Belvedere DWS, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

Client: Belvedere DWS
Contractor: Excel Roofing Contractors
Type of works: supply of SSQ Ultra Riverstone^® Grey roofing slate.

“It’s quite grand,” smiled Ray Smith, describing his company’s second development in Camp Road, Gerrards Cross. As a Director of Belvedere DWS it’s a modest, but proud, understatement about a house that stuns the senses: this is building at its finest.

Belvedere has an enviable name for designing and building some of the most luxurious homes in south-east England including several on the Wentworth Estate, one of Europe’s most exclusive residential areas. The company’s reputation for thoughtful design, extraordinary craftsmanship and uncompromising attention to detail comes from a philosophy of keeping everything in-house and using only tried-and-tested, like-minded contractors.

Set in an acre of mature woodland, Glenridge is built on the crest of a ridge overlooking Bulstrode Park. The NHBC-assured house has a distinctive, friendly look but its unpretentious frontage masks a secret: at 930m² (10,000sq.ft) and on four floors means it’s a lot bigger than it looks.

It’s a house with a multiple wow factor: the basement leisure complex includes a gym, sauna, steam room and nine-seat cinema; the geometrical oak staircase with its French-polished walnut handrail that winds elegantly from the ground floor up to the guest bedrooms on the second floor; the dining room with its range of sliding bi-fold doors that open onto a magnificent patio; the master bedroom that covers half the first floor, has gender-specific his-and-her bathrooms, dressing rooms and a balcony with a view over the lawns, thorough the wood and on, into the park.

A perfect example of Belvedere’s meticulous attention to detail appears high on the roof – all the hips are fully mitred, overcoming the need for unsightly hip tiles. It’s a detail that’s easy to miss but, once noticed, it’s hard to look away. Excel Roofing Contractor’s Paul Groom has been working with Ray Smith for more than thirty years and is equally passionate about perfection. “Keith Da Costa [Belvedere’s Design Director] specified natural roofing slate as it gives an established look and its versatility can be used to good effect. Good-quality slate can be accurately cut and its consistency meant that we could form a perfectly mitred joint along the hip. The roof took about four weeks to do and cutting the slates for the hips accounted for at least three days, but the result is certainly worth it – even if you can’t see a lot of it!”

Belvedere has raised its game again and, using the design and build quality found on the Wentworth Estate, has introduced a new level of luxury to Camp Road.