Western Building Consultants Bath
If you are looking for someone to design a suitable and sensitive extension or for advice about planning permission and listed building consent then you have come to the right place. We provide specialist advice surrounding the alteration, repair, enlargement or change of use associated of historically sensitive buildings in Bath and beyond.
If you own or rent a historic building in Bath and have specific issues or defects we are able to provide a defect analysis recommending further investigation, recording defects or repair methodology. We usually carryout an initial survey based on an hourly inspection rate. If this service sounds suitable please call our offices on 01225789307 and they will arrange for an inspector to visit the property.
Why are we different to other heritage architectural consultants?
Our multidisciplinary team is made up of professionals with varying skills. We have a unique practical surveying, engineering and architectural approach and have a wide variety of experience working on several different types of project, Including Grade I listed buildings in Bath. Our team are experts at negotiating with conservation officers and have a wide knowledge of the planning and conservation framework. We actively monitor our application and liaise with the conservation department within your local authority to ensure a proactive approach. Our current staff includes a conservation focused architect, an architectural technologist with a conservation masters degree and an architectural assistant with a conservation masters degree.
We are usually able to produce all of the required planning documentation in house including, statements of significance, architectural detailing, design & access statements, schedules of repair and specialist defect reports.
How did you get your experience?
Our experience was developed from working within the historically sensitive World heritage City of Bath and from our Clifton office in the predominantly Georgian area of Bristol City. We have often applied our experience across the wider South West including sensitive barn conversions in the Wiltshire and Mendip areas. Our staff have also studied Masters level conservation modules at local universities, lectured at Bath University and studied under retired Conservation Architect Peter Johnston.
Most people are not aware that unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence and you can be prosecuted, fortunately, WBC can arrange all of the required consents for you and advise on what alterations may be considered acceptable.
You are required by law to apply for listed building consent from your local authority. Listed buildings are usually given a grading based on their significance, WBC has working knowledge and experience working with all grades including Grade I and II*.
Wrong! If suitable you can sometimes extend listed buildings especially if there are elements of improvement that can be made on the original building, however it is of the up most importance that you employ a designer or surveyor in Bath with the correct knowledge.
We have a large portfolio of designs in both traditional and contemporary styles in Bath. Site dependant the design response is often balanced on the clients requirements, the setting and BANES advice. We are able to design projects in rural settings for to extend listed farm houses, barn conversions, or even urban extensions to listed properties.
Although the application process itself only takes 8 weeks (the same as planning consent), the design team will need to assemble the required research and information, usually there is a large number of drawings and information required to register the application, far in excess of a normal planning application. We also usually recommend that a pre application submission is made to BANES prior to making the formal application. The process could take around 4-6 months to get a permission in place, especially where conditions are applied to the consent.
Commissioning a full Building Survey opposed to a homebuyers report or valuation is vital. Purchasing your home or commercial property is probably the biggest outlay you are ever going to make, listed buildings are much more likely to have serious defects and a RICS full building survey will help to reduce, or inform you about, some of the unknown risks involved.
Our RICS Building Surveyors in Bath carryout surveys for a variety of properties both residential and commercial. This service may also be required when applying for listed building consent or a similar schedule of repairs.
Architectural designs extensions Bath,
A listed building condition survey is a perfect start to planning your refurbishment, it will help identify defects and prioritise them with planned maintenance. As a complimentary service it will inform our architectural team of what out remedial works may need to be applied for.
Our clients are people not numbers, we are not in the business of volume surveys, we provide quality bespoke surveys, market leading upfront information and explanations tailored to your needs. We can tailor our survey to investigate specific issues during our survey and can review options for restoration and extension to your needs.
We provide an unrivalled after service, we will call you after the survey to discuss any major issues identified, our surveys contain an approximation of the costs involved to bring the property up to a reasonable standard.
Our after service can also include firming up costs with a quantity surveyor, drawing up of a schedule of work and project administration for the repairs.
Please call 01225789307 to arrange a survey view our T&Cs and book in a survey.
