Practice
Fourteen people. One drawing board.
Founded in Leith in 2004 and still there, in a building we converted ourselves as a way of finding out whether we were any good at it.
The studio, 14 Bernard Street, Leith
Position
Build in what the place already uses.
Scotland has stone, slate, lime, larch and a great deal of weather. A building that arrives in materials from four countries will look temporary within a decade and cost a fortune to maintain.
That is not a conservation argument. It is a durability one, and it happens to produce buildings that sit properly in a landscape rather than being photographed against it.
Where a modern material genuinely performs better — and sometimes it does — we use it and say why. The chapel at Cairn has a concrete raft because nothing else would have survived the ground.
RIBA stages, in plain terms
Stage 0—1
Is it possible?
Feasibility and site appraisal. Usually £1,800, and occasionally it concludes that you should not buy the site.
Stage 2—3
What is it?
Concept and developed design, through to a planning application. This is where the drawing happens.
Stage 4
How is it built?
Technical design and a tender package a contractor can price without a fortnight of queries.
Stage 5—6
On site
Contract administration and inspection. We attend site fortnightly as a minimum, and weekly on anything listed.
Fees
A percentage, stated at the start.
Percentage of construction cost for full services, or a fixed fee for defined stages. Feasibility is always fixed, because you should be able to buy the answer without buying the project.
Come to the studio.
There is always tea and usually a model on the table. First meetings are free and take about an hour.
Get in touch