8 metres of glass, lifted through a stairwell that didn’t exist yet

The garden in Brighton was so steeply banked that the main entrance to the house was essentially at basement level. The kitchen, where the 8-metre sliding doors needed to go, was on the floor above. There was no staircase yet. Just a void where the stairs would eventually be built. That void became the only route to get the glass panels into the room.

The access problem

On most jobs, the doors arrive and get carried in through the opening they’re designed for. Here, the opening was a floor up from ground level, with a banked garden making external access almost impossible. The panels had to be lifted up through the internal stairwell void before the stairs were built. That meant the glazing install had to be sequenced into the build programme at exactly the right moment. Too early, and the structure wasn’t ready. Too late, and the staircase would block the only way in.

Getting the timing right

The survey, the manufacturing, and the delivery all had to land in the narrow window between the structure being ready and the staircase going in. That takes clear communication and reliable lead times. For the builder, having one team who owned the survey, the manufacturing, and the install meant fewer unknowns and fewer calls chasing progress.

What Brighton looks like now

8 metres of glass in the kitchen, looking out over that steep, green garden. The panels slide smoothly and quietly, the sightlines between them slim enough that the view reads as one continuous picture. Light comes in from a direction the old layout never allowed. The garden that was once a steep bank you looked down at is now a landscape that wraps around the room. The kitchen feels wider, brighter, and more connected to outside than the footprint would suggest.