ABP Chartered Architects in Bromley

In 2004 my wife and I faced a stark choice to accommodate the demands on our living space placed by 3 fast-growing children and their burgeoning circle of friends - move to a larger house or extend our current abode. For many reasons the latter was preferable, not least because we were very happy with our neighbourhood and loathe to move. Our challenge however was that we lived in a conservation area that was famous for its rigorous planning controls and we weren’t confident of securing approval for any planning applications. Having elected to at least investigate extending the house, we began searching for an architect to assist with the process. We reached out to 3 practices, finally electing to proceed with ABP architects. We were most impressed by their professionalism, obsessive attention to detail, design creativity and transparency in all the discussions.
ABP conducted thorough background research and advised that in view of the council’s rigorous approach to planning applications that two sets of plans should be submitted; an adventurous proposal that sought to fully exploit the potential of our house, an early Edwardian semi – exciting and innovative, this proposal would have added a further three good-sized rooms plus a large en-suite. The fall-back proposal was for a generously sized bedroom with en-suite. We agreed with this strategy and we reached a fully acceptable agreement with regard to the fees charged for the plans.
ABP advised us that their levels of confidence in the adventurous proposal being approved were not high, but that they were very confident that the fall-back proposal would be successful. ABP managed the entire planning submission process efficiently and effectively, keeping us fully informed at all stages. Ultimately, and as they had suspected, the council declined the adventurous proposal but approved the fall-back. As both designs required significant structural enhancements to our property ABP also managed the end to end process of interacting with the structural engineer we retained and also liaised with the builder appointed to undertake the actual work. Indeed the builder was glowing in his praise of the designs submitted, both for their creativity and clarity.
My wife and I have been 100% satisfied with the end result; the loft conversion is spacious and light, utilising dormer and Velux windows in the bedroom and our walk-in wet room is a delight. Other features such as the Velux window immediately above the staircase has made our house wonderfully bright and engaging, a characteristic that is always commented upon by first-time visitors.
In short our experience with ABP was one of total satisfaction; both Bernard and Maria clearly take great pride in their work, and in my opinion are absolutely and totally committed to ensuring they totally fulfil their obligations to the client. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending ABP architects to anyone who has need of architectural services.