What is the value of good architecture?

Is it actually worth the expense?

Could you do without it?

I was mulling over these points with a client in our wonderful local. As happens I found the RIBA published on the same subject. Ruth Reid, president of the RIBA put it this way:

“There is a danger in the rush to cut costs we loose more than just money from building projects”.

So what is good design and how does it save? Certainly good design needs to pay for itself. Good design has its price, but bad design, or no design at all will cost you a lot more.

Skimping on design will almost always ends up costing much more later.

An architect brings more to a building that just style. The kind of building a business works from, or the home a family inhabits reflects standards and values.

In adding value a good architect will turn a building into a tangible asset, but he or she will need to be bought on board right at the start. That way a building can be made to fit a client’s needs, with architecture that is practical and functional, but also a pleasure to live in, to work in or to visit.

Certainly good design comes at a price, but at only a small proportion of the build cost. Good design can maximise a building’s efficiency and reduce its running costs. In other words helping you get more for your money. The difference is between long term value against short term cost and could amount to a considerable benefit to the owner.

So what does good design mean here in Dorset and Somerset?

• In this rural area landscape is a vital asset, which the planning system is there to protect. Buildings should therefore respect traditional buildings: which does not mean copying them. It takes a good architect to do that.
• Making buildings flexible in design so they can be adapted for later changes. This allows small businesses to expand as trade picks up.
• Design which is sustainable will soon be at a premium with extensive changes expected in the planning system, when there will be a ‘presumption in favour of green development’. When this happens we can expect big changes.

But good design works on a small scale too . . .

• Using local materials effectively. We have a wonderful variety In Somerset and Dorset. Stone used sparing in a new design is very effective. Similarly timber boarding and lime renders.
• Storage within buildings, too often ignored. It should be planned where needed, at the right height. Careful design saves space.
• Even the colour of your refurbished paintwork will make a difference to the resale potential. It needs to be carefully matched to bring out the colour of the stone of a traditional building.
• Windows that make the most of views, they don’t have top be big, just in the right position and considered with the furniture layout for maximum effect. They minimise crime and thus increase security.

Speak to an architect before you build and you open the door to cost savings and imagination.

The dance style is abstract expressionism, but its taut, precise and well rehearsed. What struck me as an architect was how their very precision defined space around them. It was almost architectural the way the dances created spaces. Not the permanent ones we architects agonise over, but shifting dynamic spaces.

Many scenes are shot in the city, at a roundabout with monorail trains overhead, or poignantly a reflective solo sequence in a deserted steel works. A stimulating film; amusing, poignant, beautifully shot and much recommended too. The last scene, on the edge of a quarry was touching.

Sounds simple? It is, in theory but the devil lies deep in the detail. Get it wrong in part and you miss out totally.

At lower VAT rates people have not bothered to claim. These days with VAT standing at a handsome 20% this is a the equivalent of a discount that you cannot afford to miss. The strategy is to get your building works approved as Zero Rated for VAT

This present Chancellor, like all his predecessors does not make it easy of course. Handing tax back, or rather, not taking it in the first place is not the spirit of these times of austerity.

You must satisfy all of these stages:

1. Your building must be officially Listed, i.e. on the Statutory Register.
2. The building works proposed must be Alterations, and not repairs or maintenance.
3. These works must require Listed Building Consent, which means they must be likely to effect the character of the building.

As can be imagined it is simple in theory but quickly gets complicated. We would refer matters on to the VAT people, or even a specialist if in doubt. The 80/20 rule applies thought in that the cost of pursuing every last penny of reclaimable VAT is just not worth the time/cost in doing so and we’d suggest getting back the ‘easy’ 80% and call it a day.

I’m not saying there’s no such thing as  wasn’t any discolouration apparently caused by damp, just that those ominous signs can, and generally are the signs of condensation caused by cold damp air hanging around, and eventually mould grows. Such air is very heavy and lurks lethargically in badly ventilated corners even though you may have good ventilation elsewhere.

So before you go ahead with expensive damp ‘specialists’ check if better ventilation will remove the damp and the chances are it will, and save you a packet.