Our Architectural Design Process

We tailor our Architectural Design Process to meet your requirements, working closely with you to create the project of your dreams. Are you tired of uninspiring buildings that fail to meet your expectations? Do you want to design your own home? If so, consider Self-Build as an option.

By self-building, you can commission your own home, whether by remodeling an existing dwelling or starting a completely new build. We tailor architectural designs to reflect your requirements, lifestyle, and budget. Your involvement in the process can be as varied as the designs themselves. If the idea of digging footings in the rain or tiling the roof in a gale doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry—you can leave that to a build team.

When you engage in the architectural design process, you avoid the pitfalls of mainstream construction, to achieve a beautiful, comfortable, and functional home. You can choose to exceed building regulations, eliminate draughts, design out cold bridges, and minimize heating costs. We believe that Passivhaus is the best standard to build to, ensuring your home is both comfortable and economical to run without compromising on design.

As Architects and environmental consultants, we at Eco Design Consultants are perfectly equipped to provide the architectural support your project requires. We understand the challenges self-builders face, and we will guide you through each step of your project. We will tailor our services to your needs, ensuring you successfully achieve your dream home.

We start our architectural design process with a free initial consultation. We use this meeting to understand your requirements and develop a strategic brief. By getting to know you, we appreciate what your dream home looks like and how you live. This understanding allows us to tailor our services to your needs.

The consultation provides you with insight into our process and working style, helping determine if we’re a good fit. You can ask questions about self-builds, environmental standards, and the architect’s role. Please set aside an hour for this meeting.

Concept design is where your ideas start to become a design. We’ll work with you to develop a briefing document that will be used throughout the life of your project. We will challenge you in some areas so that we can get a full understanding of your requirements. We will also carry out a site analysis highlighting the locations constraints and opportunities.  A measured site survey and topographical survey may also be required and we will help you in obtaining these.

We will produce two design options, which reflect your requirements and preferences then meet with you to agree a final option, usually this is an amalgamation of options. This final design will form the basis for a pre-planning discussion with the local planning department. As environmental consultants, we will avoid cold bridges and optimise form factor, while still achieving the aesthetic you require.

Once we have had a response from the local authority we will update the design if required, and suggest that we model your design in Passivhaus (PHPP) software to enable the design to be optimised for solar gain whilst balancing the thermal performance, function and good design. We will explore with you the effects of alternative window and insulation choices, and the effects of any architectural features.

Using the PHPP information and the updated drawings we will produce a basic specification, enabling a quantity surveyor to provide an outline costing to ensure its financial feasibility. We will then develop your design into a full planning application, including a design and access statement.

“Your planning application document looks very professional and strikes just the right tone explaining, and justifying the design to the planning officers. I was very pleased, however not surprised, to see it pass in one go.”

Bart H, Client

Working drawings are the technical design of your home, this is where we break down the design into detail. Each detail will contain the architectural, structural and building information needed to build your home on site. We’ll coordinate work with the structural engineer and other specialists involved in the design to develop the construction drawings and meet planning conditions.

Eco Design Consultants’ working drawing package includes the additional information required by a Passivhaus self-builder, the technical detail to ensure a thermally efficient build. The package will include specifications for insulation and details on achieving a continuous airtightness barrier. This is where our drawings really differ, they include the information required to achieve the aesthetic finish and environmental standard you have specified rather than leaving it to different trades on site. It would be impossible, for example, to achieve the airtightness required for Passivhaus if this was not agreed in advance with each trade assuming a different plan, resulting in gaps where one trade leaves and another starts.

As your project begins on-site, we will continue to support your design through contract administration, including regular site inspections and review of progress. We would be responsible for ensuring that the contract documentation is accurate, appropriate and all items under the contract such as variations and certificates are properly signed and issued. This usually involves visiting site monthly.

To assist with the certification process we will finalise the PHPP model and collate information on the performance of the building. It’s important to collect data through the build to avoid certifiers having to assume averages. We would also liaise with the certifier throughout the process, assist with snagging and liaise with certification bodies.

This final stage in the RIBA plan of works has the catchy title of “handover and close out.” As a self-builder, you’ll see the construction teams leave, the dust levels reduce and you can move in. Depending on your role during the build process some of the decorating and interior design may be outstanding. The hard landscaping such has the driveways may be complete but the garden is ready for a makeover.  We will help you understand how your building and controls work and generally be available to address any questions you have. We also ask you how the project went, and how we can improve our service for others.