Make A hup! A Home with TV’s Laura Jane Clark

Celebrity journalist Angela Sara West chats with TV architect and designer Laura Jane Clark from BBC’s ‘Your Home Made Perfect’ about her creative career, exciting property experiences, design pet hates and loves, her lovely loos, and top tips & tricks for sensational spring interiors and outside spaces.

PLUS she spills on a cool new pioneering extension system and why we should all be up for a ‘game-changing’ hup! – the ‘future of extensions’ – to improve and perfect our homes!

She’s worked with George Clarke on Channel 4’s ‘Amazing Spaces’, ‘Ugly House to Lovely House’ and ‘Shed of the Year’ and presents BBC’s ‘Your Home Made Perfect’ with popular TV presenter, ‘The One Show’ reporter and ‘Strictly 2023’ star, Angela Scanlon.

So, it’s safe (as houses) to say that when it comes to architecture and design, she sure knows her stuff.

Amazing British architect, designer, TV presenter and author Laura Jane Clark loves nothing more than transforming people’s homes, having discovered her ardour for architecture and design at a very young age.

“Like a lot of children, I loved building dens and was always building strange houses for my hamster out of Lego, even though I always wanted to be a doctor!” Laura tells me. “When I turned 16, I went to Glasgow for my birthday, and discovered the artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I remember looking at his sketchbooks, and it dawned on me that it was architecture that I wanted to do.”

She studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and the Liverpool School of Architecture, qualifying in 2007. After leaving University, Laura worked with a building firm for several months prior to starting as an architectural assistant with Guy Greenfield Architects in London.

“Working on the tools and getting a basic idea of what site work entailed gave me a really good foundation for developing, detailing, site visits, and working closely with the construction team,” she reveals.

Italian Inspo

Specialising in residential conversions, extensions and new builds, Laura’s passion lies in innovative house designs, small-scale redevelopment, and micro-regeneration of long-abandoned and brown-field sites, seeing her source design and architecture inspo from all around the world.

“I love mid-century design,” she divulges. “Lina Bo Bardi is one of my favourite architects – her work is so elegant and beautiful. But she fought hard to achieve such great acclaim as a female architect.”

“I love hotel visits, too. My favourite place to visit is Italy, especially Naples. When I go on holiday, my photos mainly consist of pictures of old brick walls, crumbling stone, old timber, and faded, peeling paint work.”

Virtual Reality – Your Home Made Perfect

Working alongside TV presenter Angela Scanlon, Laura adores perfecting people’s homes.

“BBC’s ‘Your Home Made Perfect’ is a really exhilarating programme to work on,” she reveals. “The greatest thing about it is the intensity of fully creating projects, from concept to final finishing, from the very start. Being able to show the homeowners your full, completed design in VR right from the word go is absolutely incredible, albeit terrifying!”

 Amazing Times with George

She’s also enjoyed working with another famous sidekick over on Channel 4. “It was great working with George on ‘Amazing Spaces’, ‘Ugly House to Lovely House’ and, of course, ‘Shed of the Year’, she gushes.

“George is SO much fun and, funnily enough, we have a similar eye when it comes to architecture and design.”

The Handbook of Home Design

The highlights of her fantastic career? “I would say the biggest highlight so far is publishing my first book ‘The Handbook of Home Design: An Architect’s Guide to Shaping your Home’.”

Launched last year, Laura tells me her inaugural title is a culmination of over a decade of home design. “I’m so proud that my book can help the reader understand architecture and become more design savvy to allow them to create a home layout that is unique to them. I have written it like I am there with you – like a little architect on your shoulder – guiding you through the process of home design.”

Challenging Projects

 Her fave projects and biggest challenges? “I think being a relatively young architect setting up on my own was my biggest challenge,” Laura reveals. “I had run multi-million-pound builds in my previous job and had worked on building sites during my summer holidays at university, so I knew my way around a sledgehammer and a power drill, but those first few builds for clients were incredibly daunting…”

“It took a while to become completely comfortable and confident in my designs,” Laura divulges.

So much so, she found it hard to switch off at night. “I used to have dreams where the house I was building was absolutely vast or totally tiny, so you had to crouch to get through the door!”

Pet Hates & Loves

As for design pet hates and loves, “I love well-thought-out spaces, plywood and indoor plants,” she spills. “I detest tiny poky single skylights in a boxy extension that have been put together without a single thought for the people who live there. Oh, and I also hate rugs on top of carpets!” Laura’s definitely not alone on that one.

Laura’s Lovely Loos

The architect and design doyenne is also renowned for converting dilapidated former underground public toilets in Crystal Palace into a stunning subterranean abode, which subsequently appeared on ‘Amazing Spaces’.

