Frequently Asked Questions

Any architectural project comprises three main aspects: Creative design, Technical design and Project Management. A successful architectural project can only be achieved when all three aspects are properly performed and harmoniously integrated by an experienced professional. But can we really expect a single person to specialise and shine in all three aspects and furthermore skilfully negotiate and balance the often contradictory challenges these aspects present?

Most architectural practices today operate on the assumption that a single individual can manage an entire project from beginning to end. This often means your project is handed to a lone architect, typically someone relatively junior, who is expected to oversee every stage of the process on their own.

Scenario Architecture works in a completely different and new way. We acknowledge specialism and value teamwork and therefore assign three experienced specialists for each and every project. A Scenario project team involves a Project Director, a Designer and a Technical Designer, seamlessly collaborating to deliver results which are noticeably superior to anything that a single person, skillful as they may be, could ever produce.

The Scenario design process has been developed, tested and refined over a decade of delivering residential projects in and around London. Some of its key features are outlined below.

• Scenario-based design – We start each and every project with a meticulous analysis of our client’s vision, requirements and aspirations. We do this by asking our clients to imagine their everyday scenarios living in the completed house and describe their desired interaction with it.
• We then translate the resulting high-definition brief into an informative and revealing 3-dimensional simulation, illuminating aspirations, requirements and patterns of habitation.
• Uniquely interactive – Our client’s deep involvement in the process does not stop with completion of the brief. Our design meetings are highly interactive, informal and fun. Sitting together in front of a real-time 3D model of the proposed design with realistic materials, lighting and textures, we push and pull the proposed scheme together to explore its full potential and drag and drop different materials to explore various options.
• We then invite our clients to take a virtual reality tour through advanced equipment that is always available in our practice for our clients to explore their projects at different stages of development.
• Designed to reflect you – Based purely on your lifestyle, aspirations and requirements and free from externally imposed concepts, metaphors and pre-conceptions, a completely fresh and unique design will gradually emerge and it will tell your story, not ours.

It will not look like an image cut out of a trendy architecture magazine and not be designed to intentionally impress anyone. It will feel familiar, warm and inviting and you will recognise yourself in it because it will be a genuine expression of the unique way in which you and your family wish to interact with it and enjoy it for many years to come.

There is no doubt that choosing an architect is a big decision and there’s a huge amount of information to consider. As you may have already experienced, different firms and architectural practices across London tend to differ in terms of the language they use, which aspects they emphasise and in their fees and scope structures.

We have compiled an essential guide to choosing an architect, which includes the three most important considerations to have on your list whilst you come to a decision.

This guide is based on our fifteen years of experience as a top architectural practice in London and includes our expert recommendations to ensure you make the right choice and select the architect that is best suited to you and your project.

Click here to read the full guide.

A key aspect, absolutely necessary to ensure a successful delivery of your project, is appointing a suitable and competent professional team. If we work together on your project, we would be appointed as your Architects and Lead Consultants to help you in assembling the rest of the professional team.

Most projects in and around London will require at least four additional consultants:

• Structural Engineer
• Quantity Surveyor for cost control
• Approved Inspector to ensure and certify compliance with building regulations
• Party Wall Surveyor if any work is to be done to a party wall or structure

For some projects, depending on the scale, complexity and your specific aspirations, it may be recommended or required to use the services of additional consultants, including but not limited to: Planning, Heritage, Right of Light, Landscape Designer, Audio Visual and Building Services Engineer. When appropriate, we will discuss these options with you and obtain relevant quotes for all additional consultants for you to consider.

In the past, it was common practice for local authorities to impose sustainability standards on residential developments. However, the 2015 Deregulation Act removed this obligation, meaning that sustainability requirements now default to those set out in the Building Regulations.

With no clear or enhanced sustainability targets in place, we collaborated with Envision to create optional Sustainability Levels, giving our clients the opportunity to significantly boost their home’s environmental credentials. These levels, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond, offer clear and practical sustainability goals, ranging from basic compliance with current Building Regulations to achieving the full, rigorous HQM (Home Quality Mark) certification at the Diamond level.

