With the guiding hand of Gary Collins, Jon undertook the detailed design and managed the renovation and partial rebuilding of Beard Mill – a Grade II listed water mill in Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire. 

Part of the original mill dates from c.1575 with a later extension from the mid nineteenth century. It straddles the river Windrush and originally housed two water wheels for processing grain stored in the upper floors. Prior to the renovations the building was in very poor condition, with many rotten timbers, damp walls and an asbestos roof. 

The mill now houses a large dining and function room, guest accommodation and a state-of-the art neonatal ultrasound clinic.

Beard Mill won the prestigious RIBA Ibstock Downland Prize and was selected as one of six national finalists in the Grand Designs Awards restoration category. 

Du Croz architects are now working with the clients at Beard Mill designing new buildings and landscaping for the wider site.

Photography by Quintin Lake: www.quintinlake.com

DuCroz architects developed a scheme to demolish an existing 1960s bungalow and replace it with a substantial cotswold stone house. Working closely with our client, Vitruvius & Co, a traditional, local vernacular style was adopted with a contemporary internal layout.

Thoughtful discussion and negotiation with neighbours, planners and the parish council led to a successful planning process.

The house is constructed using a Canadian ICF (Insulated Concrete Formwork) system to provide excellent levels on insulation and air tightness. Natural local limestone wraps this modern structure and settles the building into the surrounding Cotswold village.

As the name suggests, The Byre began life as a cow shed, part of a retired farm in Oxfordshire. DuCroz architects obtained planning and listed building consent for the conversion and extension of the original byre into a three bedroom home.

We were delighted to have won the opportunity to design Warwick Business School’s second premises on level 13 of The Shard, and the works are now complete.

The brief was to create a 64 seat lecture theatre, 8 meeting rooms, an office, reception area and plenty of break-out space. The school wanted the design to relate to their previous phase of design on level 17 but also to have its own identity.

Following the success of level 13 we were asked by the school to undertake work on level 17 to make further design enhancements. This is now concluded and we are continuing to work with the business school on their Warwick campus.

Photography by Quintin Lake

We were thrilled to be chosen to help transform the central spaces at Bloxham Mill into a truly spectacular market-leading co-working facility for the post-COVID age. ‘The Hive’ at Bloxham Mill opened up its doors in the summer 2021.

The project involved a complete refurbishment of a large ground floor area where all walls had to be re-planned. The glazing was also addressed in order to increase the connection with the amazing surrounding countryside.

The new layout offers a variation of work environments with different levels of privacy. From fully enclosed meeting rooms and zoom rooms to open and social spaces along with a new large, shared kitchen.

It was an interesting project to work on at the height of the first lock down. We needed to look at ways to make it safe and private yet open and social since it was important to maintain the social aspect of a true co-working space.

Part of the challenge was to create a working environment that sits between a fully enclosed office and open plan. Besides the traditional issues of designing something that needs to be private yet social in an open plan landscape, we now needed to add the new pandemic requirements of distance and added screening. We developed a semi-open pod that offers increased privacy and acoustic separation whilst still letting you hear and have a visual connection with the flow of people. The Bloxham team has told us that the pods are now the most popular place to sit and work.

The use of natural materials, calm colours and living plants creates an inviting and relaxing atmosphere where people are happy to work.

The second phase of Brasenose College 500 year anniversary project involved significant extensions and reworking of the college kitchens and dining spaces.

The project included the full restoration and reservicing of the Grade I listed dining hall, medieval kitchen and fellows' guest rooms. Jon co-ordinated the detailed design, (including the design of fitted furniture) and ran the works on site to completion. The finished work was unmistakably contemporary whilst referencing and respecting the history and architecture of the historical building.

The project was featured in the RIBA Journal in November 2012, won an Oxford Preservation Trust award and was shortlisted for a southern region RIBA award. 

Photography by Andy Spain: www.asvisual.nz

What was originally a derelict, local council public toilet and electrical substation block was converted by Jon into a three bedroom house. Windy Corner is now a warm, characterful, contemporary family home.

Before work began, a new electrical substation had to be commissioned in the corner of the plot and shrouded with a thick masonry wall. This left enough space for two courtyard gardens and screened the substation from view.

By extending the central section of the original building, the first floor provides three bedrooms within the roof space with sloping ceilings and exposed structural timbers.

The ground floor consists of two living spaces, an open plan kitchen-living- dining area, and a separate formal sitting room.

The design retains key features of the original building. The stone mullioned windows of the old toilets now bring light into the entrance hall and open plan kitchen. The Cotswold stone external wall of the original substation remains exposed within the sitting room and shows off the carved stone lettering above the former main entrance.

A wood-burning stove, heat-exchange ventilation and under-floor heating establish an eco-friendly, comfortable internal environment. Cotswold stone, slates, and structural oak beams were sourced from the local area and combine with sweet-chestnut cladding to give a contemporary twist on the local vernacular.

Photography by John Lawrence: www.johnlawrence.org.uk

This upper ground floor apartment within a converted Georgian terrace had not been updated since the late 1980s.

