There is a quality to Upper Basildon that I find genuinely unusual — a willingness, across the centuries, to let architecture be bold. The Beehive, a timber-framed hall house dating from around 1500, sits on the village street with the quiet confidence of a building that has outlasted almost everything around it. A short distance away, Basildon Park announces an entirely different ambition: John Carr of York's Palladian composition, built between 1776 and 1783 for Sir Francis Sykes, its west front thought to draw on Palladio's Villa Emo. And then there is St Stephen's Church, built in 1964 in the plan of the ichthys — the early Christian fish symbol — a piece of mid-century conviction set among the chalk downs. Three buildings spanning nearly five hundred years, each one an act of architectural individuality. That spirit, in a small Berkshire village within the North Wessex Downs, is something I find deeply encouraging as an architect.
Award-winning Architects in Upper Basildon
Why Homeowners in Upper Basildon Trust Gresford Architects
I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we are now based in Oxford. Working with clients across the country, we bring the same care to a village within the North Wessex Downs as we do to any project — perhaps more, because these are landscapes where the relationship between a building and its setting is everything. We won the RIBA East Award in 2018 for The Deerings, a Passivhaus home in Hertfordshire that demonstrated how energy performance and architectural ambition can reinforce one another. I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards that same year, and in 2025 I judged the British Homes Awards. As a Chartered Architect registered with the ARB, and a member of RIBA, the Passivhaus Trust, SPAB, and The Green Register, our approach draws on conservation sensitivity, energy expertise, and a deep respect for the places where we work. Our projects have been published in Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine, The Modern House Journal, and the RIBA Journal.
Architectural Services Shaped by Upper Basildon's Character
Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework exists for landscapes exactly like this. The North Wessex Downs surrounding Upper Basildon — chalk grassland, beech hangers, open downland rising above the Thames valley — set a standard that Paragraph 84 demands new architecture meet. The design must be truly outstanding, sensitive to the defining character of the local area, and significantly enhance its immediate setting. We approach these projects by reading the landscape as carefully as any listed building: the contours, the light, the materials that the geology provides. On a site within the AONB, the architecture cannot merely sit in the landscape — it must belong to it. West Berkshire Council, as the local planning authority, applies considerable scrutiny to applications within the Downs, and we welcome that scrutiny because it raises the quality of what gets built.
Sustainable Design runs through everything we do, but in a village like Upper Basildon it takes on a particular resonance. The Basildon Village Design Statement, adopted by West Berkshire Council as supplementary planning guidance, calls for new development to respect the individuality and generous spacing that characterise the settlement. That means working with flint, red brick, and clay tile — the materials the Village Design Statement identifies as defining the parish — and ensuring that the homes we design or alter perform as well environmentally as they sit within the landscape. Sustainability in Upper Basildon is the practical business of building for the Downs: homes that are warmer, quieter, and far less expensive to heat, without compromising the character that the planning guidance exists to protect.
Renovations in Upper Basildon require an understanding of how very different building types behave. The Beehive, that remarkable timber-framed hall house from around 1500, represents one end of the spectrum — a structure whose oak frame, brick plinth, and tile roof demand specific knowledge of historic fabric, moisture movement, and breathable construction. The Morrison estate cottages from the early twentieth century, built in three distinct styles across the parish, present a different set of challenges: solid walls, traditional detailing, and often limited insulation. We approach every renovation by reading the building first — its structural logic, its thermal behaviour, its relationship to the street — before proposing any intervention. As a member of SPAB, I take seriously the principle that repair and gentle improvement should always be preferred over wholesale transformation.
Extension Design in Upper Basildon means respecting the Village Design Statement's insistence on generous spacing and individual character. Whether adding to one of the Morrison estate cottages or opening up a post-war property to the Downs beyond, the aim is to enlarge the home without diminishing the plot — more light, more connection to the landscape, and materials that sit comfortably beside what is already there. EnerPHit is the companion to this work: targeted retrofit that dramatically improves thermal performance in the parish's older housing stock — better insulation suited to solid walls, improved airtightness, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery — without altering the external character that the planning guidance protects. PassivHaus Design sets the highest standard for any new construction, and New Build Design within the AONB demands the same sensitivity to setting and materials that John Carr brought to Basildon Park — adapted, naturally, to the scale of a home rather than a country house.
Upper Basildon has always welcomed architecture with conviction and individuality. If you are considering a project in this part of the Downs — whether a new home in the surrounding landscape, a renovation of an older property, or an extension that makes better use of light and space — we would be glad to hear from you.