Design that increases the value of every square metre

Common areas are the shared parts of a building: entrance groups, lobbies, lift halls, corridors, pram stores, concierge points and stairwells. Unlike a private interior, these are not designed for one owner but for a steady flow of hundreds of people and for years of use by the managing company. That is why engineering and regulation carry more weight here: fire safety and escape routes, vandal resistance and hard-wearing materials, ease of repair, lighting scenarios, wayfinding and the branding of entrance groups. We deliver the full set, from concept and 3D visualisation to the technical documentation the building is actually constructed from, with a materials budget.

We follow a standard sequence, tried and tested on dozens of projects: 1. Concept and brief — technical brief, concept, reference selection, layout, plan of new structures and the furniture and equipment plan. 2. 3D visualisation — photorealistic views of all the key rooms (one to three angles per room) so the look is approved before construction starts. 3. Technical documentation — measured survey, demolition and installation plans, floors, ceilings, lighting and electrics, wall elevations, plumbing, ventilation and heating, drawings for bespoke items, specifications and schedules. 4. Furnishing, procurement and budget — specifications with product codes, supplier quotations for materials, physical samples and the project cost estimate. Each stage is reviewed and agreed in writing by the client, and only then do we move on — that is how costly rework is avoided.

Design supervision means accompanying the build from the very start until the works are fully complete. Our specialist makes sure the contractor delivers exactly what the design sets out: materials, junction details, geometry, lighting and finishes. Without it, even a faultless drawing set gets “simplified” on site, and both the look and part of the value built into the project are lost. With design supervision the result on site matches the approved visualisations, and anything disputed is settled quickly and according to the design rather than by eye.

Timelines depend on the floor area and the mix of rooms, but the usual benchmarks are: the concept and concept design stage takes three to five weeks on average, 3D visualisation about 20 working days, and technical documentation is costed and scheduled separately, depending on the volume of drawings. The exact schedule is fixed in the contract stage by stage, with a completion date for each stage. Inside the project we track those dates with statuses and reasons for any slippage, so the developer always sees the real picture rather than “it will be ready sometime”.

The cost is calculated separately for two scopes of work — concept design and technical documentation — and depends on the floor area in m² and the complexity of the rooms. The two areas often differ: some rooms do not need full visualisation but still need technical drawings, and the other way round. Payment is staged, with an advance before each stage begins. The first payment covers the initial analysis and reserves the team and the studio's time. The scheme is transparent for a tender department: it is clear exactly what the developer is paying for at each step.

Operational demands and the regulations that apply. In particular: • Durability and vandal resistance — materials that stand up to heavy footfall, cleaning and hard everyday use. • Fire safety and evacuation — fire-rated doors, emergency and escape lighting, correct escape routes. • Building services — electrics with the right IP rating for each area, ventilation and heating with concealed units, plumbing in WCs and cleaners' rooms. • Wayfinding and identity — a single signage system and branding of the entrances to suit the class of the development (comfort, business or premium). • Ease of maintenance — access hatches, access to services, and solutions thought through for the managing company.

At the end you receive the complete drawing set — concept, 3D visualisations, technical documentation, specifications and schedules, and the materials budget — so you can run a tender for construction and installation works and build without filling in the gaps on site. Quality is ensured by an internal review procedure: every drawing is checked against a checklist (scales, dimensions, level marks, socket and switch positions, material specifications with product codes, and consistency between the technical documentation and the building services sections). The documentation is signed off by the design supervision specialist and approved by the client, which removes contradictions between sections and makes the project genuinely buildable on site.