Work in Progress
What a roller coaster couple of years we had since formally launching Modern Architecture Workshop at the start of 2020.
The pandemic has impacted us severely, both in time and lost revenue. Our architecture team changed hats for large parts of the past 18 months and became a homeschooling team. As you might imagine, this did not leave a lot of time for running our studio.
We also lost our biggest client, who decided the conditions were unsuitable for proceeding with their project. We had been guiding them through the feasibility and pre-planning stages on a 30 unit housing scheme in Bedford, but sadly it wasn’t to be.
However, we have seen a significant uptick since the summer.
We are now working on quite a few exciting projects, and it’s great to get back to designing buildings. Here’s a quick snapshot of what we’re working on at the moment:
Office to Hotel Conversion, Central London
I can’t tell you a lot about this project as our client is keeping the details confidential for now. What I can say is that we’ve been conducting a feasibility study for converting a Central London office block into a large hotel.
There are many challenges as the client needs to add several floors on top of the building for this to be commercially successful. Our job is to design a building that ticks three boxes:
Financially viable for our client
Acceptable to the local planning department
Demonstrates excellence in building design and performance
This project is fascinating as we can bring our experience in the hospitality sector to bear. There should be some pretty spectacular views from the top floors once it’s built (see photo above).
Sustainable One-Off House Design, Hertfordshire
One of our private clients is in the process of acquiring a piece of land in Hertfordshire and has asked us to design a one-off luxury home for his family.
The brief is for a home that is in the modern architectural style, highly sustainable and takes advantage of the beautiful setting of the site.
We have been advising our client throughout the purchase process to make sure he considers all of the risks involved in the planning process and also refines the design brief. We are going to hang our hat on this one for years to come with a bit of luck.
It’s next door to a Grade II listed property, so we are treading carefully and engaging with the best possible consultants to reduce our client’s risk.
Sustainable Housing Scheme, Bedfordshire
Our latest project is for a developer that owns a plot of scrubland in rural Beds. The site is in a small village, and the developer has the goal of building around 4-6 eco-houses that take advantage of some lovely views across the countryside.
We are looking forward to the concept design phase for this project as there are many options to consider. We hope to take this project through the entire design and construction phase as this developer shares our vision on the importance of sustainable building design.
Phew. It feels like we’ve gone from 0-60 in no time at all. We’re delighted that so many of our clients share our vision of sustainable building design. If that sounds like you too, why not get in touch.
We would love to hear about any building projects you are currently planning, especially if they sound like any projects above.
