Notes from
the drawing board.
Field notes, planning explainers and the occasional opinion, written between site visits. Long-form on the work itself, shorter pieces on materials, planning policy, retrofit and the quieter parts of designing a house.
Retrofit first, extend second.
Most clients ask about adding space before they ask about the space they already have. The order matters more than it sounds.
Building Regulations Part L, in plain English.
A short guide to what the 2025 update actually means for a typical Sussex extension or remodel.
Materials we love: Sussex flint.
Knapped, galleted, herringbone, the vernacular wall has more vocabulary than any one project will use. A short field guide.
Permitted development in 2026.
What you can still do without a full planning application, and the corners of the rules people most often get wrong.
The detail that never makes the drawings.
A site walk through a half-finished kitchen extension in Burgess Hill, and the four small things that decided how it would feel.
Working with listed buildings, gently.
Conservation officers aren't there to say no. Five conversations that have, in practice, moved projects forward.
A short letter,
once a season.
Four or five times a year, a project we've just finished, a shift in planning policy worth knowing about, or a piece of writing that's been a long time coming. No noise.
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