Award-winning Architects in Newnham

The Church of St Michael and All Angels at Newnham began as a chapel — subordinate to the mother church at Badby, a dependency rather than a parish church in its own right. The benefice has always been Badby-cum-Newnham. Yet the building that stands today, Grade I listed, carries an embattled west tower with an octagonal spire and fabric in both the Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic styles that rivals anything in the county. What interests me as an architect is the ambition: a building that started as secondary and grew into something of the first rank. The present chancel, north aisle and nave were built in the early fourteenth century on the site of a twelfth-century chapel, and a brass to Letitia Catesby, made at the time of her husband Robert's death in 1467, records one of the prominent families associated with the parish. The village sits south of Daventry in the valley of the River Nene.

Award-winning Sustainable Design

The Deerings, a certified Passivhaus home in Hertfordshire, won the RIBA East Award in 2018 — the same year I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards. In 2025 I was invited to judge the British Homes Awards. I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we now work from Oxford with clients across the country. I am an ARB-registered and RIBA Chartered architect, a member of SPAB — the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings — the Passivhaus Trust and The Green Register. Our projects have been published in Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine and The Modern House Journal.

Architectural Services Near Daventry

Renovations in Newnham engage with a building stock shaped by the village's position in the Nene valley and its long relationship with neighbouring Badby. The church demonstrates that a building's status can change — that a chapel can become a parish church and that later additions can elevate what began as a modest structure into something exceptional. West Northamptonshire Council handles planning for the parish. Through my membership of SPAB, I approach these buildings with the understanding that solid stone walls manage moisture through their mass and their lime mortar — and that any renovation must work with that behaviour.

Extension Design in Newnham should respond to the stone character and proportions of the village. The church perched high on its bank, the churchyard descending steeply to the east and south, and the houses arranged along the lanes below create a settlement with a strong sense of topography. Whether the brief is a ground-floor extension connecting the house to the garden, a garden room, or additional space above, the design should make the whole building feel more resolved.

Sustainable Design connects every project we take on, and in Newnham the church is a reminder that the most enduring buildings are those that grow over time — each generation adding what is needed without destroying what came before. PassivHaus Design sets our benchmark for new construction, delivering certified comfort with minimal energy demand. New Build Design in Newnham should respect the stone character of the village. For sites in the countryside around the parish, Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework provides a route to architecturally outstanding homes — but the design must match the ambition that turned a dependent chapel into a Grade I listed building.

EnerPHit, the Passivhaus Institute's certified retrofit standard, addresses the thermal performance of older homes without compromising their character. The cottages in Newnham present the familiar challenge of solid-walled construction: thick walls with no insulation, draughty junctions, and a building envelope that predates any concept of thermal efficiency. Vapour-open insulation, careful airtightness detailing, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery can transform them — warmer, quieter, dramatically cheaper to run — while the stone facades continue to weather as they always have.

Newnham's chapel outgrew its dependency and became a building of the first rank. If you are considering a project here, we would welcome the conversation.