Barefoot & Gilles is a specialist practice of Architects and Development Consultants operating in London and the East of England.

We are a business-minded practice with a practical, positive approach to architecture. Most of our clients are business people and we concentrate on providing them with a reliable, professional service.

We take a pro-active approach to projects, forming partnerships, finding sites and exploring opportunities. We focus on delivery, designing practical solutions that maximise return on investment. This makes us excellent value for money.

Full details of our Services and Professional Accreditations are available on our website.

Affordable Housing
Our work for Registered Social Landlords (RSL's) has always been a mainstay of the practice. We have worked with most of the leading Housing Associations in the Region and have produced hundreds of flats and houses on scores of sites in every part of East Anglia. We are usually involved at any one time with the development of around 60 sites, both large and small, and every user type from general needs housing to special needs housing, retirement housing, Lifetime homes and EcoHomes.

Our experience in highly energy efficient housing coupled with our pro-active approach at the pre-funded stage for development has enabled us to establish a reputation for the reliable delivery of affordable housing since the formation of the practice in 1989.

Open Market Housing
We offer developers a complete service from inception through to completion of construction and then on to the completion of sales. We can carry out a feasibility study very quickly to enable early site appraisal and can advise on the best method to deliver a cost effective development.

We have experience in residential design from low-cost starter homes through to luxury apartments and houses and can produce schemes for sale on the open market which are carefully targeted.

Projects:
GreenGauge Homes: Sustainable Affordable Housing
GreenGauge is a cost-effective approach to building sustainable, affordable housing that can improve on government guidance on energy efficiency and still be built within the Housing Corporation's Standard Grant Funding Structure.

The University of East Anglia is monitoring the thermal performance of the technologies in use at the first site in Norfolk, which include sun space and heat recovery, ground source heat pumps, solar collectors and PVs and a `control' group of superinsulated gas centrally heated houses. Each home is has a user interface to illustrate the energy savings.

The GreenGauge Partners are Flagship Housing Group, Barefoot & Gilles, Broadland District Council, Lingwood Parish Council, Oxbury & Company, University of East Anglia, Victory Housing Trust and Youngs Homes.

Riverside Road Ipswich: Attractive affordable housing on a brownfield site
This former landfill site had access restrictions and did not appear an attractive prospect for new homes, but it also had a river frontage and was close to the town centre. Our design overcame the site's problems and we achieved planning consent for an attractive development of 47 units including 8 move-on homes for people with mental health issues.

Contract Design & Build - Contractor Client Lovell
Capital Value £2.7m
Completion 2004

Student Accommodation for University Campus Suffolk: Grimwade Street, Ipswich
The new status of the campus in Ipswich will bring thousands more students into the town; UCS predicts growth from 3,500 students in 2007 to 7,000 students by 2014 a phenomenal growth rate. The revenue and new life that these students will bring are bound to have a beneficial effect on the town and the decision by the faculty to look to the private sector to provide accommodation for the new influx has provided a new opportunity for local developers. Amongst the first to recognise the significance of this new opportunity was our clients Providus Student Accommodation Limited.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to produce a building that is effectively the first of its kind in the town and to be seen to be setting a standard for others to follow.

Contract Design & Build - Contractor client Gipping Construction
Capital Value £1.7m
Completion 2008

Rapier Street, Ipswich: a Partnership Mixed Development
We were acting for building contractors looking for a new headquarters when this 3.5 Acre site became available, but it was much more suitable as a large gateway housing scheme, sited near the River Orwell at the end of the A137. We introduced our contractor clients to Shaftesbury Housing Group and they brought in developer partner Providus Developments Ltd who purchased the site for a mixed use development.

In our role as architects for the project we worked with all three partners to design a highly visible, hugely successful development of 40 houses and 134 flats. This strategically significant site required a high quality, high density scheme to signal the entrance into Ipswich from the South, and its position at an arterial junction in a developing area required negotiation with the planners for a corridor to enable a future trunk road to be built. High-rise flats and four storey townhouses encircle the site, creating a sense of place. The public open space was designed to HomeZone standards complete with play area.

Contract Design & Build - Contractor client R.G. Carter Ipswich Ltd
Capital Value £13.5m
Completion 2005

Packards Mill, Papermill Lane Bramford: `Enabling Development' in Action

This former fertiliser factory is the largest Listed building in Suffolk and has remained vacant for decades. Regeneration of the Mill by itself is commercially unviable and in order to retain this unique structure in the landscape it is necessary to fund its repair and conversion by carrying out further enabling development on the remainder of the site. This has the added advantage that the extensive contamination of a large redundant industrial site will finally be controlled.

We are currently carrying out a masterplanning exercise and developing the design to the level of detail needed to support a planning application submitted by planning consultants Peecock Short. Once planning permission has been obtained we shall be involved with the conversion of the Mill premises as well as the surrounding residential buildings.

Employer Braceforce Group
Contract Design and Build
Capital Value £undisclosed