the adaptation and extension of the existing bungalow rather than its replacement, retaining much of the existing structure and reducing the embodied carbon associated with demolition and new construction.

The house is fully electric and uses an air-source heat pump. High levels of insulation and triple glazing to the north, east, and west facades are intended to reduce operational energy demand. Rainwater is collected in a tank beneath the garden and used for irrigation, while provision has been made for the future installation of photovoltaic panels.

Evermore combines accessibility and long-term adaptability with materials and spaces shaped around the clients’ everyday routines. Rather than treating accessibility as a separate set of interventions, the project incorporates it into the organisation, circulation, material character, and continued use of the house.