A transparent eight-stage process, built on the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 — from the first conversation about your site to living in the finished building.
Before a single line is drawn — is this the right project, at the right time, for you?
It starts with a conversation — a call, an email, and usually a free visit to your home or site. We listen to what you’re hoping to achieve, how you live, and what’s realistic.
We’re not designing yet. We’re helping you decide whether to build at all, and if so, in roughly what shape. Sometimes the answer is extend; sometimes reconfigure; sometimes walk away.
You’ll leave with
Turning ideas into a brief — the document that quietly shapes everything that follows.
Once appointed, we work with you to write your Project Brief — a plain-English record of your aspirations, needs and constraints.
We commission a measured survey, review planning history and site constraints, and set out an initial programme so you know what happens when.
Deliverables
Sketches, parti diagrams, maquettes — the stage where the idea begins to have a shape.
The creative heart of the process. We test ideas through hand sketches, parti diagrams and study maquettes — deliberately rough, because this is when change is cheap.
You’ll usually see two or three directions. Expect to change your mind; that’s what this stage is for. We end with one agreed concept.
Deliverables
The design tightens. Models, 3D visualisation, VR — and, for most projects, the planning submission.
The agreed concept is coordinated into something buildable — rooms sized, structure considered, services routed. We use refined physical models, 3D visualisations and, where useful, Oculus Rift so you can walk through your space before it exists.
For most projects this is where we submit for planning permission, including the Design & Access Statement. Planning is granted by the local authority — we give you the best possible chance of success.
Deliverables
No two sites, clients or budgets are the same. We don’t have a house style — we have a process for arriving at the right answer for you.
Drawings a builder can build from — every junction, finish and fixing, resolved.
From what the building will be to how it will be built. Construction drawings, technical details, schedules, Building Regulations, and full coordination with your structural engineer.
If interiors are included, bespoke joinery, kitchens, bathrooms and lighting are designed in here — so the whole thing can be priced as one.
Deliverables
Tender, contract, site. The drawings come off the page.
We tender to a short list of trusted builders, review prices with you, and help appoint the right one. We recommend the industry-standard JCT contract.
Throughout construction we act as Contract Administrator — not the project manager (the contractor runs the site), but the impartial eyes on quality, progress and cost.
Our role on site
Practical completion, snagging, keys change hands.
When the works are substantially finished, we issue a Certificate of Practical Completion. You can move in, or start using the new space.
A small retention (typically 2.5–5%) is held back, and a Defects Liability Period of 6–12 months begins — time for the builder to return and fix anything minor that emerges in use.
The quiet, longest stage — the one you live.
Stage 07 is the life of the building. We stay interested — returning six or twelve months after move-in to see how it’s performing. That feedback makes the next project better than the last.
If, later, you want to adapt or extend, we’re here. Good buildings earn their keep over decades.
