It is essential to establish clearly at the outset what the client's project-specific needs and aspirations are in order to agree a project brief that will provide a stable platform upon which to design.

From our first meeting onwards we work closely with our clients to understand their business objectives, their brand and the ethos & culture of their company. This process should be challenging & energetic, creative & collaborative because it is the essential first step in the design process, where aims and objectives are shared, tested and challenged before being enshrined as the project brief.

Experience is a valuable tool in informing and developing a brief and, as a leading design, architectural and planning practice, our depth of experience across a wide range of sectors and building types enables us to advise our clients with confidence.

The briefing process assists our clients in defining what they want and helps them to optimise the effective use of their assets to meet their business objectives.

For developer clients this can include high-level overview and feasibility studies, based on knowledge and experience, to identify the capacity of a site and its potential uses, working with other consultants and the client to establish a viable working brief which will not fail at the development stage.

For an occupier client this may entail studies of their existing space utilisation, industry benchmarking and the use of predictive space-planning to validate their occupational brief.

A good brief will set down the client's requirements in spatial, programme and budgetary terms. It is then possible to develop the brief and monitor the project progress against it, ensuring that delivery is a controlled and measured process, a positive experience for the client and end occupiers.

We then work with our clients to develop the preferred concept into a feasibility design that can be costed, appraised and tested against the brief before being signed-off as the basis for full and iterative design development.