“I found some old derelict underground toilets back in 2004 and became slightly obsessed with them,” she reveals. “Although they were covered in graffiti and all boarded up, you could see the extent of the pavement lights, so I realised they were a really decent size. It took a while, but I eventually persuaded the council to let me in to see them. I know it sounds a little bit strange, but I totally fell in love with the tall ceilings, the original terrazzo floors and the ceramic Art Deco urinals. It was hard not to see potential in the space.”

And her ideas changed as time progressed. “My original plan was to turn them into an art space or small cinema, but I quickly realised that I could convert them into a flat. It took years of not taking ‘no’ for an answer from the council, and eventually they sold them to me.”

A proper labour of love, Laura was completely hands-on with this particularly ‘loo-vely’ project. “I worked on site as a labourer and helped the carpenter, too, learning lots of valuable lessons. We built the whole thing on a shoestring budget, including zero percent credit cards and a small loan from my mother-in-law and, amazingly, we pretty much finished it within six months. I was also training to compete in semi-pro MMA. I was the fittest I have ever been that year!”

And her unique passion project, renovating and redeveloping the below-ground bogs into a beautiful one-bedroom dwelling, was a toil-tal success. “It took blood, sweat, tears… and lot of bleach!”

Laura’s Personal Property Journey

 As for her own property journey, Laura says she completely lucked out. “I was incredibly lucky to get one of the last self-certified mortgages on a south London flat, only having a small deposit that I had saved, just before the financial crash in 2008. “I sold that place in 2014 and used the money to buy a three-bedroom repossessed flat on the south side of Glasgow.”

A Famous Scottish Nest

 Like Laura, her former now-perfect Scottish pad is no stranger to our screens. “You might spot this flat in the occasional Scottish drama, such as ‘Guilt’ or ‘The Nest’. I always get very excited when I recognise it on screen!”

She also lucked out with her current residence. “We found this place, a Georgian house, pretty much by accident. Yet another repossession, it had been derelict for over five years,” the inspiring interior designer explains.

“And, as is my usual way, I saw something that I loved there… It was completely derelict and filthy, full of dry rot and had mould on every surface, so we managed to get it for an absolute bargain.”

Moody Interiors

Built in 1780 with sandstone and lime render walls, stone window surrounds, and quoins and timber floors, the house had undergone a very un-eco makeover in the 1960s. “The breathable lime render was taken off and replaced with concrete, the wonky wooden floors were also levelled with cement and all the stone was painted in waterproof paint. It basically turned the house into a completely unbreathable box. So, over the years and a few leaky gutters later, when we managed to buy the house, it was probably only a year or so before the roof would have caved in!”

How has she since designed and styled her coveted Scottish home? “When we stripped back the greasy peach fuzzy wallpaper, we discovered the original dark-red-painted plaster behind it. My previous idea of white walls and timber floorboards wouldn’t work with this discovery, and so I started my journey into dark, moody interior design.”

And she’s been experimenting – with mixed results. “It’s great to have somewhere I can really go to town with, in terms of interior design and ideas. Although some are more successful than others,” she admits. “I tried to paint a room hot gloss pink… It didn’t look good. At all.”

Outdoor Bathing – Victorian Style

As for alfresco, “The garden is absolutely incredible,” she says of her amazing green space, which boasts a couple of unusual features. “I had an outdoor bath years ago in a cute boutique camping site in north Yorkshire. It was an old enamel Victorian tub surrounded by trees and was something that I always wanted to recreate at some point in my life. Now, I have TWO outdoor baths, and am planning a THIRD!”

An All-Natural Home

 What practices has she put in place to make her Scottish home as sustainable as possible?

“I absolutely love low-tech, naturally sustainable materials, such as lime, hemp, cork and timber,” the eco designer enlightens. “Everything we are currently doing is all about natural, breathable materials. We have used lime plaster internally and stripped the paint off the stonework outside and completely renovated back to the original wooden floors.”

“I have also dug a French drain all the way around the house – a simple way to keep ground moisture and damp from the ground floor. With the shutters shut over the single-glazed sash windows, the house retains heat quite well. The next big thing would be looking into a renewable source of energy and heating. Although I have a renewable electricity energy tariff, our heating is run from oil, which I would love to replace with a ground-source heat pump or mini-hydro scheme.”

Looking to create an eco home? “Getting old houses like this off grid, or as off grid as possible, in a cost-effective way would be an incredible project!” encourages Laura.

Hup! It – A Better Way to Build

 This savvy architect is also the brand ambassador for hup! – an innovative new building system that totally transforms how home extensions are designed and built.

