Design and Build UK
Residential building – Extensions – Prestige home design
We are your architects – We are your interior designers – We are your builders
Residential architects, design and build services – London, Surrey
Many clients require a service that incorporates both design and build so they can have a relationship with only one main contractor who has overall responsibility for delivering the project to ensure budgets and timelines are met.
We primarily design buildings and project manage their construction within the borders of Surrey, Berkshire and London, but please do enquire if your project is outside this areas. We may be able to help.
Outstanding, well-designed homes with stunning interiors
Our new homes and extensions are designed and built to your specific needs and budget, offering unique thought-provoking and inspirational architectural interior design solutions that satisfy the clients’ lifestyle and family needs.
We can help you make your dream new build or home extension a reality, as well as creating detailed plans for new housing schemes
Our residential architects and interior designers help you with initial design to securing planning permission and building regulations.
Complete architectural and interior design service
Whether you are looking to build your first house or a prestige home we provide all third party professional services which will be required for the project including:
- Site feasibility studies
- Concept design & budget
- Interior space planning
- Planning applications
- Detailed architectural design
- Interior design
- Project implementation
The process
- 1. Site feasibility
- 2. Concept design and budget
- 3. Internal space planning
- 4. Detailed planning application
- 5. Building regulations, specification and detail
- 6. Interior design and 3D visuals
- 7. Project implementation
Establishing the optimum sized house for an individual or family building their dream home is the key and during our free initial meeting our residential architect can give you some advice and discuss thoughts, requirements as well as outline possible options, design solutions, opportunities and development ideas. This could be based on the budget available or simply to deliver certain accommodation requirements. We mostly work in London and Surrey area so please get in touch if your project is further away.
Architectural design involves conceptual sketches, presenting many ideas and communication to agree a direction for your scheme.
This stage will help you understand what can be achieved in design and technical terms within your budget and provide a plan that can be used to develop the budget. The concept design forms the foundations of the scheme design. In some cases a pre-application enquiry can be submitted.
Once the concept designs have been agreed, we prepare a provisional budget. Having the architects, interior design and build teams under one roof we are able to tell you where costs lie so you can make informed changes to the design.
Unlike other architectural design companies, A LOT of discussion and effort goes into internal spatial planning in early stages of your design in order to maximise available space and at the same time allow us to create dramatic and harmonious environments once the planning is granted.
We will suggest as many options as necessary, hold design team meetings internally and with the client, to reach a conclusion for this stage.
Obtaining Planning Permission is the key to any development. Without it you cannot legally build. The Planners are concerned with aspects such as parking, overlooking, use, materials, etc.
Once the concept design and internal space planning layouts are approved we progress to adding more detail to the proposals and preparing all the necessary drawings needed to illustrate the scheme to you and the planners.
With the design work complete we focus on presentation and decide the best material and appearance of our illustrations, to ensure the application is afforded the best chance of success. This can involve adding colour, artist impressions, 3D material, before and after photography.
We can also produce 3D models and computer generated images to assist you to visualise the design.
This stage of the design process involves the production of clear and concise detailed drawings and specifications, for submission to your local Building regulations department, to obtain accurate pricing and later – to be used by the construction team. The Building Regulations are a set of minimum government standards, regularly being updated, relating to aspects such as accessibility, structural stability, safety, insulation, drainage etc.
It is time to think how the interior of your new dream home will look like. We will start discussing all your interior & design choices such as living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms. You will benefit from our graphics and visualisation team working closely with our architects to produce 3D models and computer-generated imagery.
This service helps you visualise the designs and transforms your aspiration into reality. It is hugely beneficial in terms of resolving the finer details and in developing style, scale and form. Once the interior scheme is arranged we will produce all the working drawings that are necessary for our renovation team to translate the design into reality.
These drawings have to be prepared to a very high standard.
The more one party controls, the better the end result. We will basically deal with everything from demolition to hanging pictures and the majority of people on site will work directly for us.
We normally get competitive tenders from at least 3 builders, usually based on fully detailed drawings and a specification as vagueness at this stage will just lead to ‘extras’ and disputes later. Larger and more complex jobs may need the involvement of a Quantity Surveyor.
We then formalise things such as cost, stage payments, timescale, insurance, potential dispute resolution etc. Without such a written contract you are vulnerable to all sorts of potentially very costly problems, often resulting from the client and builder having different expectations based on different assumptions.
While on site, we work closely with the client and contractor to ensure that the quality of delivery matches the contract information and client expectation. We regularly monitor both site and programme, dealing with day-to-day issues as and when they arise.
At the end of the project we will prepare a completion pack for you that contains: Planning & Building regulation consents, Guarantees & Certificates, Instruction manuals. We will also arrange personal demonstrations of any items installed by us, especially new heating systems. standard.