As the packages become more elaborate in terms of sustainability, analysis and implemented measures, they provide increasing tangible benefits. These range from thermal and acoustic comfort and wellbeing, to reduced carbon footprint, savings on running costs and significant advantages through the planning process. The more elaborate packages obviously entail higher cost in terms of professional fees as well as impact on the construction cost, although each sustainability ‘Level’ will endeavour to not overly burden the construction budget.

The fee structure we offer depends on the type and scale of your project, as well as the required scope from us.

The vast majority of our projects are full projects, in which we provide full architectural services from inception to completion, covering the standard RIBA scope and more. For these, our fees are calculated as an agreed percentage of the final cost of the building works (exclusive of VAT and professional fees).

At any given time, we calculate our fees based on the latest construction cost estimates available, and adjust both forward and retrospectively for any budget/scope increases (and forward only for decreases, as work may already have been completed).

During the early stages, our fees are calculated based on our in-house estimation tool. Once available, we use estimates from the appointed Quantity Surveyor, then actual tender returns, and finally the contract sum (including any changes during construction).

In unusual cases, we may agree to take on partial scope projects, for example only up to the planning stage or starting from a takeover point after another architect. For these, we normally provide a fixed lump sum proposal.

Currently we recommend allowing between £2,500 and £3,000 per square metre for side extensions, rear extensions or front extensions.

For basement extensions, which are the most expensive way to add space to your home, we recommend allowing between £3,000 and £3,500 per square metre.

When it comes to roof extensions, our experience shows that it is better to allow a lump sum of:

• £40,000–£60,000 for loft conversions with dormer windows
• £80,000–£120,000 for mansard roof extensions

These ranges are based on averages from numerous actual projects that we have completed in and around London since 2007. We only use these rough costs per square metre during the early stages of design. This helps to maintain awareness of your target budget until a cost professional is appointed and more accurate estimates are provided.

The actual cost for your project will depend on many factors, including:

• The complexity of the design
• Level of structural support required
• Selection of fixtures, fittings and finishes

The estimated costs per square metre mentioned above are for build costs only and exclude VAT and professional fees.

If you are thinking of building a new house from scratch (often referred to as a self-build) in the London area, we currently recommend allowing between £2,500 and £3,500 per square metre for projects.

This range can be narrowed once we understand:

• Whether a basement is required to achieve your target floor area
• Likely construction method and structural approach
• Desired level of fixtures, fittings and finishes
• Sustainability targets — from baseline Building Regulations compliance to high-efficiency, eco-friendly homes with significant long-term savings on running costs, improved air quality, and thermal comfort

Currently we recommend allowing between £2,500 and £3,000 per square metre for areas which will undergo an extensive renovation. We designate an area of the project as extensive renovation if the planned works includes substantial changes to layouts, significant structural works, re-plumbing, re-wiring and full redecoration.

For areas of lighter internal renovation which do not require significant changes to layout or substantial structural works but do require full redecoration, re-plumbing and rewiring, we recommend allowing between £2,000 and £2,500 as an estimated cost per square metre, we designate these areas as requiring medium renovation.

If there areas in your project which only call for a light renovation such as re-plastering, and painting, installing new floor finishes and light modifications of electrics and plumbing fittings, we will designate these as areas of light renovation and recommend that you allow £1,500-£2,000 per square metre or even as low as between £1,000-£1,500 if you only have light touches in mind.

The real cost for your project will depend on several different variables including the complexity of the design, extent of structural works and level of fixtures, fittings and material finishes.

These estimated costs per square metre are for the build cost excluding VAT and professional fees.

Planning in the UK, and especially in Greater London, is notoriously complex. It’s a maze of policies, regulations, and standards that demands specialised, up-to-date knowledge and expertise to navigate successfully.

Over the past decade, we’ve developed a strong approach and proven methodology. This has helped us build an exceptional track record of successfully securing planning permission for clients across Greater London and the Home Counties.

