The two adjacent properties that comprise the project are located on one of the earliest streets within the centre of the City of Ripon. The smaller of the two properties is possibly the oldest in the street dating from the C18th, while the larger became a two storey building with a shop frontage sometime during the C19th. Both are Grade II listed, and are part of a wider group listing which forms an unbroken stretch of historic building lining the northern side of the street. The interiors of both buildings were subject to alterations in the 1980's when the larger premises, a fish & chip shop, was connected through into the adjacent building and extended out at the rear to create an attached restaurant. 

      Following confirmation that both buildings were originally built to domestic layouts, it was considered appropriate to return the site to two dwellings. The central stair core structures have been re-established, and the earlier 'through house' plans restored to connect with remaining original structure. Consequently, the project design is centred around the re-building of a separating exterior passageway linking the street and the rear yard; an original structure which had been completely lost within the previous alterations. The intervention of the passageway opens up the site and creates the opportunity for more practical and private entrances while allowing the street-facing direct entry front rooms to remain undisturbed; with cycles, refuse and recycling conveniently accommodated.

      At the rear of the site the existing restaurant extension will be replaced to upgrade the larger property with a contemporary kitchen/dining/living space of a greater size and open volume than is possible within the original building footprint. The architecture is expressed externally as a brick and pantile outbuilding with a full height glazed wall facing onto the enclosed exterior yard. The use of materials will ensure that all new elements complement the existing older construction; in particular, re-establishing the passageway will introduce a wall of handmade brick along the full length of the site, with the effect of embedding the new addition materially into the surrounding historic context.

      The project was granted listed building planning consent in 2022 and construction is underway.