Practice

For most projects you are not actually legally required to use an architect, but for anything structural, any retrofit, or work to a listed building, an architect adds real value. A good architect improves the design, protects the outcome, coordinates the other consultants and often pays for themselves through better use of space and a smoother process.

“A good architect actually pays for themselves, more than once. You will reap the reward and the building will be hugely better and deliver much better value for it.” Kevin McCloud

An architect turns ideas into buildings and makes sure every decision adds long-term value. At Studioshaw we see architecture as both creative and practical: we translate your vision into a space that feels right, works beautifully, meets every technical standard and does as little damage to the planet as possible.

Architects are trained over many years to design buildings and spaces, inside and out. The core tasks include writing the brief (for when you don’t yet know exactly what you want), illustrating design options, developing the plan and massing, helping with construction estimates, securing consents, running the tender process and administering the build. We also act as Principal Designer, coordinating and supervising the wider team so the finished building meets the required standards. On smaller and interior projects we work through detail, colour and texture. Our interiors studio, Studioshaw Inside, focuses on this.

Most Studioshaw projects run from the first concept sketch to the final day on site, which is what lets us deliver architecture that not only looks good but works hard for you in value, quality and everyday experience.

Architects’ fees depend on the size and complexity of your project. In the UK they are usually charged in one of three ways: a fixed lump sum, a percentage of the construction cost, or a time charge. Full architectural services are commonly charged as a percentage of build cost, with smaller or partial services often offered as a fixed fee. At Studioshaw we keep fees simple, transparent and tailored to the project.

• Lump sum fee. A fixed price agreed at the start against a clearly defined scope. It works well where the brief is settled and unlikely to change. If the project grows or changes significantly, the fee is reviewed and updated.
• Percentage fee. Based on the construction cost, so it flexes as the design develops. Fees are usually divided into stages following the RIBA Plan of Work and invoiced monthly. Architects are bound by the Architects Registration Board Code of Conduct, which requires honesty and integrity, so client value always comes first.
• Time charge. A flexible “pay as you go” approach used when the scope is not yet defined, often for early feasibility or design work. We estimate the hours needed, or agree a fee cap, so costs stay clear.

For smaller projects we often offer fixed fees for the early design stages. For larger projects we use clear, stage-based fees aligned with the RIBA Plan of Work. The aim is transparency from the outset, so you can see exactly where every hour and every decision adds value.

Most building projects need some form of consent from the local authority, usually full planning permission, and Listed Building Consent as well if the building is listed. Some smaller works fall under permitted development and need no application at all. We assess which route applies and prepare the drawings, design statements and submissions needed to secure approval.

It does not need to be stressful. We guide clients through every stage, preparing the design statements, drawings and submissions needed to communicate the vision clearly and unlock approvals.

Our recent approvals include Catching Sun House, a new-build courtyard house on a tight infill site in northeast London, where design quality was central to securing consent.

Our heritage experience is equally deep. We have delivered sensitive interventions to Hornsey Town Hall in Haringey, Newburgh Street and Berwick Street in Soho, Kindred in Hammersmith, Eastleigh Court in Wiltshire, and heritage properties in Islington and North Yorkshire. Each required a careful balance between respecting the historic fabric and creating spaces that feel relevant today, working closely with conservation officers to secure Listed Building Consent.

A simple application theoretically takes around 8 weeks for a council to determine once it has been submitted and validated (which can take a week or two). Larger or major schemes typically take 13-16 weeks or longer. On top of that, once the design stages are complete, significant time up front is required for the preparation of the application, often several months to a year depending on the pre-application process and the project itself. London councils can be very slow, so the more time spent preparing the information to be submitted, the better.

We manage the timeline for you, often with the advice of a planning consultant. We will organise the measured survey, the brief writing, the design, pre-application advice where useful, and the other consultants needed to build the team and prepare the submission.  Applications are increasingly be complex and require a great deal of information, including detailed reports covering environmental impact and the specifics of the building’s use. Using an architect to build these requirements into the programme early keeps the project, and your cashflow, moving smoothly.

Choosing an architect is about a lot more than style. It is about finding a partner who listens, asks the right questions and understands how the building will actually be used. Look at relevant experience (a similar building type, site or planning challenge), how they structure their fees, and whether you communicate easily. Ask to see projects like yours, and how they handled the constraints.

