I have been designing and detailing buildings for thirty five years.
I have worked on site, undertaken development for profit and carried out my own self builds.
My approach to design revolves around key fundamentals. Top of the list is function and financial control.
By function, I mean how does the building have to work for the user on a day to day basis, and how does the building get the best out of the site
Financial control is on the critical path of design.
Financial control is about how I approach design to get as close as possible to the budget. That means from the outset, I have the overriding consideration:-
How am I going to have to build it?
That may sound like I’m advocating a non-creative design approach, but that is not the case. I would contend that one has to be more creative to design in such a way that functional and aesthetic aspiration can be achieved using a practical and cost effective construction technique.
With this approach, when it comes to detailing the design for pricing and construction purposes I don’t necessarily need to change the design to make it work.
Member of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
