About us

General

Collett & Farmer Architects were formed in 2000 by Charles Collett & Mark Farmer, to serve a range of both commercial and end user clients, with each partner offering different skills.

We offer a range of planning, interior design and architectural services within the commercial offices, private and public residential, health and community sectors. Our experience in London has developed skills in addressing sensitive sites in conservation areas, bringing imaginative solutions to both new build developments on brown-field sites and in the refurbishment of existing & listed buildings.

Aims

We want our Clients to use their buildings to the maximum potential, which ultimately feeds through to the profitability of their organisations, whether they are developers, service providers, institutions or charities.

As highly motivated designers we aim always to exceed the client’s expectations. The pursuit of time and cost are not enough, for us they are the starting point. The end is a quest for a quality of product, which the client never imagined would be possible, within the constraints of their time and budget.

We take particular pride in our reliability in executing the construction of projects and the management of contracts and are used to working to strict deadlines and budgets, but still achieving the highest quality of product.

Clients

Our Clients show an appreciation of design quality and the value this can bring to a project, consequently many are from the most reputable development companies, whilst others are individuals who value design as a means to enhance their environment or that of their employees.

Offices
Benchmark Group
Carpmaels & Ransford
Exemplar Properties Ltd
HSBC
Schroders
Siemens

Residential
Acton Housing Association
London & Newcastle plc
Octagon Developments Ltd
Renta Properties UK Ltd
Scottish & Newcastle Ltd
Southern Properties Group LLP
Spitalfields Housing Association

Community
Poplar Harica
Coram Family

Health
Kingston NHS Trust

We work directly with our Clients and are involved at every stage of delivery. The Partners are involved in all stages of design and production of drawings, reports and specifications and always check what goes out of the office.

Key Personnel

Charles Collett b 27.1.62

Charles is responsible within the practice for Office Management and Finance; including resource management, design, production and programming. Particular areas of expertise include designing in conservation areas and sustainability. Recent projects completed, include refurbishment of 55, 000 sq ft of offices in the City of London at Austin Friars in a nine month period from inception to completion, planning approval for a new 40,000 sq ft highly sustainable building in Bloomsbury for the Coram Family.

Charles became a fully qualified architect and member of the RIBA in 1992, completing his training at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and gaining a 2:1 Honours degree at Brighton University (Brighton Polytechnic) and is a Registered Architect (ARB no 058643I). Charles worked for Foster & Partners for 3 years and MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard for five years.

Mark Farmer b 1.4.66

Mark is responsible within the practice for marketing, preparing bids and feasibility studies and developing the initial scheme concepts working closely with clients and their team. Mark’s particular areas of expertise include Town Planning & commercial development. Recently completed projects include a refurbishment at Reading Bridge House and consent within a conservation area for six new houses in Barnes.

Mark became a fully qualified architect and member of the RIBA in 1994 training at The Mackintosh School of Architecture and Westminster University and is a Registered Architect (ARB no 061016J). Mark worked for Foster & Partners and TP Bennett.

Craig Robertson b 13.4.79

Craig is a recently qualified Architect having completed his practical experience and training with Collett & Farmer having joined the practice in 2005. He was responsible for a number of drawing packages for the office refurbishment at Reading Bridge House and Austin Friars in the City of London. He is now the responsible for running Centennial Court, an office refurbishment in Bracknell. Prior to joining C&F he worked for Short & Associates for 14 months preparing working drawings for a highly sustainable faculty building for UCL in Bloomsbury, London.

He studied at Herriott Watt University, Edinburgh gaining an Honours Degree (2:1) in 2002 and MA in Architecture in 2003 with a dissertation on Sustainability and Place. Craig became a full member of the RIBA in 2006.

Edward Blackett b 21.10.80

Ed joined C&F in 2005 and has worked on both Reading Bridge House and Austin Friars Office refurbishments and has assisted in preparing a number of bid proposals and feasibility designs. Most recently he worked on the successful planning application for Coram Family and has particular skills in design and planning of listed buildings and in conservation areas.

Ed studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture where he gained an honours degree and Diploma in 2005.

Resources

CAD & IT

Our CAD system is Vectorworks, which enables us to produce graphically clear drawings both in 2D & 3D. We operate a strict CAD protocol, layer structure and follow BS drawing standards, ensuring that drawings can be easily interpreted and utilised both internally and by external consultants with whom we are working via DWG or DXF exchange.

A range of desk top publishing software comprising the Adobe Creative Suite of programmes is utilised to prepare visually pleasing reports & brochures. In addition we use the standard MS Office suite of programmes for daily administration.

We operate a duplicate server based system of Apple Macintosh Computers with two parallel hard drives, ensuring that a back-up copy of work is kept at all times. In addition, two further external hard drives are used alternately as a back up to insure against accidents. One hard drive is stored off site at all times and backed-up once a week as well as the permanent on-site back-up. In addition we have a networked PC system for specialist NBS specification software.

Specification System

Collett & Farmer are subscribers to the NBS Full Specifier & Scheduler system of specification and NBS BRAD, an on-line Building Regulations reference system. We also subscribe to IHS on-line Key4Architects, which gives us access to key British Standards and publications from CIBSE, BRE, DTLR & ODPM. We also have access to an on-line fully searchable product database for suppliers and manufacturers for the construction industry.

Associations

Collett & Farmer are developing skills in the areas of Sustainable design and are registering with the Green Register of Architects as a step towards collaborating with & learning from others interested in promoting Green Architecture. We also contribute regularly to the World Architecture News web-site, an on-line weekly magazine, which now has over 50,000 subscribers.

Support Staff & Organisations

Our IT systems are supported by the Knightswood Consultancy who also carry out training for some of our software programmes.

We employ a part-time librarian, supporting a technical library with over 1000 building product brochures and reference books.

Accountants Molloy Pitfield, who have served Architects for over 20 years, prepare annual accounts and statements for the Partners and carry out book keeping for the practice.

Quality Management

Quality Control is central to the day to day running of the practice, ensuring both design quality and level of service is maintained to a high standard. A Quality Management System (QMS) has been evolved, based on ISO 9001. The QMS aims to ensure that design standards of the highest level are maintained and that work is carried out in an organised and consistent manner, allowing us to interface with Client, Contractor or Consultant organisations in an efficient way.

The practice has a fully comprehensive Office Manual incorporating a Quality Management System as well as covering IT Code of Conduct, CAD Protocols and Administration Proceedures.

Health & Safety

As part of the Office Manual, we include a section on Health & Safety and in particular for site staff, whose responsibility it is to wear safety clothing on site and observe strict guidance for attending building sites. The practice provides safety clothing such as steel capped boots, high vis vests and site hats for all staff.




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