Our Services

At Hickman & Smith, we offer a variety of services to help you in your building procurement process. We understand that every building has a unique set of requirements, and some possibilities must be fully explored to help deliver the best options available to our clients.

Technical Drawing

Planning Drawings

Feasibility Studies

Renders

3D Images & Visuals

Sustainability

Cost Planning

Contract Admin

Heritage

Common Questions

Creating a brief

We will go through a few stages to ensure we are working to exactly the brief you want. Initially we will meet with you for a free consultation to get to know about you and your project before preparing a fee quote. Once appointed we will come to see the project again and develop a written brief document. This helps us to ensure that what we are on the same page and sets out your goals and aspirations for the project, giving us the chance to understand how you want to use the space, and provide some ideas and solutions which you might not have considered.

Taking the time to develop the brief and understand your expectations with regards to budget, scale, style, environmental aims, and the uses of the proposals will mean that we have laid the right foundations before the project begins- helping get the most out of the design stages.

First Consultation

Fees

Planning Permission

Project Processes

Every project can be tailored to what you need. We follow the RIBA plan of work which is an industry standard, this has stages 0-5 taking you from initial briefing and helping you define exactly what you want, design development, planning drawings, technical drawings, tendering, construction and finally, handover.

We will discuss with you which of these services you need at the offset to make sure the process is right for you.

Dispute Management

Construction projects can be costly and expensive and occasionaly disputes can occur as there are a number of parties involved. During the design stage we work hard to ensure that our information is thorough and detailed, and we review other consultants work, working with them to ensure that all the information is coordinated. This helps the ease the construction stage and allow the project to progress smoothly.

We also offer a contract administration service. The contract administrator helps to assist the smooth running and proper management of the project when it goes on site; aiding communications and managing expectations between the client and contractor and undertaking regular site visits and meetings. The contract administrator helps to deal with, and manage any disputes fairly, under the terms of the contract.

Health & Safety

Architects are well placed to assist and advise on health and safety concerns. Under CDM 2015 and The Building Safety Act 2022 we have a responsibility as designers to consider health and safety throughout the design and construction phase of a project. We can also act as the principle designer for projects - taking a lead in planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating health and safety risks throughout the project.

Where required we can also get other consultants in such as fire consultants and we will work with these to ensure safety is a top priority.

Building Quality Control

As architects we love the small details and have a keen eye for quality and finishes. During the design stage we will work to define the details, finishes, and level of quality carefully with you- helping you achieve the end result you want. When you appoint us for RIBA stage 5 services (during construction) we can carry out regular site visits and inspections to check on the progress and quality at all stages.