Western Building Consultants are a Chartered Architectural Technology practice and Building Surveyor, our team includes Architect members of the RIBA, Building Surveying members of RICS, Architectural Technologist of CIAT, Building Engineers of CABE and more.
What makes the Western Building Consultants stand out from the crowd?
By constructing a multidisciplinary team we are able to provide a much more comprehensive service than most architectural practices providing you with expert strategic advice surrounding Neighbourly Matters such as Party Wall Etc. Act and CDM regulations as well as the Master Planning of sites and associated Planning Permissions.
Our team will help you instruct outside consultants but this will be kept to a minimum due to our in house advisors being able to tackle many issues such as minor Structural Engineering, Interior Designs, Basic Civil Engineering such as Soakaway Calculations to BRE 365, SAP/EPCS and Air and Sound testing. This robust approach means that as much of the process as possible is carried out in-house reducing stress, timescales and risk for you.
We offer exceptional value for money in the current climate and go out of the way to help with your project, our developer services such as CDM Principal Designer, Party Wall Advisor and Energy Consultancy are industry leading in Bath.
What can you do architecturally?
We have a complete concept to completion service, when it comes to feasibility planning we use conceptual 3d illustrations with the latest CAD software and can even produce 3d Models of the site. When the design is further developed we use Revit BIM/3d software to develop your site and can even produce 3d visualisations for marketing purposes.
Our team are experts at complying with Building Regulations and Warranty Specifications, we have historically also taken projects on from planning permission, these schemes may need to be highly innovative and involve specialists such as fire engineers especially where they involve the conversion of historic properties.
We have experience with new build housing sites from single units up to 60, we also have worked on several mixed use developments, new build apartment blocks and conversion of historic building to provide apartments.
Why should I use you?
Developers trust our services and for some we play a small part in the big wheel and for others we are fundamentally their project lead, our developer clients have included:
What areas do you cover?
Currently we have bases in Bath & Bristol with satellite offices in Frome, Swindon, Newport & Cardiff. Although we will work anywhere in the South West, M4 corridor or London. We are currently working on projects as far afield as Liverpool and St Ives.
How else can your surveying team help?
Our surveying team can really help you from the very start by looking at development appraisals and providing full building surveys. This can lead to providing CDM, Party Wall and services such as scaffolding, rebuild valuations or crane licences during the construction phase. They can also help with the post construction phase by providing maintenance plans for retained assets, dilapidations advice or part of a practical surveying arm to property managers.
How do I find out more about what you can offer?
If you would like to meet up to discuss the potential of us working together on a project and future relationship, please contact one of our directors listed to the side of this page. We are here to fit into your design team where ever needed as lead consultant or a smaller part in the overall scheme, we are sure we can definitely help you with something and look forward to building a lasting relationship.
Vector buildings is an industrial relic of Bristol’s past Tobacco trade and had been converted in part to office accommodation. The building is a red brick solid walled industrial building with a steel
frame.
project was clearly constrained by the historic fabric of the walls, planned by another designer to provide a high density of residential units to make the development viable. The design involved the
use of internal atrium’s and was also constrained by the internal structural framework. Our task was to navigate the existing structure, design the extended roof whilst providing building
regulation compliance to the approved layouts. This was also balanced against utilising as much of the historical character of the building in the designs as possible such as the exposed brickwork to give a loft style appearance.
Western Building Consultants were appointed as Architectural Designer for the construction stages, CDM principal designer and party wall consultant to the developer.
Some of the more interesting elements were tackled by creating glass fireproof lobbies within the upper levels of the mezzanine to protect those levels and bring them in line with performance standards.
Western Building had to develop and calculate a solution for natural ventilation and smoke ventilation, where we were able to bring ventilation in at a low level and use actuated windows
within the fire corridor and atrium roof windows to ensure adequate natural ventilation was achieved. This included prescribing a fire panel and control device to each flat linked to the
communal system.
The alterations to create these performance standards also had to be managed against the competing structural engineering requirements for the building and the existing historical features,
to ultimately develop a unique and tailored solution to this building.
