Who are we?
We are a well-established architectural studio in Putney, West London, who believe that good architecture and design promotes societal well-being. Our portfolio encompasses bespoke private houses, residential and mixed used schemes, commercial offices, restaurants and bars. We have no house style but rely upon analyse of the locality and site specific criteria to develop a design solution.
We are lucky enough to have an engaging mix of private and corporate clients. Working across the UK, we value all our commissions, large or small. We pride ourselves on promoting a lean, pragmatic approach that balances art with commercial viability.
Architecture will always be our core service but we recognise the importance of our in-house planning service. We integrate the two at an early stage to avoid the pitfalls that often arise when initial designs are developed from a generic checklist of planning policies. By adopting this more nuanced approach, we are able to guide our client’s expectations from the outset. Our success in gaining consent, even in sensitive conservation areas and when dealing with heritage assets, is testament to the way in which we work.
We adopt a light touch, low energy approach to architecture for both new build and retrofit. Many of our projects employ Passivhaus principles and we aim to make the most of a site’s intrinsic natural resources.
We believe that the spaces between buildings should be well designed and integrate our schemes with their wider setting. We therefore offer landscape design services often in close collaboration with our arboricultural partners.
Collaboration and team working
We credit much of our success to team working. Whilst we would like to name check the many clients, consultants and constructors we work with, space only permits us to identify a few we work with day to day. Jeremy Butterworth, RTPI, planner, Dorian Crone Heritage Consultant, Mark Eaton QS, Richard Curtis Aboriculturist and Giles Dixon Construction Lawyer.
Improved working methods –
delivering better services through Architect’s Design & Management (ADM)
Architect Design Management (ADM) was conceived jointly by Trevor Sutters, RIBA, and Giles Dixon construction lawyer:
We developed Architects Design and Management (ADM) from first principles to a comprehensive family of agreements that recognise the value of team working. They break the mould of traditional contract to return the architect to the role of master builder working in open collaboration with trade contractors and suppliers who would normally be invisible behind the main contractor. This is the first time that such a comprehensive suite of integrated project documents have been available in the UK
We drafted all documents in short form and simple english, avoiding unnecessary legalese. They share a common contractual structure for architect, consultants and trade contractor team alike and provide far greater direct control to the professional team and client at all project stages than under traditional contract. This design-led management process not only protects the design integrity of the project but effectively embeds the aspirations of quality, programme and cost.