Our studio
We have assembled a core team around experience, creativity, and trust. As a practice our collective experience covers projects in different sectors, of every size and scale. No matter the type of project we are mindful of maintaining a connection with the client, talking openly to work in partnership with each other throughout the project.
We understand the financial and emotional investment that comes with building or transforming your own home. Contacting us by phone and email to talk through any worries or questions you may have can go a long way in making this process more enjoyable.
Our aims
- Be excellent communicators, with our clients, consultants, and each other.
- Continued commitment to improvement through reviews of previous work and continual professional development.
- Push boundaries on pre-conceived ideas of what architecture is or should be.
- To work in tandem with clients and consultants to explore all possibilities.
- To be practical, designing to budget, site, and planning constraints.
- To create an improving environment which encourages creativity and expression.
The founders - A practice founded on experience
Joe and Craig founded the company in 2016. Started working on smaller projects that over time have become bigger and more complex. Together they bring over 40 years of experience in different sectors encompassing all stages of the project.
Joe Reader BA (hons), DipArch
Having worked on many diverse projects over the years, Joe has acquired a wide range of experience within the residential and commercial sectors. He has accumulated a wealth of project management experience on numerous projects. These range from multi-storey apartments, ambitious one-off refurbishments, right through to retail and industrial projects. His in-depth knowledge of planning law building regulations means he is ideally placed to follow projects through from drawing board to site.
Craig Humber BA (hons), DipArch
Craig began his professional experience with a solid background of construction through family businesses, and knew from a young age that he would rather create and deliver projects from the comfort of an office rather than on site. This early and constant exposure to the construction industry makes his creative schemes rooted to practicality and buildability.
Craig has been lucky to work on a number of significant projects during his career working for a variety of small to large companies. During that time, he gained a diverse range of experience working on small to large scale residential projects through to large scale commercial, industrial and leisure developments.
Frequently asked questions
Like many RIBA Chartered Architects, we base our fee on a percentage of the anticipated construction costs. This percentage is adjusted for different projects, as it aims to be a fair reflection of the size and complexity of each project.
This is based on our extensive experience of how much time is needed to develop, design, and produce a package of information that enables planners, consultants, building control and builders to support the scheme and accurately price the project.
However, we do break down the fee and fix it for each main stage, typically the 6 RIBA stages of work are split into 3 stages, pre-planning information, post planning information and on site. This fee is only revised if the scope of works or brief significantly changes. From the outset later stages are not fixed as we need to determine how the final project will look. We do however provide you with guidance on what these might be and provide fixed fees for different stages once a scheme is agreed for the planning submission.
We offer a full service from the drawing board to moving in. The team are experienced to create and deliver projects working on all RIBA Stages, with the process being carefully considered at each stage. We are equally happy to restrict the full service and split the scope of work up including packages to ensure that the service provided meets the projects needs and client’s requirements.
Depends on the type of project.
For residential projects, 5 years ago it was considered a budget of £1,500.00 per square metre, was a sensible amount to achieve a good finish, now this figure is realistically £2,500.00 to £2,750.00. It’s important to understand that building costs can fluctuate during the time a project takes to get to site. The key thing is to be honest about your budget from the outset as we will be honest about what can be achieved. If prices, then fluctuate during the process we will look to value engineer some elements to help the project come in on budget.
We are fortunate to have had experience working on different sectors of architecture within our careers. From residential work covering bespoke new builds to extensions, conversions and re-modelling, to housing developments, industrial, leisure and commercial developments also.
We must admit that our office enjoys the variety of projects we cover. It enables us to transfer different ideas across the sectors to deliver bespoke projects. In the correct environment there is no reason a commercial solution is not right for a residential project and vice versa.
Our practice is lucky to be based in two locations, Hitchin Hertfordshire, and Cheltenham Gloucestershire. It enables us to work within the home counties and London, but also in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, and the surrounding areas.
We have also on occasion worked much further afield!