Stunning Architectural Barn Conversions in Bath, Wiltshire, Mendips, South Gloucestershire & Surrounding Areas.
Are you looking to get planning permission, Listed Building consent or Project administration for a barn conversion in Bath or the South West?
Western Building consultants have a wealth of knowledge and experience providing comprehensive architectural designs and surveying services for rural barn conversions, in Bath and the South West.
Our conservation experts including chartered architects, surveyors and building engineers can help you design your dream home, Business premises or development. Utilising our key surveying skills we have experience in bringing the most agricultural of barns into usage, including the conversion of more modern barn constructions such as portal framed structures and concrete block buildings.
We have worked on numerous Listed barn conversions and can help navigate the planning and listed building frameworks, to help you achieve the reuse of agricultural buildings.
Do you own an agricultural barn? Traditional stone barn, steel portal frame or concrete? Did you know it may be possible to convert it to upto three dwelling units without full planning? Turning redundant or under utilised agricultural buildings into residential properties can be highly lucrative. Clearly some of these buildings need to be imaginatively revived to use them as dwellings and technical detailing is key to create sustainable and beautiful homes.
Western Building Consultants have extensive experience from concept to completion with dealing with such structures starting from initial survey and appraisals of the structural stability through to designing the barns to meet Class Q guidelines, building regulations and administering the project. Often the large spaces and oversized nature of these industrial buildings can create wonderful and unusual dwellings, the scale of which just wouldn’t normally be allowed in a rural residential context.
These planning regulations, known as ‘Class Q permitted development’ are part of the government’s drive to ease the pressure on rural housing supply.
For Class Q regulations to apply a building needs to have been used for agriculture on or before 20th March 2013.
(Class Q will not It doesn’t apply to listed buildings, those in an Area of outstanding national beauty, conservation area which are in AONB, National Parks or conservation areas, or those which are listed.
It is common for applications to be interpreted differently across councils so local knowledge can be key in getting the right decision. Contact us today to to find out more.
Western Building Consultants were appointed as architectural designer to gain planning permission to convert the historic upper floors above the retail space of
Beehive Yard into residential accommodation units. The building is constructed in solid brick and steel portal frame and is a former industrial Tramshed.
The existing frame layout and fenestration presented a number of challenges to the finalised layouts and the finalised flats had to be refined to create a workable
solution.
Western Building Consultants have designed numerous new build properties for homeowners, self builders and developers in Bath, Bristol & beyond.
As well as designing heritage based projects we have a wide portfolio of architectural designs for contemporary new build dwellings in the South West. We are happy to design your project in any architectural style you request and tailor our designs based on the clients requirements and the site’s constraints. we have vast experience in also extending terraces or developing corner plots.
If you are looking for a contemporary architectural design for your new dwelling Western Building Consultants can take you through the Planning process in BANES or any other local councils such as South Gloucestershire or Wiltshire. We are also experts in the sign off at Building Regulation stages of a project to ensure that your property meets compliance standards. with our 1-2-3 step approach western makes making your dream project come true as easy as possible.
We often carry out master planning for larger sites near Bath, and can carry out initial development appraisals, or feasibility studies.
We often recommend carrying out a pre-application submission to BANES or other councils to help your project get your project off to the best start.
As a Chartered Architectural Technology practice we aim to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to architectural design. We tackle each project individually and have experience in both commercial and residential projects throughout the South West including Bristol, Bath, Swindon, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, Clifton, Newport, Wiltshire and surrounding areas.
Our team of skilled design professionals include several architectural technologists, architects, chartered surveyors and energy assessors. In stark contrast to most architects practices, we can offer you a comprehensive service where most services can be handled in house throughout the project instead of appointing outside consultants, saving you time money and frustration.
We provide a distinctly different approach to many other architects and surveyors, utilising our unique multi-disciplinary approach we are able to offer our clients a broad range of services throughout their project such as: Initial scheme designs for planning applications, feasibility studies, Listed building applications, building regulations packages and specifications, planning coordination, condition sign off and 3d modelling. Our company has been in existence for over fifteen years, and our staff have a combined construction experience that exceeds a century.
