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Archway
Kestrel Ridge House by Archway: a low, geometric house with large windows set against open sea and sky

Architecture studio · London N19

Architecture that begins on the site, not in the office.

Archway is an eleven-person studio four streets from the junction it is named after. We design houses, workplaces and places to eat, and we repair the buildings people have been told are beyond saving. A director takes the first meeting and is still on site at the end.

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01Why we work this way

Most projects are decided before a line is drawn.

What a client asks for at the first meeting and what they actually need are rarely the same thing. Finding the difference takes a few sessions, some patience and a lot of time on the site itself. It is unglamorous work and it is where projects are won or lost.

So we do not present a design at meeting one. We measure, we read the planning history, we sit on the site at different times of day, and we write the brief with you before anything is drawn. On a house in Kent that meant a month of wind readings. It is also why that house was consented on a plot that had been refused twice.

More about the studio
Architectural sketches and colour swatches spread across a studio desk
Practice founded
2011Practice founded
People in the studio
ElevenPeople in the studio
Projects a year, deliberately
14Projects a year, deliberately
Of our work is repair and retrofit
A thirdOf our work is repair and retrofit

02Featured projects

Six buildings, and what each of them had to get past.

All projects

03Our services

Six ways we are usually appointed.

Full services

04How we work

Three stages, and you know what each one costs before it starts.

  1. 01Weeks 1–4

    We come and look

    Every project starts on the site, not in the office. We walk it with you, measure what is there, and write the brief together before anything is drawn. Most of what makes a project work is decided in these four weeks.

    • A first visit and conversation, free and with no obligation
    • Measured survey, constraints and planning history
    • A written brief agreed with you, including the budget stated honestly
    • A fee proposal covering the whole project, not just the next stage
  2. 02Months 2–9

    We design it and get it permitted

    You see two or three genuinely different options, not one idea defended three ways. Once a direction is chosen we develop it and take it through planning, treating consent as a design problem rather than paperwork.

    • Two or three tested options with indicative costs
    • Developed design, models and a cost plan with a quantity surveyor
    • Pre-application advice and negotiation with the local authority
    • Planning, listed building and conservation area applications
  3. 03Month 9 onward

    We draw it properly and see it built

    The technical package is where budgets are kept or lost, so we draw the junctions that matter and tender the work to contractors we know. Then we are on site regularly until it is finished, and back again a year later.

    • Building regulations and full construction detail package
    • Tender to three contractors and a written tender report
    • Contract administration, valuations and regular site inspections
    • Handover, as-built information and a defects review at twelve months

05What clients say

Four clients, in their own words.

We had been refused twice and were close to selling the plot. Ilona spent a month on the site before she drew a line, which at the time felt like an expensive delay and turned out to be the entire reason we got permission. The courtyard was not in our brief. It is now the part of the house we actually live in.

Marianne and Peter ColePrivate clientsKestrel Ridge House

We came to Archway with a refused scheme for nine flats and asked them to make it acceptable. They came back with fourteen homes and a recommendation to raise the density, which is not what you expect to hear after a refusal. They then sat through three meetings with the neighbours who had objected. It went to committee with no sustained objection.

David OgundeleDirector, Lea Bridge DevelopmentsMarrow Lane Terraces

Our budget was fixed and every pound spent on the building was a pound off the rent subsidy for our makers. Archway understood that immediately. They surveyed the frame stanchion by stanchion, found that most of it needed nothing, and spent the money we saved on reopening the roof lights. All eleven studios let within a month.

Hannah ReeceChair of trustees, Clerkenwell Makers TrustIronmongers' Warehouse

Everyone told us a permanent building on that bank was impossible. Archway did not argue with the flood zone, they designed around it, and the demountable structure is what won the consent. Nine days from the first panel to a roof over our heads. We traded right through our first winter, which we had never managed before.

Órla FinneganOwner, Salt House AldeburghSalt House Pavilion

06Start a project

Tell us about the site. The first visit is free.

A director reads every enquiry, usually the same day, and replies within two working days with either some questions or a date. We come to you, spend about an hour on the site, and only write a fee proposal afterwards. If we are not the right practice for the job we will say so, and where we can we will tell you who is.

Request a consultationOr email studio@archway-architects.com

What the form asks for

  • 01Your name and emailA phone number too, if you would rather we rang.
  • 02Project typeNew build, extension, workplace, retrofit, or not sure yet.
  • 03City or areaWe work across London and the South East.
  • 04A few sentencesWhat you want to do, roughly when, and the budget if you have one.

Takes about two minutes. No newsletter, no follow-up sequence.