Our clients wanted to open up the internal spaces to create an expansive open-plan living area with two separate bedrooms.

This required extensive structural work and complicated negotiations with the other leaseholders and the freehold management company.

We took a measured but determined approach and gained support from all parties. The project is now successfully completed.

Our client’s spacious house was compromised by a constrained and uninspiring kitchen dining area that was the product of a series of ad hoc, ill considered extensions.

Low ceiling heights and awkward angles required a reworking of the stair, landing and first floor bathroom in order to meet the brief for a unified kitchen-dining-living space.

A desire to connect the main house to a small cottage in the garden presented an opportunity to reorientate the extension at 10 degrees to the main house, opening up the space to make best use of the site and creating a purposeful connection to the cottage.

The link building also overlooks and provides access to an enclosed courtyard that will be used for outside dining.

Photography by David Dixon

The demolition of a small bungalow on a long, south facing, sloping plot provided a spectacular site for a new-build five bedroom home.

Our client was keen to avoid the clichéd appearance of a new, "traditional" style cottage but wanted a building that did not jar with the grain of the village.

The design merges aspects of traditional cotswold construction, carefully selected materials and agricultural building forms to establish a contemporary scheme that remains comfortably grounded within its rural village context.

Sycamore Farm is a transformative project that breathes new life into a semi-derelict smallholding, creating a serene country retreat. The design harmoniously integrates a collection of cottages, a glass link, and a restored timber frame barn, emphasizing the blend of heritage and modernity. The layout is thoughtfully responsive to the surrounding landscape, fostering a sense of connection with nature.

Central to the project is a movement studio, designed to promote well-being and relaxation, making Sycamore Farm a sanctuary for rejuvenation and retreat from urban life.

This hidden swimming pool has been constructed on the site of a disused tennis court in the grounds of a Grade II listed farmhouse. This sensitive location had to be handled carefully in order to achieve the required 25m swimming lane and connected indoor/outdoor pools. To screen the pool and pool-terrace from neighbouring properties, we developed an earth sheltered approach and recessed the main body of the pool into the gently rolling hillside.

Earth sheltering was fundamental to the planning strategy and ensured that the substantial building had minimal visual impact on the sensitive rural surroundings. No objections were raised during the planning process.

Ancillary accommodation includes changing rooms, a small gym/fitness studio and a social space with a kitchen, bar and access to the pool terrace. A water slide has been built into the hillside with a stepped path up through the planting, providing a discrete way of integrating landscaping and slide elements.

We were asked to find a site for the building of a new home for our clients in the the Witney area. After reviewing a number of options we found a small cottage with a large garden plot, tucked away down a private lane.

The cottage is locally listed; however we achieved planning permission for a substantial contemporary extension.

The house includes a galleried open-plan living space, a study, sitting room, four bedrooms, and a billiard room.

Building elements have been designed to Passivhaus standards and the scheme incorporates rainwater harvesting and air-source heat pump technology.

This contemporary, single storey, rear and side extension, transformed the layout and identify of a tired and poorly extended mid century semi

Horizontal cedar cladding and dark anthracite zinc sheet make a simple yet striking contrast with the familiar dashed render finish of the original house. Internally, the layout has been reworked to provide an entrance hall and study, ground floor shower room, storage wall and a kitchen-dining-living space that fully embraces the garden.

To the side, a back door leads to a boot/utility room that provides an informal entrance and access to the main living space. At the rear, a shallow pitched roof extends out past the opening corner glazing to form a sheltered outside dining space for days of marginal weather. The simple linear form at the rear presents as a garden pavilion set in front of the traditional house.

This mid-Victorian end-of-terrace house is typical of the Jericho area of Oxford.

The property had undergone only minor alterations to its original layout when we were asked to extend and reconfigure the lower and upper ground floors.

This was achieved by creating a sunken terrace at the rear, allowing both floors to open out onto the enclosed garden.

Conceived as a group of overlapping, simple brick boxes, the additions provide a study with a balcony on the upper ground floor and an extended kitchen and dining area at lower-level. The two are linked by a partial glass floor that brings a wash of light to a seating area that looks over the lower terrace.

The project involved the general refurbishment of the whole property, including new bathrooms, kitchen and utility areas.

Most of the internal walls are lined with bespoke, full-height book cases to accommodate our client's extensive collection of fine art books.

Two adjoining stone cottages had been roughly knocked together and extended to create a labyrinthine and incoherent single dwelling.

Through rooms, bad circulation and poor headroom compromised the internal spaces along with a complete lack of a connection to the adjacent gardens.

Through careful and creative discussions with the local conservation officer, we were able to obtain approval for the extension and radical reworking of the existing building to achieve a contemporary internal layout with simple sympathetic exterior.

Berman Guedes Stretton were asked to refurbish two Grade II listed 1960’s houses, located in the heart of Oxford. This project added to a respected track record in the conservation of architecturally significant twentieth century buildings. 

