EXPERT ADVICE

Choosing the right architect for your project is key to creating your dream home or extension. Here’s how to find your perfect match

MICHELLE GUY Is deputy editor and has just completed her kitchen renovation.

Whether your build project is a small extension or a grand self-build, pulling together a team of professionals who champion how you want your home to be will go a long way to making the experience a positive and fulfilling one. You’ll be investing so much time, energy and money into the build that you’ll want the journey along the way to be as stress-free as possible. And, at the start of that journey, you may very well need an architect to come on board to help turn your dream vision into a reality.

But if you’ve never embarked on a build before, how do you find the right architect? It can be a daunting prospect if you’ve got to find someone from scratch – someone whose designs will (hopefully) get your build up and over the planning hurdles – so choosing the right architect is paramount. But it shouldn’t be an anxietyinducing experience. “An architect will seek to greatly enhance the way you live, not try to change it,” says architect and founder of Lamp Architects, Laura Jane Clark. So here are 11 nuggets of advice, from experts in the know, on how to find and bring on board the right architect…

1 Create a brief

Before you start the process of researching architects, pulling together a design brief with initial ideas is a worthwhile exercise. Not only will it help you focus on what it is you really want and need from your new house or extension, it will form the basis of the conversation starters you’ll have with prospective architects when you start making contact with them. “Your dreams for your new home or extension will have a huge impact on the designer you choose, so it makes sense to get an idea of what they are before you approach them,” says Natasha Brinsmead, associate editor of Homebuilding & Renovating.