Designing a Contemporary House in a Traditional Village
Planning policy asks a new house to respect local character. It does not ask it to look old. How contemporary houses get consented in traditional villages.
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Building Regulations vs Planning Permission — They Are Not the Same Thing
Planning permission and building regulations are separate approvals from different bodies, testing different things. What each covers, and why you need both.
Read more →Airtightness, Ventilation and Overheating — What New Extensions Get Wrong
New extensions are built tighter and glazed harder than the houses they join. Condensation, stuffiness and overheating follow. How to design out all three.
Read more →Case Study — A Two-Storey Rear Extension in Stoke Holy Cross
What a two-storey rear extension in a South Norfolk village has to solve: neighbour impact, roof form, and the join between old work and new.
Read more →Designing Outdoor Space Commercially — Lessons from a Golf Club Renovation
Outdoor space only earns money when it works in poor weather. Shelter, service routes, drainage and noise conditions decide whether a terrace trades.
Read more →Self-Build in Norfolk — Plots, the Right to Build Register and a Realistic Timeline
How to find and test a self-build plot in Norfolk, what the Right to Build register actually does, and a realistic stage-by-stage project timeline.
Read more →Retrofitting a Period Home — Insulation Without Wrecking the Fabric
Old buildings manage moisture by letting it move. Standard insulation stops it. How to make a period home warmer without trapping water in the walls.
Read more →FF&E Procurement — Where Hospitality Projects Go Wrong
Hospitality FF&E rarely fails on taste. It fails on lead times and substitution. How purchase orders, tracking and quality control keep a scheme intact.
Read more →How Interior Design Actually Runs — The BIID Stages Explained
Interior design runs as five defined stages, each with its own deliverables and decisions. What happens at each one, what you receive, and where you can stop.
Read more →Swimming Pools, Pool Houses and Planning Permission
A swimming pool rarely fails on the water. It fails on the building around it, the levels, the drainage and the plant noise. What planners actually assess.
Read more →Building in Flint and Pantile — Getting Norfolk Vernacular Materials Right
Flint, pantiles, clay lump, gault brick and lime render behave in specific ways. How Norfolk's traditional materials work, and how to use them in new work.
Read more →Your Planning Application Was Refused. Here Are the Real Options
A refusal is not the end of the project. Read the decision notice properly, sort the reasons into fixable and fundamental, then choose resubmission or appeal.
Read more →Case Study — Oceanic Resort Spa Hotel, Khor Fakkan
How we approach hotel and spa interiors, drawn from a completed luxury resort in Khor Fakkan, from design concept through FF&E procurement to handover.
Read more →Designing a Village Hall That a Community Will Actually Use
A village hall lives or dies on storage, acoustics, running costs and how many hires it can take at once. What committees should settle before designing.
Read more →Transforming a Norfolk Bungalow — Attic Trusses, Cut Roofs and Dormers
Whether a bungalow loft conversion is simple or structural comes down to the roof: trussed or cut. Here is how to tell, and what each route then involves.
Read more →Annexes and Granny Flats — Planning, Council Tax and the Ancillary Use Test
An annexe must stay ancillary to the main house or it becomes a separate dwelling. Here is what that test means for planning, council tax and your design.
Read more →Living in a Conservation Area — What You Can and Cannot Change
Conservation area status changes what you can build, demolish and alter. Here is what designation controls, what it does not, and where owners get caught out.
Read more →Single-Storey Extensions — Six Roof Forms and What Each One Does to the Room
The roof form decides how a single-storey extension feels inside. Six options compared: flat, lean-to, gable, hipped, crown and glazed, with the trade-offs.
Read more →Barn Conversions in Norfolk — Permitted Development or Full Planning, and How to Choose
Two routes exist for converting a Norfolk barn to a home: permitted development with prior approval, or full planning. Here is how to choose between them.
Read more →Certificates of Lawfulness — Why We Recommend One Even When You Do Not Need Permission
A certificate of lawfulness proves your extension did not need planning permission. Here is what it is, what it costs you, and why we advise getting one.
Read more →What Happens in a Free Initial Consultation with Archidite
Exactly what happens in a free initial consultation with Archidite — what to send beforehand, what we cover on the day, and what you leave with.
Read more →Do I Actually Need an Architect? Architect vs Technologist vs Design-and-Build
An honest comparison of architects, architectural technologists, design-and-build contractors and drawing services, including when you do not need one.
Read more →Turning Redundant Farm Buildings into Holiday Lets in Norfolk
Which redundant farm buildings are worth converting to holiday lets in Norfolk, the planning routes available, and the constraints that decide viability.
Read more →Loft Conversions — When They Work, When They Don't, and What Planners Look At
Whether your loft can be converted, what the roof structure changes, when planning permission is needed, and why building regulations stop more schemes.
Read more →Two-Storey Rear Extensions and What Planners Look At
Two-storey rear extensions are refused on neighbour impact far more often than on design. Here is what planners assess, and how to test your idea early.
Read more →Do You Need Planning Permission for an Extension in Norfolk?
Some extensions need planning permission and some do not. What decides it, what quietly removes permitted development rights, and how Norfolk differs.
Read more →Extending a Listed Building in Norfolk Without Losing the Argument
What listing actually covers, why listed building consent is separate from planning permission, and why contemporary work often argues better than pastiche.
Read more →The RIBA Stages, in Plain English — What Happens and When You Pay
The RIBA design stages explained from the client's side — what you get at each stage, what you have to decide, when you pay, and what happens if you stop.
Read more →Getting Planning Through the Broads Authority — What Actually Works
The Broads has its own planning authority and its own local plan. Here is what actually decides applications there, and the order of work that gets consent.
Read more →What an Architect Actually Costs in the UK — and Why We Price Fixed Fees by Stage
What drives an architect's fee in the UK, why we quote a fixed fee for each RIBA stage, and the project costs that sit outside the architect's fee entirely.
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