Buildings should look good but if that’s all they do, they’ve failed. Aesthetic appeal is important, but it’s just a small part of the story. We listen to our clients, so we know it’s just as important that buildings work well, meet budgets, stick to schedule, and use modern, sustainable construction methods. We also make them look amazing, if that’s what you want. We’ll give you everything you need and nothing you don’t.
The starting point to any scheme is the client consultation where we’ll discuss your needs, wants, and hopes for a space. The design team will use the session to gather information about key elements of the brief: your preferences, functionality, aesthetics, budget, timescales, and any problems we need to resolve. Doing this at the start of a project creates a clear vision and ensures that the transformation of the space is a collaborative process.
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Drone technology allows us to survey the buildings and entire site from the air, providing us with vital insights that would previously have been very difficult to access. It also allows us to easily check on the progress of works from a bird’s eye perspective. We can also offer you pretty pictures of your finished development for the company brochure, if you want them! We have our own drone and Associate Joe Hobson is a Civil Aviation Authority insured and licensed drone operator.
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A topographical (topo) survey is essential for determining the physical features of a piece of land before building on it or adapting existing structures. It creates an accurate assessment of factors such as boundaries, surfaces, and gradients. Types of survey will differ (depending on the land) but all will provide you with a meaningful analysis of the characteristics of the land and any limitations they create. Topo surveys must be undertaken by specialist topographical surveyors. We can advise on and coordinate this on your behalf.
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A feasibility study allows you to comprehensively evaluate the viability of an architectural project before committing significant investments to it. Viability is assessed from architectural, financial, and environmental perspectives. As well as the functional aspects of the build, it also includes some preliminary designs, allowing you to start visualising the outcome. The process could include a pre-application submission to the planning department for their opinion prior to a formal application. Conducting a detailed feasibility study protects you against the, often costly, ‘surprises’ that can come from not anticipating and taking steps to avoid the pitfalls that come from not being suitably prepared.
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Photo-realistic Computer Generated Images (CGIs) bring a project to life like nothing else, creating a vision of the finished development or interior before a hard hat and hi-vis jacket has even been donned! Our CGI artists transform technical specs into hyper-real representations of what we can deliver.
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There is a much-used phrase that applies to all design but was specifically coined for architecture: ‘form follows function’ and it’s something that we live by. Primarily, buildings and interios have to work so we listen to our clients when they tell us what the structure needs to do for them. For our commercial and industrial clients, this is often 95% of the brief. For residential projects, whether a housing development or a bespoke high-end dwelling, functionality and aesthetic appeal need to be finely balanced. We are equally skilled in both approaches and always client-led.
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Master planning is about determining how a site can be developed, taking a wide range of factors into consideration. It incorporates much more than the development itself; making the connection between the buildings and their surrounding environments, including the community, social settings, sustainability, population, transport, and economy. This is a specialist service that we are able to offer for both residential and commercial projects.
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Applying for and gaining the appropriate planning permission is a vital element of the architectural process; without it, you can’t proceed. Planning policy can be complex and, if not navigated correctly, can be time consuming and, sometimes, unsuccessful. We know planning. We understand the policies and the application requirements; in fact, we have a track history of securing planning permission on complex sites that initially seemed problematic.
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Where the design concept is the creative, the drawing package is the substance. The drawing package consists of a series of construction level detail and specification that ensures that the delivered scheme is the design you signed off made real with no nasty surprises. This is a collaborative process involving all stakeholders.
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There are multiple trades, suppliers, contractors, and consultants involved in any build. Sourcing the right ones is a central component of the process and doing that needs to be fair, transparent, and objective-driven. We can conduct tendering to ensure that each job gets the right providers in place to deliver on the scheme we’ve created.
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Building regulations are simultaneously the rules that keep us safe and the requirements that give architects and builders headaches as they strive for compliance with ever-evolving specifications. Not a problem for us though, as several members of the team live for the minutiae and details of regulations, and standards so we’re all over them. That not only means that your development complies with (and often, exceeds) building regs but that we also know the strategies for working with regulations in ways that don’t compromise creativity, function, or budgets.
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Contract administration is all about making sure everything happens according to the terms of the contract. When we take on responsibility for contract administration, you can be reassured that everyone delivers as agreed. That means providers are held to account, budgets are tightly managed, and deadlines are met.
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Project management is all about taking care of the whole shebang. It’s more than contract administration, it’s holding your hand through the whole process: managing all parties, making sure that things happen when they should and to the standards demanded. We also ‘sort stuff out’, because not everything goes to plan all the time and fixing s**t is all part of the service! Project management of a build removes the stress from you and gives you peace of mind that stuff is just getting done.
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All projects that involve more than one contractor must have an appointed Principal Designer. It’s their job to advise and assist you on all aspects of health and safety on the project, starting at pre-construction phase. We can act as Principal Designer, ensuring that all parties comply with their responsibilities and that the build is safe for all working on it, all who may be affected by the works, and all who will use it once completed.
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The energy performance of any building that we design is a high priority to us; not because we are mandated to be energy efficient but because it’s the right thing to do. Energy integrity for the structure’s entire lifespan starts with how it’s designed. We are great believers in designing ‘fabric first’, ensuring that buildings are as air tight as they can be (you can put as many fancy heating systems as you want into a building but it means very little if much of the heat is allowed to leak out). This is the foundation of good energy performance. We design for all houses to be much greater than the minimum building regulations standards.
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Where you locate your development is as important as what you put on it. It needs to be the right location, the right price, the right size, have appropriate access, and plenty of other considerations. We can use our industry knowledge and networks to investigate and source options for land that will work for your brief. Just as we can assist with land disposal, we can also support you to find the right site for your project. This can include introducing you to land owners (often enabling you to buy off-market), and conducting feasibility studies. In terms of planning, we can put your house types onto site to vary any existing planning permissions in place.
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We can help to prepare proposals and obtain planning approval for a land owner so they can sell their site to interested parties. To make the site more marketable, we can create designs to widen appeal to a greater number of people. Due to our networks, we can also often introduce you to interested developers off-market, making the process simpler, faster, and more cost effective.
×Architecture and interior design are two sides of the same coin and having specialists in both disciplines in the team, we can integrate the very best of all aspects of building design. Not sure where architecture stops and interiors starts? You don’t need to; our joined up approach means we take care of the whole process, and you just reap the benefits of our combined expertise.
See our interior design services
