William Sutherland Architect

Office Address Cluan
Rydal Road
Ambleside
LA22 9BA

015394 34489

For location plan
see Local Links

How it all works in Practice  ...most of the time!

• Agree terms with the client
• If appointed as Planning Supervisor under CDM Regulations
  
• Do site investigations, measured survey
• Draw up the existing layout
• Draw up a design
• [under construction September 2004]
• Discuss with client and amend as necessary
• Make any Planning Applications
• Wait for Planning Consent or resolve any problems
• Draw up detail plans to allow builder to price and to
• Make Building Regulations application
• Agree choice of contractor(s) with client
• If appointed to run the job arrange for formal acceptance of prices and start of work on site.
• If appointed to do so carry out periodic inspections of the work
• Sort out any problems that arise during the works
• If appointed to do so certify contractor's claims for payment and agree final account.
  

While this is a gross simplification it just about covers the usual order of events in a typical project. Here is a bit more detail:

Agree terms with the client:
Every job is different and time spent sorting out just what the client expects you to do and how you are going to charge helps everyone.

If appointed as Planning Supervisor::
Under the CDM Regulations this is related to whether the work is non-domestic and will take more than 30 days start to finish (there is a bit more to it than this but it is a reasonable description for the moment)
(The government could have made this easier to explain to clients by choosing a better title for the position - say 'Healthy & Safety Coordinator' for instance. Clients MUST be told about the CDM Regulations by 'designers' on the project - usually the Architect but it can be anybody with 'design' input - always tell them about the Approved Code of Practice. Bear in mind that most prosecutions are of Clients for either failing to comply with CDM or allowing work to start on site without a Construction Phase Health & Safety Plan in place.)
Note I advise clients that any 'construction' work on second homes whether the property is commercially let out or not is 'non-domestic' under CDM and the full provisions apply on work taking more than 30 days etc. (9 years after the introduction of CDM, local contractors are just about getting used to the idea.)

Measured Survey:
Still pretty much a pencil and paper business (pencil doesn't run in the rain!) although the advent of laser measuring devices helps avoid having to cross barns full of cow muck in search of a measurement.
Professionals measure differently to your average person. They tend to want 'running' dimensions related to a fixed point and triangulation to check for squareness. Metrication still has not 'caught on' among some trades. Joiners particularly - A sort of 'Franglais' approach has emerged. "6 x 2 joists at 400 mm centres" is not uncommon.

Draw up the existing layout:
Always enjoyable until you find that the dimensions do not add up somewhere. Locally the stone buildings are never square and so experience tells you when to allow a bit of deviation. CAD actually makes this easier - the system I use, Allplan FT - actually allows walls to vary in thickness and slope in 3D but it is not always worth the time and effort to obtain greater accuracy. (Except with kitchen units. Lakeland walls in old cottages often curve in at the base - most people measure wall dimensions at waist height or above - thus the kitchen units do not fit when they come onto site - usually late in the job!)

Draw up a design:
Every Architect probably has a slightly different design method adapted to the sort of work they normally encounter. I find working within the restrictions of the National Park no real problem. Most clients want to enhance their property and have it 'fit in' with the area. Thus design is fortunately not just about the mechanics of good layout and technical compliance but also giving at least a nod to local vernacular tradition. It is a bit of a paradox fitting modern technology into vernacular buildings perhaps but clients seldom think about it - local people even less so!

[to be continued]

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