The key aspects of our approach to planning are listed below:

• Collaborative – We start the conversation with planners early and advise most of our clients to seek pre-planning advice prior to submitting a full planning application. Our experience shows that when properly consulted and liaised with, most planning case officers will be receptive to conduct a professional dialogue, increasing the chances of success.
• Strategic – We tailor a custom planning strategy for each project based on its circumstances such as planning history, local context and specific challenging elements. We sometimes split applications or introduce minor tweaks to the scheme during the consideration period in conversation with the officers to prevent one contentious element from jeopardising approval of the main scheme.
• Professional – We have found that the quality and clarity of the submission in terms of background research, planning history of the property and context, precedent and the arguments presented to support the case has a tremendous effect on the success rate.

Once we have an initial scheme designed for your project which you are happy to proceed with, we will advise whether we recommend obtaining pre-planning advice or proceeding directly to the submission of a full planning application.

Most of our projects are submitted first to pre-planning when the following applies:

• Our experience shows that planning officers respond better to projects when they feel consulted and collaborated with. We find that when we truly listen to their often helpful and valid feedback and treat them as consultants for the projects (and not representatives of an “evil enforcing authority”), they tend to collaborate well with us and demonstrate increased flexibility.
• Although the council in theory has eight weeks to consider your application, in practice they are constantly overloaded and will only look at your application in the last few days of the consideration period. If this is the first time that they come across a scheme that they were never consulted about, our chance to secure permission for you in a single attempt is significantly compromised.
• The standard practice is for the council to consider the full planning application as submitted and then issue a yes or no decision. Case officers are not required or even encouraged to enter a discussion with us or accept resubmission of minor changes to the proposed scheme during the consideration period.
• In practice, our established working relationships and long-standing experience working across Greater London and the Home Counties often enables us to have a meaningful discussion and even introduce minor tweaks to the submitted scheme within the consideration period to prevent the application from being rejected. This strategy is much more likely to succeed when projects are first submitted for pre-planning advice.

In a nutshell, building control is the means by which Local Authorities enforce compliance with current Building Regulations.

In practice, there are two main ways to go about obtaining the required advice and certification for your project:

• Via your Local Council’s Building Control Department.
• Via direct appointment of an Approved Inspector who is authorised to carry out the inspection and certification on behalf of any local authority.

The role of either the Council’s Building Control Officer or an Approved Inspector is to verify that your project meets all current Building Regulations. They will review and approve all the drawings, inspect the actual work carried out on site and, once the project is completed, issue the final compliance certificate.

Due to an open market and healthy competition between local councils and approved inspectors, the process and associated costs are almost identical. Having said that, our experience is that the private inspectors still feel and behave more as your appointed consultants, while the council’s service still feels more like a statutory inspection — and it is often slower and less responsive.

While it is always good to be informed and understand the process, you do not need to worry about this part of the project. As your appointed architects, we will take care of it for you. We will obtain comparable quotes on your behalf and appoint the selected provider. You can leave this entire aspect of your project with us.

Building control is required for almost all projects that we have ever worked on, as only minor renovation works might be exempt from this.

The standard consideration period for a residential project is eight weeks. This is the official time frame for your local council to carry out a consultation with the neighbours and reach a decision. We recommend allowing a minimum of ten weeks from submission to decision as, in practice, the process always takes slightly longer for the following reasons:

• The decision period clock only starts ticking once the application is validated by the Council, This requires then to check that the forms are completed correctly and that the submission contains all the necessary drawings, statements and reports.

Validation can take anything from a few days to couple of weeks when the council is very busy, which is most of the time…

• Although required by law to provide a decision within the statutory eight weeks period, it is not uncommon for councils to miss the deadline of the consideration period, normally only by a few days, sometimes longer.

While there are some effective measures to apply pressure, which we do not hesitate to use when appropriate, it is generally beneficial for the project to bear with the council a little longer.

• In some cases the council may ask us as your agent for an extension of time, this may be requested due to internal reasons or as an acceptable result of a professional discussion that we are conducting with them about certain aspects of the application that they are not sure about.