Gus Zogolovitch’s aim has always been clear: deliver design-led, new-build projects on forgotten inner-city gap sites.
Gus worked with his father, Roger Zogolovitch, who pioneered split-level buildings. He started with his own house in north-west London, a clever, eco-friendly design where he still lives today. The split-level design maximises light and creates a sense of space even on tight urban plots, a signature approach that defines all of his inner-city projects.
Identifying a gap in the market for project management in residential refurbishments, Gus founded Unboxed Homes, London’s first custom-build enabler. Unboxed Homes helps people create their own dream home, guiding them through the process while offering architecturally sophisticated new builds. The premise is simple but powerful: homes are better when the people who live in them have a say in their design.
A standout project is Blenheim Grove, where Gus teamed up with local architect Poulsom Middlehurst to deliver a terrace of three houses and four apartments, sold as shells. On the outside, they’re sustainable new builds; on the inside, they’re blank canvases. No fixed walls or layouts, just split-level open spaces with double-height voids and generous natural light.
What makes Blenheim Grove remarkable is how differently each owner approached the fit-out. Some worked with architects; others hired builders or took the DIY route. The result is a row of homes that reflect the personalities and needs of their inhabitants, a quiet yet powerful rebuke to the cookie-cutter housing churned out elsewhere.
And that’s the point. Most UK new builds are built to minimum standards with little thought for individuality. Projects like Blenheim Grove are a rare exception, standing alongside the few brilliant schemes by talented and forward thinking architects and enlightened developers that make the cut for the RIBA awards.
So, well-designed, environmentally conscious homes that cost about the same as the drafty Victorian pile next door. That’s the idea behind Blenheim Grove; remove the complicated bits of self-build (finding land, securing planning) and hand creative control to the people who will actually live there.
It’s not exactly self-build, but, it might be better.