At Studioshaw every project begins with several important conversations. Whether you are designing a home from scratch or a multi-unit or mixed-use development, we focus on the brief, the budget, the context, the light and the project’s purpose. Our projects, from The Rogue Room to Bridge House, show how intelligent design can transform a space and enhance daily life.

A good architect increases the long-term value of your building. Investing in design pays back over the life of the building through better layouts, smarter decisions and higher-quality, better-performing spaces. Beyond the design itself, an architect saves you from costly mistakes, navigates planning and regulations, improves running costs, and creates buildings that adapt and last.

Research by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) shows that architecture which resolves problems and responds carefully to people’s needs delivers long-term value throughout a building’s life. As RIBA puts it: “Design that resolves problems and answers needs will pay for itself over a building’s lifetime. Good architecture has its price. But bad architecture, or no architecture at all, will cost you more.”

In practice, the value shows up in several ways:

• Avoiding costly mistakes. Deep expertise in planning, layout, light, materials and regulations unlocks the full potential of your site and heads off expensive errors.
• Lower running costs. Thoughtful design means better energy performance, improved circulation, more storage, and layouts that are cheaper and easier to operate.
• Confident planning and regulations. We manage planning applications, building control and coordination with other consultants, reducing risk and keeping projects on programme.
• Brand and commercial impact. For workplace, hospitality and retail projects, we create environments that communicate your values and improve the experience of staff and customers.
• Buildings that last. We design for flexibility, durability and sustainability, so your space adapts over time and keeps delivering value.

Studioshaw follows the RIBA Plan of Work, the industry-standard framework that breaks a project into eight stages, from the first conversation (Stage 0) to reviewing the finished building in use (Stage 7). It sets clear points for design, planning, pricing, construction and handover, so you always know what happens next, who is involved, and when key decisions and spend are needed. The stages are:

• Stage 0, Strategic Definition: clarifying the brief, possible sites, budgets and timescales.
• Stage 1, Preparation and Briefing: developing objectives, exploring options and outlining the brief.
• Stage 2, Concept Design: establishing the look, feel and spatial arrangement, with early cost and engineering input.
• Stage 3, Spatial Coordination: refining and coordinating the design across disciplines for planning and cost checks.
• Stage 4, Technical Design: detailed information, specifications and drawings for accurate pricing and construction.
• Stage 5, Construction: realising the design on site, monitoring progress and quality.
• Stage 6, Handover: completing the building with all documentation and certification in place.
• Stage 7, Use: reviewing how the building performs and gathering feedback for the future.

Expect a clear process, honest advice and a team that stays with your project. At Studioshaw you get a director-led service from concept to completion. The people who win the project stay on it, and clients consistently describe us as collaborative, responsive and clear, even under demanding timelines and budgets.

As Sean Lever, co-founder of Kindred, put it: “We gave them an almost impossible timeline and strict budget, but they delivered at every stage.” For private and estate clients, we also work with discretion.

Studioshaw is a London architecture practice working with conscious, design-minded residential developers on multi-unit and mixed-use schemes, from feasibility and masterplanning through planning to delivery. We pair design ambition with commercial reality: buildability, cost, programme and sales value.

We recently completed a multi-residential scheme in Hackney Wick (Bridge House) for O’Shea, Southern Housing and Galliard Homes, using an all in-situ cast structural concrete façade batched 500m from site to cut transport carbon, and deliberately avoiding the “new London vernacular” brick look. It shows our ability to navigate complex sites, quality review panels and pre-application stages while delivering high-quality homes within tight parameters.

Studioshaw works with smaller private developers as readily as larger ones, bringing boutique multi-unit residential schemes to life across London. At this scale, design quality, a sharp planning strategy and efficient delivery are what separate an ordinary scheme from a standout one that sells or lets faster and holds its value.

Our involvement scales to your scheme, from early feasibility studies and masterplans, through planning applications, to detailed design and delivery.

Studioshaw adds value by turning design into commercial advantage: unlocking difficult sites, winning planning where others struggle, improving unit mix and layouts, and creating buildings with genuine identity that sell and let faster and hold their value. Our instinct is to see potential where others see constraint.

Research by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) shows that design which resolves problems and answers real needs pays for itself over a building’s lifetime. For developers, that translates into planning certainty, better yields and stronger, more marketable assets.

Securing planning on complex, sensitive or constrained sites is one of Studioshaw’s core strengths. We have won consents across London’s most demanding boroughs, on tight infill sites, in conservation areas and on listed and heritage buildings, using design quality and constructive dialogue with planning officers to unlock approvals where others have not.

