Best Architectural Home Extensions in Hove, Sussex
Hove’s architectural fabric tells a story of quiet refinement—regency scale, Victorian confidence, and Edwardian charm—set against the evolving backdrop of contemporary coastal living. At Alter Architects, we believe modern extensions and sensitive renovations are how that story continues. Our work across Hove, Brighton, and Sussex focuses on thoughtful, sustainable design that extends life, light, and liveability in period homes.
Reimagining Space in the Context of Hove
Home extensions in Hove have unique design demands. The area’s architectural diversity ranges from stucco-fronted terraces near Brunswick Square, to detached family properties around Hove Park, and semi-detached coastal homes further west toward Portslade. Each carries distinct planning constraints, materials, and proportions that shape how a contemporary extension can evolve.As an architect Hove, our process begins with understanding this context. We spend time on site reading the patterns of sunlight, the alignment with neighbouring gardens, and the relationship between interior flow and exterior views. By mapping how a home works spatially and socially, we can design extensions that solve practical challenges—like limited daylight or underused spaces—while enhancing the building’s architectural coherence.
Contemporary Living Meets Architectural Integrity
A good house extension is more than extra space — it rethinks how you live. In Hove, we added a rear kitchen and garden room to bring daylight into the ground floor and frame views of mature planting with large windows. In another project, an Edwardian semi gained a timber-clad side return that created a warm, flexible open-plan area for dining, play and study.
Working with older Hove, Sussex homes often means managing transitions: between historic detailing and modern minimalism, between internal thresholds and outdoor spaces. We specialise in architectural detailing that unites eras—using materials such as zinc, oak, brick slips, and lime render to balance warmth, texture, and longevity.
See more examples of this context-first approach on our Residential Projects page, featuring home extensions in Brighton and Hove and recent Sussex renovation projects.
Balancing Planning Sensitivity and Design Confidence
Hove sits within Brighton & Hove City Council’s planning jurisdiction, where conservation awareness and design character are key. Our architects work closely with local planners and heritage officers to ensure proposals align with context-specific guidelines, whether within a conservation area or adjacent to listed property.
Our planning service—helps clients navigate the process with transparency and confidence. We prepare feasibility studies, concept designs, and planning statements that demonstrate how design quality enhances, rather than disrupts, existing streetscape character
For reference, we regularly consult the Brighton & Hove City Council Planning Portal and Historic England’s advice on extensions to heritage homes to stay aligned with evolving policy and best practice.
Sustainability Beyond Aesthetics
As an architectural practice working along the Sussex coast, sustainability is not a stylistic ambition—it’s an environmental necessity. We integrate low‑energy design strategies into every project, including:
Orientation-led design to optimise solar gain and natural ventilation.
High-performance triple glazing and insulated building envelopes.
Locally sourced materials that reduce embodied carbon.
Passive heating and cooling to limit dependence on mechanical systems.
Specify robust, repairable materials to reduce long-term waste and maintenance.
These details quietly transform how a home feels and performs day-to-day. Clients who invest in sustainable extensions not only reduce their environmental footprint but also experience better comfort, acoustics, and long-term property value.
Our designs meet and often exceed Brighton & Hove’s sustainability standards for domestic refurbishment, aligning aesthetic quality with measurable environmental performance.
Light, Landscape, and Lived Experience
Hove’s light—reflected off sea and sky—shapes every decision we make. Many extensions we design integrate rooflights, clerestory glazing, and biophilic interior detailing to capture that evolving light throughout the day. The goal isn’t just brightness, but atmosphere: spaces that feel uplifting, restorative, and rooted in place.
Outdoor integration is central to our extension approach. The boundary between house and garden can disappear with continuous flooring, aligned thresholds, and sliding or folding glazed openings. Gardens are treated as part of the building—extensions of the home that encourage year‑round use and a stronger connection to nature.
Collaboration from Vision to Completion
We work closely with homeowners at every step, using sketches, visualisations and cost plans. We also liaise early with structural engineers, landscapers and builders in Sussex to finalise build methods before submitting planning.
Clients value our integrated process as it ensures that their design ambitions, budget expectations, and planning realities remain aligned from day one. This structured collaboration is part of what makes Alter Architects one of the leading architectural practices in Sussex for domestic extensions, heritage refurbishments, and adaptive reuse projects. Learn more about how we work on our approach.
Why Choose Alter Architects for Your Hove Extension
Choosing an architect for your home extension means finding a partner who values both precision and possibility. Our Hove-based projects express a consistent ethos: to extend homes in ways that feel effortless, contextual, and enduring. Whether adapting a century-old property or reconfiguring a contemporary shell, our goal is always the same—to design architecture that enhances everyday experience through simplicity, light, and careful attention to material.
Plan Your Architectural Home Extension in Hove
If you’re planning a home extension, loft conversion, or whole-house renovation in Hove or Brighton, we’d love to hear from you. Our RIBA‑chartered team can guide you from first sketch through planning, design development, and construction.
Hove Architect's Craft
Being an architect in Hove, blends sea light, historic streets, and family life amid Regency terraces, Edwardian villas, and coastal buildings. Designs—lofts, extensions, retrofits—must evolve naturally from this layered fabric while prioritising sustainability through fabric upgrades, low-energy envelopes, and passive strategies amid rising standards and ageing stock.
Clients expect expertise in thermal performance, airtightness, and energy savings alongside kitchen layouts and garden links, preserving beloved character. Human-scale work translates aspirations like "more light" or "calm workspaces" into intuitive spaces for growing families, remote workers, or down-sizers.
As a Hove architect we engage in creative networks, crafting home extensions, community hubs, and mixed-use schemes that vitalise streets and the built environment. They act as custodians: a rooflight brightens, an extension transforms, a façade endures—balancing heritage, sustainability, and joyful living.
