Start with the existing house before deciding what to build.
Architectural design for substantial alterations, remodelling and extensions, beginning with how the existing building works before deciding what should be added or changed.
Most people contact an architect having already decided what they want built. I would rather start a step earlier, with the building itself.
How the plan works. Where circulation is absorbing useful floor area. Where light reaches the interior and where it does not. Which parts of the structure are fixed, which are later additions, and which rooms already work well enough to be left alone.
Only once that is understood does the intervention become obvious. Depending on the property, the answer might be re-planning, an extension, structural alteration, reconnecting spaces that were separated by a previous owner, or a combination of those.
What matters is that the solution follows the diagnosis, rather than the diagnosis being written to justify a solution someone has already imagined.
When architectural input is needed
You are considering an extension and want to know whether it is the right answer.
The house has enough floor area but the plan is working against you.
You are altering a period or character property and the decisions need judgement.
The project needs planning permission and you want the application argued properly.
You have bought, or are buying, a property that needs significant alteration.
Several possible solutions exist and none of them is yet obviously correct.
Before the design begins
Every scheme is drawn twice: the house as it stands, and the house as proposed. Setting them side by side is what makes the comparison honest.
It shows what is genuinely changing, whether new floor area is earning its cost, whether circulation improves, how the room relationships alter, and whether the proposal actually solves the problem you came with.
Those decisions are made while they are still cheap to change. Once a scheme has been through planning, technical design and pricing, revisiting them costs considerably more.
Oakleigh House, Shrewsbury
A contemporary extension to an existing Victorian property. The proposed rear elevation, the completed building and the space it created, in that order.
The two sets of decisions affect each other
Window positions determine where kitchen runs and joinery can go. Door positions determine furniture layouts and how people move through a room. Ceiling design determines what lighting is possible. Room proportions determine what will actually fit. The available light determines which materials and colours will work. Because I work across both disciplines, those decisions can be resolved together rather than one inheriting the consequences of the other months later. Interior design → · Architecture & Interior Design Combined →
Working with an older building
An older house usually contains two different things: qualities worth keeping, and alterations made by previous owners that no longer serve the building.
The work is telling them apart. A marble fireplace, an original staircase, a good proportion or a run of sash windows are worth designing around. A 1970s partition, a service corridor built for a household that employed staff, or a kitchen exiled to the back of the plan usually are not.
Neither preserving everything nor modernising everything is a strategy. Understanding what has value, identifying what is causing the problem, then intervening deliberately in the second while protecting the first — that is what allows an old house to work for the way a family lives now.
Where a property is listed or in a conservation area, those constraints are established at the start, before design decisions come to depend on them.
Three properties, three different answers
From first conversation to construction information
Understand the property
An initial conversation, followed by the appropriate visit or appraisal to understand the existing building, what you need from it and the problems that require solving.
Establish the brief
Define what the project genuinely has to achieve, then test that against what the property can realistically offer.
Develop options
Explore realistic architectural options through drawings and visualisation, with feasibility and cost implications considered at the appropriate level of detail.
Planning and approvals
Prepare and submit the planning information where this is required and included in the appointment.
Technical design and delivery
Develop the agreed scheme into the technical information the appointment covers, with further coordination and involvement according to the agreed scope.
How to begin
Tell me about the property, what you are considering and where the project currently stands. That conversation is free, and I will recommend the most appropriate next stage rather than assuming a full appointment is required.
Depending on the project, that may be the Home Transformation Consultation, £595, or Concept & Feasibility, £1,950, where the direction needs testing before committing to full design. The £1,950 fee is credited against the design fee if I am subsequently appointed for the full architectural and interior design work.
Arrange an Initial ConversationCredited against the full design fee if I am appointed for the wider project.
Agreed according to the size and complexity of the project.
Questions clients ask before appointing an architect
Do I need to know whether I want an extension before contacting you?
No. Working out whether additional floor area is necessary is part of the job. Circulation, room relationships and light are examined before any construction is proposed, and if re-planning the existing house would serve you better, I will say so.
Can you help me decide between extending and re-planning?
Yes, and it is one of the most useful things this appointment does. Both options are tested against the existing building, with the cost implications of each set out, so the decision is made on evidence rather than assumption. Bicton Hall is an example where the answer turned out to be re-planning.
Do you work with period and character properties?
Yes — they are a particular focus. Older houses usually contain both features worth retaining and later alterations that are causing the problem, and the work is telling those apart before deciding what changes.
What is included in the architectural design?
Depending on the agreed appointment: feasibility work, concept design and options, planning drawings and applications, technical design and Building Regulations information, and coordination with other consultants such as structural engineers. The scope is set out before the appointment begins.
Do you handle planning applications?
Yes, where planning is required and included in the appointment. Constraints such as conservation area status are established at the start, so that design decisions are not developed on assumptions that later prove unworkable.
What happens after planning permission is granted?
The scheme is developed into the technical information needed to build it — Building Regulations drawings, specification and coordination with other consultants — with my continued involvement defined by the appointment rather than assumed.
Can architecture and interior design be developed together?
Yes. That is the usual arrangement here, and it is why window positions, joinery, lighting and materials tend to resolve as one set of decisions. Where the project covers the whole property, Architecture & Interior Design Combined is the appointment that covers both.
Can you review drawings prepared by another architect?
Yes. The Design Rescue Review, £595, exists for exactly that: an independent look at an existing scheme, including one that already has planning permission, identifying what is working and what may be worth reconsidering before you build it.
How much does architectural design cost?
The full architectural and interior design appointment is typically 5–7.5% of construction cost, agreed according to the size and complexity of the project. The initial conversation is free, and the paid early stages give a clearer view of scope and cost before the full appointment is agreed.
Considering an extension or substantial alteration?
Start with a conversation about the property, what is not working and what you are considering. I can establish the most appropriate next stage, whether that involves re-planning, extending or testing both. The initial conversation is free.
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