Examples include Catching Sun House, a new-build courtyard house on a tight infill site in northeast London, and heritage work at Hornsey Town Hall (Grade II*), Newburgh Street and Berwick Street in Soho. We are expert in pre-application advice, quality review panels and the negotiation that complex consents demand.

Studioshaw brings a sensitive, contemporary approach to listed buildings, heritage properties and rural estates, balancing conservation with new life. We are currently leading the restoration and reimagining of Eastleigh Court, a Grade II listed estate in Wiltshire, into short-stay accommodation with space for events and gatherings, while enhancing the landscape through extensive tree planting and a new wildlife pond for biodiversity.

For private and estate clients, we combine the warmth of traditional craftsmanship with the clarity of modern design, working closely with conservation officers to secure Listed Building Consent.

Studioshaw designs one-off, special houses, both new-build and reimagined, for private clients who want something exceptional, shaped by light, materiality and site. We work discreetly and collaboratively, from the first concept sketch to the final day on site.

Our transformation of a disused garage into the light-filled Catching Sun House was recognised on Channel 4’s House of the Year 2025, where Kevin McCloud described it as the work of people who can take things which are free, like the sun and the wind and the rain, and from them craft experiences which are priceless.

Hospitality is a core sector for us. We design restaurants, bars and members’ clubs that pair architecture with atmosphere, experience and flow, thinking first about how people move and feel in a space: the light, the sound, the texture and the rhythm.

We delivered Kindred, a new kind of members’ club, part workspace and part social, which brought Bradmore House back to life. We also worked with Bistrotheque on a new building with a theatre space that blends performance, dining and social use.

Studioshaw designs co-working, workspace and media spaces for developers and creative operators, balancing flexible layouts, daylight, acoustics and technical infrastructure with architecture that inspires. We have worked with General Projects, Time + Space and the Far East Consortium.

Our work includes the fit-out of Twickenham Film Studios, reimagining one of the UK’s most historic production facilities, and the revitalisation of Hornsey Town Hall into a hub for culture, workspace and hospitality.

Studioshaw is a certified B Corporation. It means we are independently assessed and verified to balance purpose with profit, and to weigh people, place and environment in every decision we make.

For your project, and especially for values-driven clients, it is third-party assurance that sustainability and social value are built into our process from the start, not bolted on at the end.

Studioshaw leads on sustainable and low-carbon design by building it in from the outset rather than adding it as a later layer. Our Re:Low framework (Re: cycle, Re: store, Re: purpose and Low: tech, Low: impact, Low: maintenance) guides circular design, low embodied carbon and adaptable, long-life buildings.

In practice that means reusing existing structures where we can, sourcing materials locally (as with the in-situ concrete at Bridge House, batched 500m from site), designing for daylight and passive performance, and specifying for low maintenance. As a certified B Corp, responsible practice is core to how we work.

Clients choose Studioshaw for award-winning, human-centred design combined with a rare ability to unlock tricky sites and win planning where others cannot. We are a certified B Corp, director-led, and known for turning difficult or underperforming assets into places with identity, purpose and lasting value.

Our work has been recognised by the RIBA Awards, the Civic Trust Awards, the Architects’ Journal and the World Architecture Festival, among others, across scales from one-off houses to multi-unit and mixed-use schemes.

Studioshaw is a London-based architecture and interior design practice working across London and its boroughs, the wider United Kingdom, and France. We have particular strength in complex urban sites, conservation areas, listed buildings and rural estates, and a growing specialism in one-off houses in the French countryside for British clients, delivered with registered French partner architects.

Studioshaw designs ambitious architecture for developers, private clients and operators. Our work spans one-off new-build houses, multi-unit and mixed-use residential schemes, co-working and workspace, restaurants, bars and members’ clubs, education and wellness spaces, civic and cultural buildings, and the restoration of country houses and estates.

Recent work includes Bridge House (multi-unit residential), Eastleigh Court (estate restoration), Kindred (members’ club), Twickenham Film Studios (workspace), Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre (civic and cultural) and Catching Sun House (a one-off private house).

The best first step is simply to start a conversation about your project, or site, or your search for one, your ambitions, vision and your budget. For developers that might begin with a feasibility study or a planning strategy. For private and estate clients, it is usually an early exploration of what is possible.

Tell Studioshaw about your project and we will take it from there.