From concept to a technically efficient design.
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CONCEPT DESIGN
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You will discuss your goals, ideas, aspirations and budget with us and we will help you assess your options and if necessary carry out a feasibility study. Your budget will be established early on and we will manage your expectations about the size and specification of the build. We will also identify which other professionals need to be consulted, for example a structural engineer. During this initial stage a digital measured building or site survey will need to be carried out and we can recommend a cost effective surveyor for this.
The first meeting with you will be to establish the detailed brief of what new spaces you want to gain, sizes, uses, the relationship to other spaces and the garden, what levels of comfort you want and what atmosphere you’re trying to create.
carefully analyse your brief and site context and begin the thought process to realise your aspirations. This is where our skills are put to work to visualise a solution and prepare multiple sketches to test our concept designs. Sometimes this process can be a relatively quick and spontaneous thing, while at other times it can take many hours of looking at options and sketching out different scenarios until a solution appears.
The sketches are then converted into digital CAD drawings which will form the basis for all the drawings to follow. We will meet with you to explain our sketches which usually consist of plans and section drawings to illustrate the proposals. If requested we will also prepare 3D sketch images to assist with visualising the proposal. Your feedback is crucial at this stage so we know how to develop the ideas into a full design solution. We will make any necessary adjustments to the design and prepare revised drawings for your approval and sign off.
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DEVELOPED DESIGN
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With the concept design signed off, next we spend time developing the design into something that can actually be built. This more detailed version will go beyond the shape and style of the building/extension to include all practical considerations and the work of any other consultants. Structural and services engineers can begin to integrate their input at this stage and if your planning application requires additional support from other consultants such as a trees, highways or ecology specialist, a planning consultant or party wall surveyor, we will liaise and coordinate with them.
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TECHNICAL DESIGN
Although the fundamental design is agreed at Stage 3, a further level of technical detail is required to create a set of digital CAD drawings that comply with the building regulations and are fully coordinated with any structural or building services requirements from engineers appointed to assist with the technical design. This stage involves checking the means of fire escape and protection, foul and rainwater drainage design, water and air-tightness design, designs for sound separation, ventilation systems, staircase design and design to minimise heat loss. We also either carry out basic heat loss calculations to establish the energy rating of a new dwelling which is a great opportunity to exceed the minimum standards and create more comfortable, energy efficient buildings and extensions.
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