Being socially responsible and promoting excellent ethics is at the forefront of our business. Our staff are happy and content and this is shown through our positive approach to your project. We work to the highest professional standards as required by both the RICS and CIAT. You can rest assured that when you employ WBC you will be supporting an organisation that champions local, national and international projects through schemes such as FairTrade, Mentoring Plus and the Bath percent club. This is backed up by a rigorous Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. We sponsor many grass roots sports clubs such as Combe Down Rugby Club, Frome Park Bowls Club & Cardiff Harlequins.
We are realistic with timescales and honest about what you will receive. Most people underestimate the time involved with a building project, but we are upfront about what is involved and will be clear about how long a project might take. Throughout the project we will continue to update you about progress and will advise you if there will be a disruption in the timetable.
We have vast planning experience and are adaptable to most architectural styles and ages of buildings. We are perfectly able to adapt to the style of your property from contemporary to traditional, urban to rural. We have designed projects in most styles and can use our broad experience to help design the best solution for your property, using whatever construction technology best suits your needs. Whether you plan a modest alteration or something spectacular WBC can help you achieve your project goals.
We employ qualified professionals with a variety of skill sets and the latest training. many of our employees have specialist post graduate qualifications. We also train selected staff through university programmes and professional qualifications to ensure our clients get the best trained surveyors and up to date advice. You will receive a professional, comprehensive and cohesive consultation and guidance throughout the project, ensuring that your development is handled with a consultant level of knowledge.
We are here for you when you need us, with our survey to completion guarantee. You won’t be left alone, we will fit in wherever you need us in the project or guide you through the whole process. You will have the knowledge that someone is always at hand whatever level of service you need.
Whilst offering exceptional value for money we also bring a positive, approachable, pragmatic, realistic and well rounded attitude to your project. You will feel at ease discussing issues with your project, our pragmatic approach to design and refurbishment means that we can often deliver built in VALUE. One example of this is recognising where cost savings can be made in the design without compromising the overall scheme and offering a higher standard of technical specification over many of our competitors, this reduces the need for outside engineering input and ultimately saves you money in fees. We are grounded which means that we can deliver a build in a cost conscious manner in order to make sure our projects are buildable.
Where we do not have the in house skills to tackle an element of a project we are well networked locally to utilise outside consultants that we have built up relationships with over many years. You will get the best of local knowledge and be introduced to like minded trusted suppliers with excellent professional services.
We can provide the majority of services required for a small project in house, making us practically a one stop shop. Having most services in house means that we are often fully accountable for the professional services on your project, this ensures simplicity, communication and efficiency. By utilising a multi-disciplinary approach we are able to keep professional costs for the project extremely competitive and hassle free, essentially you only pay for one set of overheads.
We have unparalleled technical knowledge and produce comprehensive architectural designs and surveys. You will be getting market-leading technical advice that has been approached with imaginative problem-solving techniques. This helps us to identify potential problems with a build before they arise.
Our knowledge adds value, an example of this is that most architects do not provide any advice on the structure of a building during the building regulations approval stage, relying on a structural engineer to produce all work relating to the super structure. At Western Building Consultants we provide structural advice on many areas, such as timber design for floors and roofs, limiting the scope of the engineers work and saving you money.
Having a large team of surveyors means that your project is unlikely to be held up due to other circumstances, there will always be at least two surveyors familiar with the project therefore continuity and a personal service will be retained. On larger schemes a bigger team will be assembled with the required specialist knowledge to fully support your project.
Merlin House
No 1 Langstone Business Park,
Priory Drive
01633982588
Commerce Park, Unit R17, Marshall Way
01373488566
Western House,
2 Rush Hill
01225789307
Sophia House,
28 Cathedral Road
02922679366
Kingston House,
Lydiard Fields
01793234516
Studio 1a,
31 Berkeley Square
0117 3294290
Unit 2, Byre Workshops, Winterbourne Court Farm Barn, Church Lane, Winterbourne
0117 3294290