The success of any building project rests with the people who come together to form the project team.

With over three decades of experience, we have a wealth of expertise in many areas and a large team of talented and dedicated people with a wide range of skills. We believe that these strengths, coupled with our instinctive desire for close collaboration with the client, design consultants and the construction team are crucial to the success of every project.

At the beginning of each project a practice director and project architect are allocated who remain with the project from inception through to completion. An experienced support team is built around these key individuals and has the flexibility to change to meet the varying demands of the project as it progresses.

This core team can call upon the advice of specialist teams within the practice at any stage which include environmental research, 3D computer modelling, interior design, graphics, model making, masterplanning, safety and conservation.

The development of every project is reviewed regularly by senior members of the practice at formal design review meetings, and also within the larger forum of office meetings giving all an opportunity to contribute. These mechanisms engender a process of evolution, ensuring consistent high standards are always maintained.


Baxter's Site
Lewes

The proposals for the former Baxter's Printworks site at Lewes in East Sussex use the character of the existing listed twitten walls, the historic tangential urban grain, the sub-divided nature of adjacent urban blocks and the small scale external spaces between them as inspiration for a series of contemporary insertions into the heart of the Lewes conservation area.

The scheme provides a mix of live-work units and one, two and three-bed flats for both private sale and affordable housing. The retention of some employment use and the full integration of affordable housing ensures a good social mix.

Sustainable aspects of the design include low energy heating and a car hire scheme. The scheme has an Ecohomes target rating of `very good'.


Gray House
Brighton

The Gray House is an innovative remodelling of a three bedroom detached house in Brighton. The client's brief was to add a new hallway, living room and conservatory to the ground floor and bedroom with en-suite to the first floor of the 1930s building. The addition of these spaces had to be complemented by a strategy for opening up the existing rooms into larger, more flexible, and more contemporary spaces.

The solution focused around a dramatic planar intervention through the house at a shallow angle to the main axis of entry. This canted wall forms one side of a fully glazed two-storey void, which breaks through the house from front to back, allowing views and light in, and creating a dramatic double height space within the heart of the house.

On the ground floor, a spacious circulation/living/dining area surrounds the central void, and can be adapted by a series of sliding doors to create open or more intimate spaces as required. The first floor is accessed by a stainless steel staircase, which wraps around one end of the canted wall, climbing up to cross the void via a beautiful glass bridge to the master bedroom (which incorporates a sunken bathroom and stairs up to a mezzanine dressing area above).

The effect of the scheme has been to transform a well situated, but rather dark and uninspiring house into a light and joyful contemporary building.


75 Holland Road
Hove

In July 2004 we were asked to develop construction information and continue work on the conversion of this Grade II listed warehouse, purpose built for the Co-operative Society in 1893, into 20 live-work units.

Existing floor levels and the intricacies of the existing roof structures have led to some incredibly dramatic and spacious units, some of which form two storey maisonettes.

The existing covered internal courtyard was removed to allow successful conversion of the lower ground floors, previously comprising stable accommodation. A series of glazed decks have been installed to provide external access to each unit.

Many key features of the existing building have been carefully restored and add to the success of the conversion work which has been highly praised by the local Brighton Conservation Society and Conservation Officer.

Awards: Sussex Heritage Award: Large Scale Residential Award 2007


Canning and Eliza House
New Hall, Cambridge

Canning and Eliza House is a new building providing graduate accommodation and is set in the grounds of New Hall, a Cambridge College which originated in the 1960s.

The new 3-storey building houses 40 student bedrooms in 5 apartments of 8 study bedrooms, sharing a living/dining and kitchen area. A common room for all graduates of the College is situated on the ground floor. This room is capable of holding social events for 80-100 people but generally will be used for smaller social gatherings. It has a separate kitchen, furniture store, general store and toilets. The common room opens onto a west facing terrace overlooking a private garden space for graduate use throughout the year.

The form of the building is broken into two wings on either side of the central stair and lift. Study bedrooms for disabled students are provided at ground, first and second floor levels.

The building has been designed with particular reference to sustainable design, with good daylight orientation of all the rooms, high levels of insulation and heat recovery to the ventilation system.

Awards: Green Apple Awards: National Bronze for New-build Residential Building 2007, Concrete Society Commendation 2007


Hauxton
Cambridge

Masterplanning of a 17 ha mixed use brownfield site in a rural setting fronting the River Cam. The existing industrial site, which is heavily contaminated, is to be redeveloped to provide a mixed-use development comprising, commercial, research, residential, hotel and leisure uses. Existing listed buildings on the site are to be conserved, and the rich bio-diversity of the river valley setting is to be preserved.