How we work
From feasibility to permission, and beyond.
Every project follows the same clear path. The difference is that architecture and planning move together at each stage, so decisions are sharper, risks surface earlier, and your project moves forward with fewer surprises.
The integrated advantage
One team, from the first site visit.
In most projects, an architect designs and a planner is brought in afterwards to win consent for what's been drawn. We work the other way round, together, from day one. Design decisions are tested against policy as they're made, so the scheme that reaches submission is one the authority can support. Fewer delays, clearer decisions, stronger outcomes.
Feasibility & site appraisal
Before anything is committed, we establish what your site can realistically support. We read the planning policy and constraints, weigh the opportunities and the risks, and give you an honest, early view of the options. This is where an integrated team pays off most, the planner and the architect assess the site together, so the brief that emerges is grounded in reality.
What you get: a clear read on potential, key constraints, and a recommended route forward.
Design
With a realistic brief agreed, we develop the design, testing every move against planning policy as it is made, not after the drawings are finished. The result is a scheme that is confident in its setting and credible at submission, rather than a design that has to be unpicked to win consent.
What you get: a resolved design developed in step with planning strategy.
Planning submission
We prepare and manage the application, framing the proposal in policy terms, assembling the evidence a decision-maker needs, and engaging the Local Planning Authority through pre-application where it helps. On complex sites we coordinate the ecological, technical and design evidence so the case stands up to scrutiny.
What you get: a complete, policy-led application, managed through to decision.
Permission
Most cases are won at application. Where a scheme is refused, a refusal is not the end of the road, with the right strategy we prepare written representations and act as expert witness at hearing or inquiry. Because the design was tested against policy throughout, the case we take to appeal is a strong one.
What you get: consent secured, at application or, where needed, at appeal.
Delivery
With permission in hand, we take the project through to a buildable scheme, technical detailing, coordination of specialists, and the information your builder needs. Tom's seventeen years and 750-plus delivered projects underpin this final, practical stage.
What you get: a consented project ready to build, delivered with technical precision.
"A unique and outstanding planning case, expertly structured, with rigorous policy analysis, a compelling design quality argument and decisive strategic representation throughout."
Planning Inspector, Water Lily House Appeal
Get in touch
Ready to clarify your site's potential?
Share your site address and a short outline of your proposal. We'll come back with a clear, realistic view of the options.