As a householder you may feel intimidated by the prospect of a construction project. Our team are here to guide you through every step of the process and provide the support and reassurance you need.
Using our skill and multi disciplinary approach we can take you every step of the way from concept to completion ensuring our services are perfectly tailored to your project.
Please take the time to review what services we can provide
Stunning Rural New Builds, Architectural Designs in Bath, Wiltshire, Mendips, South Gloucestershire & Surrounding Areas.
Are you looking to get planning permission, for new build dwellings in bath or the surrounding area?
Western Building Consultants Architects, Surveyors and Technologists have a wealth of knowledge and experience providing comprehensive architectural designs and surveying services for home owners and developers, in Bath and the South West.
Our design team include experts including chartered architects, surveyors, interior designers and building engineers can help you design your dream home or development.
If your plot of land is in a rural location we have vast experience in designing properties in a heritage style or agricultural aesthetic. Including the use of Oak Framed Buildings.
I have enjoyed working with Western Building Consultants on a complicated project for about 4 years now. During that time they have without fail given me a high level of customer service, being welcoming, responsive and competent.
As a customer I particularly appreciate that WBC are value for money. They also stick to their quotes and don’t add a lot of extras. Help and advice is always forthcoming generally at no extra charge.
Thank you so much for all your advice today. That was so very helpful, not only with the structure of the property but especially with your comments about the whole set up. I can see that we were within a gnat’s whisker of entering a complete can of worms… Thank you so much for saving us from making a stupid mistake.
Thanks to you both your help in this matter – you were both extremely efficient and accommodating (more than I can say about other companies I contacted).
Your professionalism has been invaluable, thank you.
Thank you for your extremely comprehensive report. It will be of immense help when deciding on the works we would like to carry out on the property. We have decided to take your advice and move into the property and live in it for a while to assess our requirements.
Thank you for your prompt service, could not have asked or expected more. I note your comments and in an ideal world everything would have been 1.
Will not hesitate to recommend you, and will make a point of letting the estate agent know this too.
I just wanted to say thank you very much for your thorough and clear report. It is written in an informative and jargon free way which has made a pretty hefty document ultimately digestible and easy to understand.
Hello Kerry, Many thanks for the report and invoice receipt.
Please pass on my thanks to Paul for the survey. In my working life, I read many stock survey reports – I work with social housing providers to set up their asset management strategies – and this was one of the clearest and most comprehensive I’ve seen.
Dear Paul, Thank you so much for your fast response and the detail in your report is very very good and greatly appreciated. Thank you for your efforts.
Many thanks for your swift and thorough return of this report, we so appreciate you getting this back to us on such a tight turn around this week, and on the first read it seems extremely clear and comprehensive.
Hi Kerry / Paul, Thanks for sending the survey across.
I’d also like to thank you for your excellent service and professionalism. I considered many surveyors before choosing to proceed with you and it’s clear that I made the right choice. I won’t hesitate to recommend you to family, friends and colleagues in the future.
“We have commissioned three building surveys from WBC until we found the house that was right for us and all thanks to you”
I never expected so much detail, the report was really great and there were things I never even considered, even being in the construction trade
The report was brilliant and went into so much detail, having had reports from other surveyors in the past this report was far superior
“Highly recommended. Good customer service over the phone and by email. Very quick: from the initial phone call booking a site visit to me receiving the calculations took only 8 days.”
“We used James Dean …Western Building Consultants as an architect. Very good”
“Good surveyors & structural engineers that we used were www.westernbuildingconsultants.com
We were really happy with them, they came highly recommended by several people”
“Excellent service and help from the initial design/planning stage through to the end of all works”
“I can recommend Western Building Consultants. They are great on structural calculations, advice and technical drawings to whatever extent you want. We used them for advice and calcs for taking out our main load bearing wall downstairs. They were recommended several times over when we started looking.”
“Superb, professional, efficient, friendly, positive”
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