Archive for ‘Brooks and Ware’

New website up and running

We are delighted to confirm that we have now completed the formal change from Brooks and Ware Architects to BWP Architects.

The new website is up and running and the enquiries via the Free Consultation page have already started to come in.

RIBA South East feature us in the Practice Profile section – again!

The RIBA South East have just published their December 2010 copy of ‘The Arch’ magazine and have included us again in their featured practice Profile section.

The article can be downloaded here as can the September 2007 article.

Waverley Borough Council adopt their new Residential Extension Design Guide

Waverely Borough Council have now completed their review of the Supplementary Planning Guidance document on Residential Extensions. This has now officially been adopted and as such all new planning applications for extending homes in Waverley will be measured against this.

We are delighted to see that our lobbying and our comments made on the draft version during the consultation period for this document has secured an acknowledgement of the importance of good quality contemporary design and the SPD now includes the following statement:

This document is not intended to stifle creative and innovative design, but to ensure that relevant aspects are considered at each stage of the development process.

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Free Consultation service raises over £6,000 for Charity

With another £400 rasied for Charity from our Free Consulation service in July alone our overall figure has now passed the £6,000!

Here’s what one client said…

Just a quick note to thank you for your time and assistance yesterday.You were able to provide us with lots of ideas and advice in a short period of time and solved the problem of designing in a study. We now have a firm view of how to move forward on our remodelling project which we didn’t have before the meeting. You could build a second career in marriage guidance counselling!

For more details on the Free Consultation service and how you can get plenty of help and advice while pushing us towards our next target of £7,000 click here

New Contemporary Houses submitted to Planning, Hampshire

New Contemporary House in Hampshire

A Full Planning Application has been submitted to East Hants District Council for the construction of two new Contemporary homes for one of our private clients.

The site in Four Marks, Hampshire, is surrounded by protected trees whose Root Protection Zones cover almost the entire site. Use of a piled foundation system with suspended ground floor slabs lifted out of the ground will prevent damage to the roots and will ensure that ground water is still able to get to the roots.

The use of additional insulation, tight air-leakage limits, whole house ventilation with heat recovery, air source heat pumps and wood burning stoves with LED lighting throughout will mean that the energy usage of these buildings is kept to a minimum.  Locally sourced sweet chestnut cladding and rainwater harvesting utilising the space below the ground floor slabs add to the environmental credentials of these houses. As the sweet chestnut weathers and silvers naturally the sculptural houses will blend further into their woodland setting.

Adjacent to the A31, acoustic screening and a heavy masonry structure will limit noise from one side of the site while the north of the site will benefit positively from the passing sound of the occasional train along the adjacent Watercress Line, a volunteer and enthusiast run local steam train line.

Government plans to stop developers building homes on gardens

From Building Magazine today:

Measures against garden grabbing include reallocation from brownfield category and binning density targets. The government is to give English councils more power to stop developers building homes on gardens.

Communities minister Greg Clark is expected to announce that gardens will be reclassified, removing them from the brownfield category that makes it easy to obtain permission to build housing on them.

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New Sports Clubhouse – How to Design and Build One (Part 2)

‘’What shall we include?……….’’

You will by now have read part one, and hopefully implemented, the first stages of galvanising a smooth and efficient process for delivering a new sports facility – now you simply need to agree and design its contents. Should be easy really…….shouldn’t it?

For the most part the need for a new facility has been generated by a need to grow and provide greater levels of accommodation than that previously enjoyed by the club. However in order to reinstate the existing provisions – say 4 changing rooms and ancillary facilities – may infact need to occupy a physical footprint greatly in excess of the existing building…….and thus not really yield any growth at all, but why?

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Success for New Build House in Chaldon Green Belt

Brooks and Ware Architects are pleased to announce that its scheme for a new build 2 storey dwelling to replace an existing bungalow in the Green Belt has been permitted at appeal.

The scheme, developed in conjunction with close negotiation with Tandridge District Council, was surprisingly refused at the 11th Hour by the council despite a positive and supporting report from the case officer. However the scheme once examined by the appeals procedure was granted full permission. The scheme will see the demolition of a large and rather rambling bungalow and its replacement with a more compact 2 storey home in a style more appropriate with its rural location with the decision stating that the proposal ‘’would also enhance the openness and visual amenities of the Green Belt and conserve and enhance the landscape character of the area’’

Completion and Handover of new Supported Housing Project

We are pleased to announce that the £147,000 project to provide a new 6 bedroom care home for the Registered Care Charity The Field Lane Foundation was handed over to the client today.

An existing single dwelling house has been completely remodelled to provide supported housing for people with learning difficulties. The result is a six bedroom home, each complete with modern ensuite bathrooms, together with a new large communual lounge and kitchen area. It was a particular requirement of the brief that the project avoid the austere institutional feel of many such developments and provide the charity with somewhere which has the feeling of a real home. Careful selection of the finishes was needed to ensure that while this aim was acheived the requirements for the end users were also met.

New Appointments for New Houses and Large Developments

This month saw several new projects coming into the practice ranging from instructions to proceed with the construction drawings for two new houses for Gold Property Developments Ltd and designs for a new car-free eco-house in the centre of Farnham right through to the other end of the scale where we have been asked by Persimmon Homes Yorkshire to start Masterplanning designs for several very large sites across Yorkshire of hundreds of new houses each. Persimmon Homes worked with partner James Palmer at his previous practice and have come to us to continue their close relationship with him; a fact we are delighted about!