
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
16 | RICHARD ANDREWS ARCHITECTS
»CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“ My dilemma was that I needed an architect, artist and innovative
thinker to put onto paper my idea to develop an underground
events venue, which also had to meet all the legislation criteria.
Discovering Richard Andrews has been like winning the jackpot.
Nothing is too much trouble, and the results are fantastic; all made
better because Richard is such a pleasure to work with!”
– Peter Dale, Groomes Hotel & Events Centre
We set out to free up space and use it
creatively to ensure sustainable building
use; we’re not just making things look
pretty, but rather thinking about the
different demographics that may enter a
centre so that every user is catered for.
We are currently working on a
prestigious event centre in Bordon,
Hampshire, which is associated with
a five-star hotel that will also include
landscaping and parking on-site. Here,
in this picturesque countryside setting,
we have designed the set into the
land, to ensure it becomes blended
into its background.
Planning challenges
We have seen good planning officers
leave local authorities to start their own
or join specialist planning firms and pit
themselves against councils; this has
made the whole process of planning
less of a learning curve and more of a
battlefield of red tape andpolicy.
This is hugely detrimental for the
design and construction process; we
are seeing more and more creative,
young property developers leave the
sector thanks to the process becoming
overly convoluted.
Another reason for their frustration has
been Section 106 and the introduction
of Community Infrastructure Levy in
2010. Both are crippling new property
developers’ budgets, resulting in more
low-quality buildings springing up than
ever before.
Those developers who manage to get
past these pieces of legislation are value-
engineering all the time to compensate,
and this is naturally affecting quality of
design. Indeed, we have seen countless
start-up property developers walk away
from amazing projects because of
consultant costs, red tape, arguments
between council consultants upfront
and high Section 106 or CIL costs.
The argument between private
planning consultants and local
authority planners often sees architects
and clients alike caught in the middle
without any kind of basic design
information. The valuable “softly-
softly” approach to good design has
been lost in today’s planning realm.
We need to go back to the common-
sense approach of discussing and
formalising what planners should
be doing – which is commenting on
context, citing, aesthetics and impact
rather than bat surveys, sound testing,
flood risk evaluations and ecological
assessments, all of which could be
moved into building regulations.
Planning departments would
consequently be less burdened; the
criteria at planning stages could be
made up of a set of tick-box areas,
and planning officers would be able to
take insight from every application and
consequently provide specialist advice
in the case that something minor like a
bat survey is necessary.
Groomes Events Earth
Centre – Borden,
Hampshire
We are a
design-led
practice that
provides
services to
commercial
and domestic
clients across
the UK
“
“
17RICHARD ANDREWS ARCHITECTS |
CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING
This would go a long way to establishing
a far more streamlined planning system,
where average data would be set out
by local authorities and consequently
evaluated in greater depth during
building regulation stages. We would
welcome collaboration with government
to find a way to do this and help alleviate
the problems of the planning system as
well as loosening the expense of upfront
work and Section 106 or theCIL.
Conforming to software giants
Another notable challenge to
architectural practices is the expense
of licensed software that enables them
to draw and model on a computer.
There was a time, having graduated on
the drawing board, that no expense
was needed to draw with your own
hand. It appears that the licensees now
dictate that we must obtain expensive
licences simply to be creative.
There needs to be parity here, as there
is no regulator overseeing the cost of
these licences. Some licences for Revit
cost over £3,000 per user per annum,
which is a big expense for a small firm.
We would recommend that there is
some kind of regulation in this regard,
before architects start to seek out an
alternative software suite that may not
be as thorough or industry-approved.
A proactive future
By processes of collaborative working
and creative design, we hope to
continue the good work we have
achieved to date and break into the
international market. The global stage
is an exciting opportunity indeed.
We are currently working alongside
our sister company JADE UK to source
hotel work abroad, having recently
set up UK operations with JADE QA in
China, where the amazing Songjiang
Quarry Hotel, pioneered by architect
Martin Jochman, has just been
completed.
Together, JADE UK and our practice
are forming a team to coalesce all
creative building strategies and seek
out projects where we can really
make a difference. There are big
plans for a large UK watersports
centre, previously mentioned hotel
projects across the world, unused
quarries within the UK for the leisure
sector and many other potential
opportunities. It’s a hugely exciting
time in the sector, but we are aware
that we need to remain stable and
level-headed as we work hard to
secure these projects in the domestic
market as it is today.
The global
stage is an
exciting
opportunity
indeed
“
“
Pioneering hotel design
in the UK
Nothing too big or
small – beautiful
extension in
Langstone, Gwent