Wilson Paul Award-Winning Chartered Architects In Dundee
Project / Alterations and extension to existing property, Newport
Client / Private Client. Completed 2025.
Description
Shepherd’s Road, Newport-on-Tay
A period home reimagined around light, river views and contemporary living
Completed in 2025, our transformation of this period home on Shepherd’s Road combines a carefully reconfigured interior with a distinctive timber-clad extension. The design makes the most of an elevated setting overlooking the River Tay and Dundee, while creating a clearer separation between home and working life.
Built in 1905 to accommodate Newport Railway employees, the original house followed a symmetrical plan, with two ground-floor reception rooms arranged around a central entrance hall and staircase, and bedrooms above. A later narrow rear lean-to accommodated the kitchen and bathroom, leaving the principal rooms disconnected and limiting the way the house could be used.
Our clients recognised the building’s character but needed more from their home: additional bedroom space, a dedicated studio and brighter, more connected living accommodation. The opportunity lay in reconsidering the arrangement of the whole house.
The defining move was to relocate the main living spaces upstairs. This reversed the traditional layout, placing everyday life where daylight and views could be enjoyed most fully. The new open-plan accommodation connects directly to a projecting balcony, bringing the changing light and broad panorama of the Tay into the experience of the home.
A two-storey side extension provides the additional space needed to make this arrangement possible. Vertical timber cladding, generous corner glazing and dark framing give the addition a clear contemporary identity. Its simple form sits alongside the original rendered walls and slate roof, retaining the familiar character of the house while introducing a new outlook.
The balcony’s glass balustrade maintains views from the upper living space, while a rooflight draws daylight deeper into the extension. The revised layout also establishes the separation required for the studio, allowing work and domestic life to coexist more comfortably.
Shepherd’s Road demonstrates how an imaginative extension can transform the way an existing home is experienced. By combining additional space with a fundamental rethink of the plan, the project makes the most of the building’s character, its setting and the possibilities of everyday life beside the Tay.