The pair of nearly identical houses were desperately in need of internal refurbishment, and as the original design had strong Scandinavian influences it seemed natural for the project to land on Anna’s desk.

Anna Algne led the project from beginning to end, with help and guidance from the experienced hands of Alan Berman and Marion Brereton. 

Photography by Andy Spain: www.asvisual.nz

The layout of this classic London mews house was poorly planned and in need of updating.

The internal structure and floors were completely replaced and reconfigured to take best advantage of the single aspect. This created light, open plan spaces that make this compact three-bedroom dwelling feel expansive and luxurious.

Bespoke joinery elements provide storage and and are used to zone and screen multifunctional open plan spaces. The clients’s strong interior styling brings a unique character and feel to this family home.

DuCroz architects has recently been commissioned to undertake the design on another mews house refurbishment for the same client.

The University of Buckingham approached Berman Guedes Stretton to bring a run-down grade II listed, victorian house back to life again. The house was in very bad shape and required work to be undertaken in two stages.

The first was to remove two large and unsightly extensions and take out all floors, services and interior finishes before replacing the roof. 

Anna Algne designed and managed the second stage fit out with new floors, interior finishes and services, including a lift and two new staircases. The project included the conversion of a small loft in the adjacent coach house to create a one-bedroom guest flat. 

Formerly a branch of Lloyds Bank, this building had undergone several poorly executed refurbishments that failed to address some fundamental compromises to the internal layout.

The interior was stripped out back to the masonry before the internal spaces were reconfigured. A new floor structure was introduced that allowed for the proper conversion of the expansive attic spaces.

Our clients acquired this building as a long term investment and were keen to undertake a refurbishment that would minimise future maintenance and maximise flexibility.

Roofs and windows were replaced and internal spaces opened up to provide flexible open-plan areas.

The original vaults of the bank have been converted into a meeting space and print room with the characterful vault doors retained as historic architectural features.

Mechanical and electrical services are exposed internally and have been carefully coordinated to achieve a simple, industrial aesthetic, whilst allowing for future addition and upgrading.

The building was let on a long lease before the project was completed.

Kellogg College acquired buildings on the Banbury Road in Oxford that were previously used to house the Pitt Rivers Museum's music collection.

The project required the museum galleries and conservation workshop to be converted into the college dining hall, bar, and kitchens.

Meeting rooms and reception areas were provided in the connecting buildings that joined the galleries to No 60 and 61 Banbury Road.

Jon undertook the detailed design and ran the project on site from start to completion. 

Warwick Business school asked Berman Guedes Stretton to help find and design a London venue for their Masters degree course. Anna Algne acted as lead designer throughout the process; from the space analysis of two possible sites to a fully fitted out and furnished floor of The Shard. 

The project in included several meeting rooms, offices, a trading training room and two large lecture spaces.  A large part of the challenge was to provide these spaces in a building with floor to ceiling glass facades on all sides.

The finished design achieved a light, minimalist, open feel, which sits well with the the overall building. The layout makes the most of the stunning city views as you move through the interconnected, open-plan spaces.

Du Croz architects are now working with Warwick Business School on level thirteen of The Shard as they expand their teaching and meeting spaces. Work is due for completion in Spring 2018.

Photography by Quintin Lake: www.quintinlake.com

'Designing the classroom of the future...’ was the task Berman Guedes Stretton was asked to help achieve with the University of Warwick.

This project lies close to Anna’s heart and has been very well received by both teachers and students. It’s one of Anna’s major success stories, often referred to when discussing how to succeed with educational spaces.

Behind the project stood the IATL (Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning) who raised the money to give a rather tired 90s building, with a large lecture theatre and eight bigger seminar rooms a well deserved facelift. The extensive updates met the increased demands for a more flexible teaching space.

Anna Algne and BGS director, Roger Stretton, developed a scheme together with a large user group put together by the estate’s office.

Developing the design together with all user-groups equally represented, resulted in a fantastic team effort that truly maximised the building's potential. The project budget was efficiently shared between;

- improving the environment (ventilation, lighting & acoustics)

- designing light, inviting and comfortable aesthetics

- utilising the latest technology

- creating flexible rooms with new furniture to suit

To reach the flexibility aspired to by the teaching department along with the more static and specific usage of the conference department, Anna had to undertake a series of space planning exercises and flow analysis in order to find a solution that suited everyone.

Brasenose College Bar is located in the basement of the Victorian Buildings of New Quad.

As part of the first phase of works for the 500 year anniversary project, the bar was reconfigured and  completely refurbished along with the college tuck shop.

The interior was stripped back to the original masonry before concealed services and new floor finishes were installed.

Bespoke built-in, and loose furniture was designed to hide a mass of cast iron pipe work and provide a flexible layout for various different functions.

Here we showcase a selection of early stage designs that, to date, have remained on the drawing board. Some may yet make it to construction but for now we present them to show a broader range of the projects we have worked on.

In 2022 we obtained planning permission for this self-contained garden studio building in the garden on an old granary in Berkshire.

This simple design could work in various location and was initial conceived as and off-site pre-fab proposal.