Guy Hudson has created what could be the most sensational apartment in Harrogate

Guy Hudson’s stunning apartment is one of the best in Harrogate thanks to his eye for design and his alternative ideas. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Gary Longbottom.

Harrogate is full of beautiful homes but few can match Guy Hudson’s apartment overlooking The Stray. It forms part of a conversion of the former Lynx Womenswear store into mixed- use premises that now house a shop on the ground floor with two flats above – one for Guy and one for his daughter, Taylor.The sensitive remodelling of the historic building on West Park is remarkable for many reasons, not least the use of Yorkshire-based firm Moduloft.The award-winning company used its patented modular construction techniques to make Taylor’s loft apartment in their factory before craning it into place.

Clever use of space, rigorous attention to detail, exceptional interior design and a roof terrace with a retractable roof also play a part in making the father and daughter flats outstanding.The ambitious conversion project was both all-consuming and rewarding for Guy, who embarked on it after losing his wife, Morag, to cancer.“We lived in a house on a quiet residential street in Harrogate but we had always said we’d eventually move into an apartment in the centre of town,” says Guy, who owns and runs the Lynx Menswear store, also on West Park.“We owned the building so converting it made sense. It also helped with my grief because I was so busy.“I was on site every day at 7am for 18 months while still running the menswear business with the help of my incredibly supportive staff.”

Industrial style: Guy on the stairs he designed. They lead to the landing/study and the remarkable roof terrace

The 1840s building, with a brick warehouse at the rear, had once been home to Standings Cafe and, later, to Rodney Kent interiors before becoming a fashion store. Guy was keen to retain as many original features as possible while maximising the amount of natural light.This included stripping back the front of the building to reveal the original stonework and the Rodney Kent facia. The interiors were also stripped back and sandblasted to create an industrial look.The retail premises, which are let, are on the ground floor along with a new industrial-style metal staircase that leads to the apartments.Guy’s home is on the first and second floors of the building and includes French doors on the front elevation that lead to a balcony overlooking The Stray. Noise from the road is limited by acoustic glazing.

The open-plan living space

An enormous, open-plan living space with dining, sitting and kitchen areas leads to glazed doors and what used to be an inner courtyard. This is now a hall leading to two en-suite bedrooms at the rear.The steel staircase at the end of the hall was designed by Guy and made by Moduloft. It winds up to a landing/study space with a glass floor.This was specified by Guy and made by Paul Dale, of Harrogate Glass Solutions. “It allows natural light to flow from the skylight and down the stairs but each piece of glass weighs a quarter of a tonne so I had to go on social media to advertise for bodybuilders. I managed to get 10 of them to help with the lifting,” he says.To the right of the glazed landing is the roof terrace, built by Moduloft and fitted in the space between the old shop and rear warehouse. It has a dining area with a living wall and a mirrored wall, along with its own kitchen and the pièce de résistance – a retractable roof.

The dining terrace with retractable roof. There is also a kitchen area and barbecue

While it sounds like an indulgence, it has been life-enhancing and Guy was canny at cutting costs to justify it. His kitchen units are ex-display, he upcycled an old dining old table by adding a new metal top and managed to source the roof for just £7,000 from a firm in Manchester.

The kitchen serving the roof terrace. The main kitchen is downstairs

Project managing the conversion himself also helped save money. Rather than pay a lighting designer, he used Pinterest for ideas while eBay, salvage fairs and auction houses yielded interesting bargains to sit alongside items from his previous home.This allowed him to spend where it mattered and he was able to commission Clive Wright, of Summerbridge-based Clarity Arts, to make bespoke cabinetry and use Harrogate Interiors.

The wide inner hall with glazed roof. It leads to the two bedrooms and the stairs to the roof terrace

The ambitious conversion is full of Guy’s brilliant and unconventional design ideas but his most inspired was finding a way to make the building’s old loft into a contemporary one-bedroom apartment for Taylor.The original roof space did not provide enough room so Guy called in Tim Benson, of Richmondshire-based Moduloft, and Stephen Peach Architectural Design. Together, they created the factory-built apartment complete with plumbing and electrics.The four rooms with a roof structure were craned onto the top of the building within a day and the apartment was habitable within three weeks.

Best use of space: Guy's office is on the landing next to the roof terrace.

The new, insulated roof with skylights was covered with tiles taken from the old roof. The leftover tiles were used to dress the walls of Guy’s roof terrace, which can be accessed by both apartments.“It was fantastic. Using Moduloft also allowed us to do the work in winter as almost everything was done off-site in the factory,” he says.“Minimising disruption to our very understanding neighbours was important and so instead of months of construction work, we just had one early morning when there was a partial closure of the road so we could crane the modules on.”The finishing touch to the project was a rusty front door, made as a moving-in present by Moduloft. It has added a much-remarked-upon industrial touch to the West Park streetscape.

The rusty front door has become a talking point on West Park

While the conversion was never about money, it has been a sound investment. “The apartments were developed from passion not a spreadsheet and they cost double what I was hoping to spend but I’ve had a valuation and I have doubled what I invested,” says Guy.“I also love living in the centre of town and I love open-plan living. I used the dining table three times in 13 years when it was in a separate dining room at the house. Now I sit at it all the time and look out at The Stray.”

Useful ContactsJB Property Works, tel: 07881 904888Moduloft, www.moduloft.co.ukTiles Porcelain, www.tilesporcelain.co.ukClarity Arts, www.clarityarts.comSenol & Senol, retractable roof, www.senol.co.ukHarrogate Interiors, www.harrogateinteriors.co.ukWetheralds Painters and Building Services, www.wetheralds.co.ukAP Electrical, tel: 01423 528776Harrogate Glass Solutions, www.hgwsolutions.co.uk

Calverts Carpets, 01609-779189, calverts-carpets.com