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Good architecture starts with how you want to live, not how the building looks from the street.
Our role is to turn that into something real: a home that works the way you do, and a process that's as considered as the result.
We take time to listen, to your story, your ambitions, and the problems you're trying to solve. Then we bring creativity, technical expertise and experience to the table, and ideas you may not have arrived at on your own.
If what you're looking for is an off-the-shelf extension, we're probably not the right fit. But if you want a home that's personal, purposeful and built with the future in mind, we'll help you get there, step by step.
We'd love to help with every project, but the level of service we bring means we're not the right fit for everyone. As a guide, our minimum construction value is £200,000. For what's included at each stage and typical fees, see our Costs page.
Our Process
We’ll be with you from the very first conversation through to the day you move in and beyond. We like to stay involved at every step — because that’s how we keep projects on track, minimise stress, and make sure nothing is left to chance.
The stages below give you a sense of the road ahead. They’re not a list of tick-boxes for you to manage — it’s our job to lead the process, coordinate consultants, and guide your project through each milestone.
(For more details about each stage and associated fees, head to our Costs page. This overview is about giving you the bigger picture.)
A Conversation, Not a Commitment
Every project starts with a conversation, not a commitment. Complete our enquiry form and we'll arrange a call with Kieron or Hayley, typically twenty minutes, to talk through your project, your site, and what you're hoping to achieve.
We'll be honest with you from the start: whether your ambitions and budget are realistic, whether we're the right practice for what you have in mind, and what we'd recommend as the next step. Sometimes that's a Design Discovery. Sometimes it's advice to take a different route entirely, and we'd rather tell you that in twenty minutes than discover it three months in.
Start a conversation - Enquiry Form or call us on 01277 711027.
Uncovering What's Possible
We begin with a Design Discovery Questionnaire to understand your priorities, budget position, sustainability ambitions, and construction preferences. This ensures that when we meet, we're focused and productive from the outset.
We then carry out a measured survey of your home, before producing sketch layout options in 2D plan form, exploring different levels of intervention so you can see the range of what's possible. Alongside this, we provide an independent budget estimate prepared by a quantity surveyor, an outline structural strategy, and an initial analysis of planning constraints.
The Design Discovery gives you everything you need to make a confident decision about your project, before any formal appointment is made. It also ensures that when we move ahead to Shaping Ideas, we have a clear design direction.
The Creative Heart of the Process
With a design direction agreed, this is the creative heart of the process. We develop the concept in earnest, shaping your ideas into considered options, defining the flow, form and feeling of your home, and testing everything against your budget and the fabric of your building.
We bring in trusted structural engineers and cost consultants early, and look hard at the energy strategy: how your home is heated, cooled and ventilated; solar, air-source heat pumps, MVHR, triple glazing. We also begin developing the material palette, drawing on the manufacturers and finishes we trust.
By the end of this stage you'll have drawings, 3D visuals and independent cost advice that give you confidence your design is exciting, realistic and achievable.
Resolving the Design, Securing Consent
With the concept agreed, we develop the architecture in full and prepare your planning application, managing the process with the local authority on your behalf. Hayley leads the technical coordination, working across structure, fabric and services so the design is not only beautiful but buildable.
Our approach is 'design first, build second'. With the details resolved, right down to the taps and light fittings, your project can be fully costed before anyone breaks ground. That's how you avoid the surprises and delays that knock so many projects off course.
By the end of this stage you'll have planning consent and a fully resolved design, ready to take to tender.
Design First, Build Second
Planning secured, we prepare the full technical package your contractor needs to price and build accurately, and coordinate building regulations approval. Then we manage the tender.
Contractors want to work with us because of the detail we provide — it lets them deliver well-planned, accurately costed, delay-free projects. And we have contractors we love working with, who care as much about quality and finish as we do; when we draw up the tender shortlist with you, we'll include them wherever we can.
Where your project is pursuing Passivhaus certification, we coordinate closely with your Passivhaus consultant before work begins.
Protecting the Vision on Site
This is where the project becomes a building. We administer the contract, carry out regular site inspections and chair site meetings, protecting your design and your investment throughout.
We manage the process through to practical completion: snagging, final accounts, and the release of retentions. Our job on site is to be your advocate, and we don't consider a project finished until the building is finished to the standard the design deserves.
The Relationship After the Keys
Once you've moved in, we stay available. We can check in, carry out post-occupancy reviews, fine-tune systems like MVHR, and resolve any teething issues as you settle in.
Many of our clients return for later projects, or introduce us to people they trust. Post-handover work is charged at our hourly rate, agreed in advance, there's no obligation, but we're here if you need us.
Sustainability
Every client we work with has the power to make a positive impact through their project. Our job is to give you the tools, knowledge, and design strategies to make that possible.
We’ll help you explore how to reduce both embodied carbon (the energy used to build) and operational carbon (the energy used to run your home). That might mean orientating the building to maximise sunlight, using airtightness and insulation to control comfort, or introducing renewable energy and ventilation systems.
We’ll also guide you in choosing materials that are healthier for your family and kinder to the planet — timber, cork, stone, or wood fibre insulation. And if you want to aim higher, we can support you in pursuing Passivhaus or AECB standards, so your home isn’t just efficient today but resilient for the future.
Values
Reduce | Reuse | Recycle
We always encourage re-use first — whether that’s adapting existing buildings, reclaiming materials, or repurposing what’s already there. Where new build elements are needed, we favour bio-based, low-carbon materials that can themselves be re-used or recycled in the future.We’re also active advocates for systemic change — backing campaigns for VAT reform on retrofit and refurbishment to level the playing field against new-build.
Costs
Every project is different, and the level of detail and involvement you need will shape our fees. As a guide, our services typically range between 8–15% of the construction cost.
This reflects the value we add: careful design, expert coordination, and full support through the journey. It means fewer surprises, better outcomes, and a home that performs beautifully for years to come.
To see a full stage-by-stage breakdown, including typical deliverables and example fees, visit our Costs page.
Recent work
Every project begins with a Design Discovery.
A focused conversation about your home, your priorities and what great architecture could mean for you. It is the right first step for both of us.