Architect-Led Design and Build

It means the same practice holds the design and the construction, and the architect who designed the project also oversees the build. In a traditional arrangement those are two separate appointments with a handover between them. Here there is no handover, so there is no gap for the design intent to fall into.

With separate appointments the architect produces drawings, the builder prices them, and any disagreement about what the drawings meant becomes a conversation you are in the middle of. With design and build there is one contract and one accountable party. If a detail is awkward to construct, resolving it is our problem rather than a variation for you to pay for.

The build we quote initially is the one we stick to. That is possible because we complete the technical design before pricing the construction, rather than quoting from a planning drawing and discovering the beam sizes later. Where something genuinely cannot be known until it is opened up, we say so at the outset and give the range.

We do, both of them. The planning application, the officer correspondence, the building regulations submission and the site inspections all sit with us. You are not relaying technical questions between two parties who have never spoken.

Yes. Plenty of clients come to us for planning and building regulations drawings only, and we will happily produce a technical set your builder can price and work from. The design and build route is what we recommend, but it is not a condition of working with us.

The design and approvals stage usually runs a few months, driven mostly by the eight week planning determination period, and construction depends entirely on scale. A single storey extension is measured in weeks on site, a two storey extension or a whole house remodel in months. We give a programme with the design rather than a guess at the first meeting.

Yes. Office fit-outs, retail units, restaurants and mixed-use schemes are all part of the practice. Commercial work brings in fire strategy, means of escape and accessibility for the intended occupancy, and it usually runs to a lease date, so the programme tends to be the fixed point.

Some things genuinely cannot be seen until a floor comes up or a wall opens, and the honest answer is that occasionally one appears. What we do is flag the risk at design stage rather than after the event, so you know what the possibilities are before work starts instead of receiving a phone call about them.

For most extensions, no. The new structure is largely built before the existing house is opened into, so the disruptive period is a matter of days rather than the whole programme. Whole house remodelling and anything affecting the only staircase or the only bathroom is a different conversation, and we would raise it early.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations place duties on the client, the principal designer and the principal contractor. On domestic projects those client duties normally transfer to the contractor or the principal designer. Because we hold both of those roles, the responsibility is clearly ours rather than something to work out between two firms.

Yes. The brief stage exists precisely so that the scheme is tested against what you actually need rather than what is easiest to draw. Seeing two or three genuine approaches early is far cheaper than changing your mind after the planning application has gone in.

Yes. The completion certificate from building control, electrical certification, appliance commissioning records and product warranties are collected and handed over together. It matters more than it sounds, because that pack is what a buyer's solicitor will ask for years later.

We are based in Kingston upon Hull and work across the East Riding of Yorkshire, out to York, Selby, Malton, Harrogate, Leeds and Doncaster, along the coast, and south of the Humber into North Lincolnshire. Each authority applies its local plan differently, so we read the policy for the site.

A consultation, usually at the property, where we look at what you have, talk about what you want and give an honest view of whether it is achievable within the budget you have in mind. There is no charge for that first conversation and no obligation to go further.