Loader Monteith doubles up 69-square-metre Manchester bungalow

A 69-square-metre, two-bedroom red-brick bungalow in Manchester is now a four-bedroom family home. Scottish architecture studio Loader Monteith delivered the transformation, described by the practice as "squeezing a quart into a pint pot", for clients Matt and Angie Maurer.

The project expanded and reorganised the house in Prestwich to accommodate a growing family and improve connections to the rear garden. The studio designed a rear brick extension that opens the living spaces to the garden, while a new upper floor sits beneath a dormer roof.

What does the design deliver?

Four bedrooms and two bathrooms, on a footprint the studio calls remarkably tight. "The challenge was to maximise the space without compromising on architectural ambition," studio co-founder Matt Loader told Dezeen.

"We developed the design in response to the existing house and its local context, creating appropriately scaled additions that respect the surrounding architecture," Loader added. "This delivers four bedrooms and two bathrooms within a remarkably compact footprint."

The clients took on much of the construction themselves. "Taking on so much of the work ourselves meant we also had to find the right contractors and suppliers who understood our vision and cared about the details in the same way we did," Matt Maurer told Dezeen. Loader noted that "both clients were keen to embrace an ambitious architectural solution".

How does the exterior respond to Prestwich?

With brick, matched to the neighbourhood's prevailing material. The front elevation is marked by a green-toned copper entryway that contrasts with the red-brick walls and clay roof tiles. At the rear, an angular red-brick extension is framed by copper detailing and topped with a sedum roof (a low-growing planted roof surface).

"We began by analysing the local architecture of Prestwich, where red brick predominates," Loader said. "We used brick for the new extensions, incorporating decorative corbelling and folded details inspired by local architectural patterns."

How is the plan organised?

The layout splits front and back. At the front, relocated living spaces make room for two street-facing bedrooms, one with an ensuite, plus a study, utility room and toilet.

Behind them, the kitchen, living and dining areas run as a trio of interconnected spaces inside the rear extension. Steps lead down to a sunken dining and living area that sits level with the garden and opens onto it through sliding doors.

"The challenge was fitting so much accommodation into such a small house while making it feel generous and improving its connection to the garden," Loader said.

At the centre of the plan, a skylit staircase rises to the new first floor, which holds the primary ensuite bedroom plus a further bedroom and bathroom.

Materials stay pared-back throughout: concrete floors and white walls, set off by exposed timber joinery.

The project joins a run of UK extensions featured on Dezeen, including Prest Vale Architects' expansion of a Grade II-listed rectory in the Cotswolds and Polysmiths' renovation of a London terraced home using "light as the primary material" — evidence that small-footprint intensification remains one of the most active briefs in British housing.