Approach

Whatever we create for you, it’s important that it inspires all of us - you the client and us the architect.

That means we’re as careful about choosing our clients as you are about choosing your architect. We make sure every one of the projects we embark upon fits with our values and our aspirations, both in terms of sustainability and creativity. As we’ve said before, we don’t do bog standard!

So if you're looking for an ordinary, off-the-shelf solution, then we're probably not for you. Sorry. We’re also not particularly keen on the white boxes that we see scattered throughout our county. And we feel contemporary design has much more to offer. We’re drawn to clients who dream big and share our passion for phenomenal, mind-blowing design.

We take the time to understand you, to discuss your ambitions for the project, test out ideas, and arrive at a design that we can all get excited about.

Process

We’re there for you from our very first conversation right through to when you’re celebrating your new spaces with a gin and tonic, surrounded by friends and family.

We like to be in the driving seat and work through all the details – on paper and then on site. So if you’re looking for a quick planning approval and then to go it alone, then that’s a red flag for us. We’re far too invested and collaborative for that, and we know what can go wrong.

With us on board throughout, we make things as painless as possible for you. We manage risk, anticipate problems, and ensure that your finished home is everything we’ve worked towards from the beginning. There’ll be no corners cut, no stressful last-minute decisions, and no unexpected costs that come out of nowhere.

It always helps to know what to expect, so the steps below - which we go through on every project - will give you a sense of the road ahead. But of course we’ll be leading the process, and it’s our job, not yours, to keep the schedule on track and the budget intact, and to get your project to the finish line.

We run through a few basics on the phone to understand your site, your budget and what you want to achieve. If we’re not the right architect for you, we’ll be able to tell you straight away.

To arrange an initial call, please fill in our Client Enquiry Form and we will take it from there.

A small fixed fee which you get back if we move to the next stage

We meet you on site (or virtually, if for some reason we can’t get together in person) so we can understand as much about you and your site as we can. We look at the potential, practicalities, and constraints.

This gives us everything we need to put together our Pre-Design report, which includes:

  • a clear and detailed articulation of your brief
  • a desktop summary of relevant planning constraints and history
  • our initial thoughts around the budget and our initial assessment of how this might be broken down to a possible project timeline
  • our detailed Fee Proposal setting out our deliverables and fees for each of the stages to come.

This early pre-design work is crucial, and our most successful designs have been in response to a clear understanding of our clients’ aspirations and needs, and a very particular set of site constraints.

Spending a few hours in each other’s company is also an opportunity to check we’re a good fit and that we care about the same things. After all, if we become your architect, we’re going to be spending quite a bit of time together.

We start a conversation with the Planning department, to get their input and get them on board before the more pressurised public Planning process. We explain the design in their terms, show how it complies with policy, and give them the chance to appreciate it for what it is.

We bring on board any consultants we need for their specialist expertise – on flooding, bats or trees, for example.

With our water-tight process the Planning application should just be a formality. But we still smooth the process as best we can by speaking to neighbours and the parish council on your behalf, and by giving anyone who might be interested (or worried) a chance to see and fully understand your design before making up their minds.

We’ve got a brilliant track record in getting our applications through – 100% at the time of writing – and we have excellent relationships with Local Planning Authorities. We’re also particularly well versed in the sensitivities and guidance around protected sites such as Conservation Areas, Listed Buildings, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the Greenbelt.

Our approach is to ‘design first, build second’. With all the decisions made, right down to the taps and light bulbs, your project can be fully costed before starting on site, and that means you won’t be open to additional expenses and delays (which is why so many building projects veer off course).

The other significant upside of our approach is that contractors want to work with us because of the level of detail we provide – it allows them to deliver well-planned, accurately costed, delay-free projects to happy clients.

Equally, we have contractors we love working with – contractors who care as much about the quality and finish as we do – so when we draw up our tender shortlist with you, we’ll include them if at all possible.

Your role is simply to sit back, get on with your life and work, and watch our shared vision take shape. We’re your hands-on, diligent project manager, and we work closely with your contractor, administering the contract and keeping everything on track and on budget. Yes, we really do deal with everything for you.

Essex Architects Process v2

Sustainability

We want you to have a low-energy, long-life home. So we do everything we can to drive down embodied carbon, which is the energy used to build your house, and operational carbon, which is the energy needed to run it.

Early on we think about how to shape your house or extension, and how best to position it. We look at where to place windows, how big they should be, and how they might be shaded.  All this allows us to make the most of the warmth of the sun in winter and keep the spaces cool and fresh in summer.

There are technical solutions too, to make it both comfortable and energy-efficient – simple things like insulation, triple-glazing and airtightness, through to heat pumps, solar panels, and MVHR (mechanical ventilation heat recovery).

When we can, we design to the Passivhaus or AECB standard. There’s a lot to say on this, and together we’ll agree on what’s possible.

Our response to the climate crisis is constantly evolving, as is our understanding of the urgency, so we’re always pushing ourselves to do more.

Values

Reduce | Reuse | Recycle

The most sustainable option for any project is the re-use of what is already on site, whether this is buildings, materials or other resources. We will always encourage our clients to explore options to retain and repurpose what they can before considering new build as a last resort.

Alongside the re-use of existing materials and resources, we endeavour to specify materials for new build elements which not only have low embodied carbon, but also have the potential for further re-use and recycling once the building reaches the end of its lifecycle, reducing contribution to future waste.

We are signatories to various petitions to the UK Government to reduce the VAT on retrofit and refurbishment works to reduce the tax benefit of new build and make reuse a more financially viable option.

Essex Architects Values

Fees

If we had a penny for every time we were asked “what are your fees?” then we wouldn’t be architects anymore. We’d be sat on a beach drinking Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain!

So, what are our fees? The truth is that it’s incredibly tricky to be exact about “how much”, without first finding out about your project. Ideally we need to understand the size and complexity of your project, and how involved you want us to be before we can give you an exact idea of fees.

What we are sure about though, is that good design and expert project management really is worth it’s weight in gold! We save you time, money and worry. We get the design right before construction starts on site, which means a streamlined process, no costly changes, no time wasted, much less risk, and a happy builder.

And that’s just the start – good design is something you’ll appreciate every day, and for years to come.

So give us a call and let's have a chat, because every client is different and no two sites are ever the same.

Essex Architects Fees

Recent work

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