JB Architects

We undertook a full refurb of a 250-year old farmhouse, including going up into the loft and creating an extension, which was given huge wow factor by James with a curved wall and hovering bay window, and full length sliding doors onto an elegant courtyard. It was a complex, lengthy and stressful project but James kept everyone focused and never lost sight of the fact we were looking for both a family home and a visually stunning new/old space.

JBA worked on a total revamp of my home in London as architect, project manager and less officially, interor's adviser (the interior space was part of the architecture - I also sought his advice on colour schemes etc.) James from JBA worked with my ideas to make them oh so much better. He has a great asthetic eye yet is keen to keep things practical and user-friendly. For my house we totally remodelled the inside to modernise it. I had some basic ideas as to how I'd like the new layout to be and I was keen on keeping costs down and reusing things where possible. JBA really impressed me with the use of space and light that they came up with. A few examples of things where they added style, innovation and practicality are: had the idea to use the treds from my old spiral staircase as the living room bookshelf & some of the old floorboards that we took up are now shelves in the new linen cupboards. I had an idea that I'd like a fish tank in the house somewhere and he suggested using it as the splashback/ separator between the newly created kitchen/ living room space. Added internal windows to optimise light at all levels. Where I have a strange curved walled on the bottom floor, he fashioned something to reflect that on the opposite stair-encasement. . .people comment on the 'lines' all over the house.. I would never have thought of 'lines'. It's essentially the house I wanted but it looks so much better that I could ever have dared hope for. I had not thought that having the architect manage the build would make much difference but it was amazing how many things the builders missed each day from his design and he had to hop in to remind them. He seemed to have a great raport with the various tradesmen and the whole project came in bang on budget.

James worked incredibly hard to bring our project in on time and under budget - a major achievement when dealing with complex repairs like roofing. While he was comfortable taking the initiative he kept us apprised of everything that was happening, and the paperwork and pricing were clear, accurate and fair.

James designed and oversaw a major four-unit residentail conversion for the rental market in Central London. This involved significant planning and listed buiding issues and he negotiated a potentially sensitive and difficult design process with aplomb. His interaction with the various contractors was also spot on. The resulting apartments have attracted very strong rents which is testament to their design and the finish quality which James was able to help provide.