London Architects
London Architects
London Architects
About us
When you own a home in London, you become part of the city’s long, distinguished history. When you make changes to that home, it becomes a part of yours.
We launched Scenario in 2007 with a customised, out-of-the-box approach to modernising period architecture. We collaborate closely with our clients because we know every scenario is different. The scenario dictates the flow, the fabric, the degree of luxury that makes a house personal, whatever the era or provenance. The scenario tells the story.
Our landmark project Scenario House helped established our practice among London’s top residential architects. Located in Stoke Newington, London, it showcases the potential of the city’s period stock to adapt to changing lifestyles with fluid lines, unusual angles and open spaces. In 2018, it was shortlisted for several prestigious prizes, including the RIBA London Awards.
Your London project
Looking for London architects to renovate, extend or rebuild your home? Come share your plans and we’ll show you how we can transform your space to suit your lifestyle.
In the meantime, guide yourself through each stage of the process with our brief illustrated overview. Most residential architectural projects in London require planning permission from the local council. London architects like Scenario have experience working with planning officials to help you secure those permissions.
Tip
Discover if your architect has had success steering planning applications through your local council. Visit the “planning applications” page of your council’s website and enter the architect’s name in the search criteria.
London Architects
London Architects
Scenario is an established architecture practice focusing on contemporary residential design. We take on projects of every scale and scope, from home refurbishment, renovation and expansions to new-builds.
Working with Scenario Architecture
Our young, dynamic team tackles projects of every scale and complexity, from interior alterations to full renovations and new-build homes. We guide our clients through every stage of the process, from initial consultations through the planning process, construction and final decoration. We plan to complete all our projects on time and on budget.
As a RIBA Chartered Practice, Scenario complies with the strict criteria of the Royal Institute of Chartered Architects. We offer our clients insurance, quality-management protection and health and safety measures.
Our architects use innovative 3D visualisation tools to choose fixtures and finishes and simulate natural light. We produce reliable construction information using 3D building information modelling (BIM) technology, saving our clients time and money with accurate, coordinated project data.
This case study from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), featuring a Scenario project, demonstrates the benefits of advanced technology for domestic architecture.
London Architects
In our client's words
London Architects
Great ideas and vision to help with our substantial improvement of a Victorian terrace. In our experience Scenario's method prioritises the final result. That may mean more professional fees or higher quotes from contractors, as they understand the exact requirements.
London Architects
Great, professional service. Good drawings and models and ultimately passed planning at the first attempt with Hackney Council. Would certainly recommend!
London Architects
Scenario Architecture have created an outstanding design and space that was beyond my expectations. The design was through their unique process of understanding the client’s daily scenarios and collaborating with the client to come up with a unique design. The design process is one of the most memorable parts of the process and they also stretched my existing ideas to help create this unique space. A stress free journey throughout the whole process which Scenario were indispensable by giving advice on many difficult design and build decisions.
London Architects
We wanted to renovate our house in a conservation area in central London. Given this involved a complete demolition and new build with an extra floor on top, getting planning approval was always going to be tricky. Scenario did an amazing job on the new house 'envelope' and throughout the planning phase. We couldn't have wished for better from them and having succeeded in gaining planning approval owe them a very big 'thank you'.
London Architects
Scenario were great at thinking imaginatively and coming up with a design for a ground floor extension that was more ambitous than other architects we spoke to. They also helped us find a contractor who was able to complete the project working within timescale and our tight budget. I would recommend for mid to large sized projects with sufficient budget to allow for full utilisation of their creativity.
Further Reading
London is unique in its great selection of elegant period homes. Whatever your neighbourhood, you’ll find a stock of desirable homes dating back to the Georgian, Regency or Victorian era. Often, though, what these homes reflect on the outside does not compare to how they look on the inside.
London’s strict conservation laws mean many buildings must maintain their architectural integrity on the façade. Yet details hidden from the street view are vulnerable to change. Over centuries, domestic London architecture has been subdivided, fragmented, modernised, replumbed and repaired – and not always compassionately. That doesn’t mean a home with wonky floors, awkward functionality and obliterate period details cannot be salvaged. When looking to buy a home or trying to envision the future of an existing home, it’s always necessary to look past unnecessary walls and difficult corners to what a home can be. There is always new space to incorporate or dead space to recoup, whether in a dark loft, a rear kitchen, a stubborn side-return or barely-there basement storage.
Owners of London architecture must always be prepared to discover deeper problems throughout a renovation. Yet a problem in the hands of a good architect can often lead to a more beautiful and more efficient solution. Defunct electricals and obsolete plumbing can lead to smart systems that promise to save time and energy in the future. A troublesome roof can open up the possibilities for a roof of eco-friendly sedum or a bank of solar panelling. Remember when working out your remodelling budget that good design today may eradicate untold costs in the future.
It is possible to maintain the best period details like original mouldings, timber beams and gables while expanding Victorian and Edwardian homes – just as it’s possible to open up interiors to light and greater ease of movement and reintroduce an original fireplace or floor. New cutting-edge materials and a creative approach can help transform a period home not only for the way we live today, but for future generations. Prioritising good design, incorporating personal habits into the flow of your space and having a liaison throughout the process will speed up the process and eliminate any drama.
Renovating London architecture is more than a luxury in today’s landscape. Renovating well is a necessity for maintaining the rich architectural fabric of the city and housing large families in once-poky spaces. It reduces the need for new construction and cuts down on wasted energy in the long term. Most of all, improving your home goes toward building more beautiful, liveable London.
ADVICE
View AllFrequently Asked Questions
- As a dynamic practice operating in London’s premium residential market, managing projects remotely and conducting virtual meetings was a very familiar territory for us, long before the pandemic began and ‘working remotely’ became the norm.
- Our clients have very busy lifestyles and may move between several different locations, both within the UK and beyond, during the lifecycle of a typical project.
- To accommodate such client needs and enable us to run their projects smoothly we had all the technology and know-how associated with remote working in place for several years.
- Read our full (Virtual) Process
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Collaborative – We start the conversation with planners early and advise most of our clients to seek pre-planning advice prior to submission of 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 chances of successes.
- 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 – Our experience shows that the quality and clarity of the submission in terms of background research, planning history of the property and context, precedent and of course the arguments presented to support the case has a tremendous effect on success rate.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 representative of an evil enforcing authority, they tend to collaborate well with us and demonstrate increased flexibility.
- Although the council in theory have eight weeks to consider your application, in practice they are constantly overloaded. They 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.