| William
Sutherland Architect |
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Office
Address Cluan
Rydal Road
Ambleside
LA22 9BA
015394 34489
For
location plan
see Local Links
  |
 Architects... how do I find one?... October 2008 update |
Know any good Architects?...
The National Park is (increasingly) one large village. A strong rural streak still runs through the inhabitants. If you come to live in the area you have to accept that most people will know everything about you if not within days then certainly within the first few weeks!
There is a tradition of personal recommendation which still thrives. Whether you are looking for an Architect or a chimney sweep asking around will usually produce honest opinions. This to my mind is the sensible approach - at least initially.
Clients often do not realise that recommendation is a two way process. Having been recommended by say, a builder or previous client the wise Architect will have a quiet word with the source to find out what he can about the background of the new client!
Commercial
Listings and Directories
Choosing any firm out of Yellow Pages is a bit of a lottery however I
do know that some colleagues get decent jobs from advertising in YP and/or yell.com
Nearly all my work comes from recommendation - but that
probably reflects my rural (yes, the Lakes are still rural!) location.
Some work comes via the website - including occasional gems such as,
'can you design a house in Tbilisi ?' - but more commonly local clients
use it as a reference check before telephoning or emailing to have an
initial chat.
Colleagues down South tell me that they get a lot of work via the internet, and this seems set to increase.
The RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) maintains a searchable database of architects and some (but not all - see below) practices.
Members of the RIBA are allowed to describe themselves as Chartered Architects.
Recently the RIBA launched a Chartered Practice scheme
as a quality accreditation mark - only such practices will now be
listed in the RIBA list of practices. While I would argue that such
quality mark schemes do not have a consistent track record of improving
quality of service there is no doubt that it will do architects good to
have a formal requirement to attend to quality control in their
dealings with clients (and yes, my practice joined the Chartered Practice scheme ;-)
There are architects who are not members of the RIBA but every architect must be registered with the ARB (Architects Registration Board).
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