A Private View: learning to work with listings in a Georgian house in Bath

When the nursery to which Alistair and Milla Reid sent their children was struggling for funds, the couple, both qualified architects living in Bath, racked their brains for ways they could help. “We thought the thing we could contribute was our professional services,” Alistair, one half of AAVA Architects, says. “Lockdown had meant we weren’t as busy as we had been, so it felt like a good time.” And so, Pick Our Brains was born.

The idea behind the consultancy, Milla explains, “was to give people access to an architect without making them sign up for the full service – and the fees that can incur.” What began as a fundraiser has turned into a fully fledged business – the couple have now done well over a hundred consultations. “I think people find it much more approachable. They can be quite nervous of architects!” she continues. The approach of Pick Our Brains is far from frightening. It’s all very transparent – they charge a flat fee and then cost the next stages of a project for people. Clients can then decide to take it or leave it.

Their own house, which Inigo sold in early 2022, is doubtless the most compelling announcement of Alistair and Milla’s work, their understanding approach to buildings and their sensitivity to materiality and conservation, as well as modern wants and needs. Though the two-bedroom Grade II-listed house was “in pretty good condition” when they moved in, they did do work to it. That said, “every new piece we put in is removable. The guts of the building are still very much Georgian,” says Milla. After moving in, they set about getting listed planning consent for a rear extension; were Camilla and Alistair not expecting their third baby, they likely would have stayed to see the project come to fruition.

“I’d say our approach is sustainable,” says Alistair of the house more generally. Where the couple weren’t keen to reuse existing elements ­– in the bathroom for instance – they sold them on for salvage. “We tried to be really conscious of where we sourced things,” continues Milla. “But not at the expense of it being exactly what we wanted,” Alistair chimes in, laughing. (They are architects after all…)

Both are keen to stress that a light touch like theirs is what makes construction more conscionable. “Let’s face it,” Alistair says. “There’s nothing less sustainable than building more things, but if we can make listed buildings work without having to do too much to the existing fabric, then we’re doing the right thing.” Here, Alistair and Milla share some tips, tricks and pointers for when it comes to planning projects in historic homes.

Prepare to be flexible

Milla: “When you’re thinking of doing work to a listed building, you have to go into the project knowing that – worst-case scenario – you can make it work as it is. You can’t buy it thinking: ‘It will only work for me if I can knock this wall down,’ because you just don’t know if you’ll be allowed to do that. Luckily, we didn’t have to do too much in this house, structurally at least. But we didn’t want to feel like we lived in a Georgian museum, which is why we put in a relatively modern-looking bathroom and kitchen. The kitchen is entirely removable – it looks like a piece of furniture.”

Alistair: “Be prepared to negotiate with conservation officers too. What you build may not necessarily be exactly what you set out to do originally, but sometimes you have to come to a middle ground, where they are happy that your project respects the original fabric. Luckily, in our house, it was the Georgian bits that we’d fallen for.”

Honesty is the best policy

Milla: “We designed the extension here to be in keeping with the house, but it’s important that it’s not a pastiche; instead it’s a contemporary version of a Georgian garden room. Because of the listing restrictions, it was imperative it didn’t interfere at all with the original architecture, so we haven’t knocked through from the house. We wanted to do the whole thing in locally sourced timber, partly because it would be more sustainable, but also because it’s more honest – we weren’t trying to make something that looked like it was part of the original house. But in the end the planners wanted part of it to be in Bath stone.”

Alistair: “The idea for the extension is a series of sash windows, a modern take on Georgian originals, that can be opened up in summer, instead of having your typical sliding doors. Because of the listings, in the proposal we’ve left the original sash window and doorway in place on the back wall of the house itself. You could remove the door from inside the opening to change the flow, but ripping them out would be wrong. Not that we would have been allowed! Besides – we didn’t buy this house to rip it apart.”

Try and work out what problem you’re trying to solve

Milla: “When we started Pick Our Brains, we imagined that everyone would come to us with the same problem, but in fact it’s been so varied. Some people have very specific problems, some broader. Some just need a new take. People, especially those who’ve been living in their house for ages, can have really set opinions on their homes. We come to it with a fresh pair of eyes. In giving an overview of the house, we might see something that they haven’t seen, because they’re stuck in it.”

Alistair: “People often come to us with solutions already in mind: ‘We need an extension.’ The real job lies in working out whether, once we know what the problem is, there are different solutions. We try and tease out the problem a bit more and then explain the process for moving forward. Sometimes, people realise that getting an architect involved isn’t necessary – or cost-effective. I think one of the things we always like to understand at the start is what people like about their houses, what is salvageable and what works. We go from there.”

Further Reading

Pick Our Brains

Pick Our Brains on Instagram

AAVA Architects