From extensions and conservatories, to conversions and orangeries, you can now extend your home and create beautiful, bright living spaces quickly, and with minimal disruption to your home and family. What’s more, the unique system is so incredibly versatile that it can be used to create any style or shape, and you can build your extension or transform an old conservatory FIVE times faster than with traditional building methods.

Forget all those horror stories of lengthy builds, budgets spiralling out of control, plus all the mess and disturbance to your home – with hup! all of these fears are eliminated.

 A “Gamechanger” for Homeowners

 Laura says groundbreaking hup! is a complete “gamechanger” for homeowners. “The ultimate flexibility of design is one of the elements that I love about hup! As an architect, I am all about working with the fabric of the building to get an incredible, light-filled design. The way that you can hone the details of your hup! extension means that you aren’t just sticking on a box on the back of your home. You can fully integrate the build in terms of the flow of your layout, bringing in light from above with roof glazing in a way that works for you.”

The Only Way Is hup!

Manufactured in Lancashire, the innovative new hup! building system revolutionising home extensions and conservatory refurbs is by far a better way to build, offering homeowners multiple benefits, and revolutionising conservatory and extension construction.

Dubbed ‘the future of home extensions’, hup!’s clever design software removes the requirement for an architect or structural engineer, saving you money and making it as simple as possible to add a hup! to your home.

With a whole host of issues and delays associated with traditional extensions and conservatory conversions – such as the impact of unpredictable weather, confusion around building regulations, a shortage of skilled tradespeople plus fluctuating material prices – the hup! system enables homeowners to completely avoid these key worries which might put them off starting a project.

Speedy, Customisable & Sustainable

hup! consists of a patented, lightweight wall system that is compatible with a choice of five roofs – including flat, sloped and vaulted designs – all of which can be customised with rooflights to effortlessly flood the room below with natural light.

hup! walls, along with windows and doors in any style, can be placed ANYWHERE in the design. And externally, any wall finish can be used, including brick mesh, render, or cedar, to offer homeowners complete design flexibility.

Less Stress, Hassle & Mess!

 So, how did Laura’s new ambassadorial role for hup! come about? “It was a wonderful coincidence! I had been following the hup! brand for a while and when they approached me to work with them as a brand ambassador, I jumped at the chance,” she says.

With her passion for maximising and reconfiguring the footprint of a home to help people create properties that meet their different demands, whether that’s additional storage solutions or amazing socialising spaces, she says this new hup! system is the solution.

“For homeowners, hup! is completely game changing. Bringing your old conservatory back to life with a hup! is a no-brainer. I’m often working with people who ask how they can add an extension or rebuild their unuseable conservatory in the most efficient way possible, and hup! is definitely the answer!”

Why does she rate hup! so highly? “Getting on site is one of the most daunting prospects for most homeowners looking to remodel or extend their homes, and what I love about the hup! system is that is takes that uncertainty away. It gives the homeowner complete design flexibility, there’s a lot less stress, hassle and mess – plus it can be built in only a matter of days, rather than weeks or months.”

WOW!! That really is a gamechanger…

Pocket-Friendly Hup! Is Planet-Friendly Too

Kind to your bank balance, hup! is kind to the planet, too, with zero waste from manufacturing processes and on site.

The UK hup! factory has been recognised for its commitment to reducing environmental impact with the prestigious ISO 14001 accreditation. “hup! will make getting sustainable, energy efficient, hassle-free and beautiful home extensions so much more accessible for homeowners,” Laura explains. “Plus they can be built so much faster than traditional building techniques. What’s not to love?!!”

So, if you’re seeking a sustainable way to extend your home then a hup! is the way forward. It’s a massive 60% more carbon efficient than a brick wall, making it one of the most sustainable ways to build an extension.

Any Style, Any Size, Any Space

With ultimate design flexibility, there are no limits to your dream extension as hup! can be used to create any style or size. Plus, thanks to hup! walls being 100mm slimmer than a traditionally built wall, you can enjoy a whopping extra 10-15% more floor space vs a traditional build.

“Homeowners will gain so much more usable space, and one of the ways I can really see hup! coming into its own is the level of flexibility homeowners will have with their design,” Laura reveals. “For me, I’d love to see homeowners using the design capabilities to create a beautiful flow throughout their space, which is complemented by lots of natural light. Think about where to place doors and skylights to maximise the views from different angles in your extension through to the garden.”

Added Space – Added Value

All that additional ‘free space’ allows huppers! to easily add additional value in their home, and the slimline walls are SO light that if you are looking to convert your old conservatory, you can even re-use the existing base – something not usually possible if rebuilding with bricks and mortar.

The lightweight panels used in hup! walls can be lifted and easily carried,