STAC Architecture

We first met David in February 2017 with a plan to undertake a side return extension and internal alterations to form a new and larger kitchen/dining area of our mid-terrace Victorian house in East Dulwich. The brief was the entire lower ground of the house – from front railings to the end of the garden. In summary, the project was fun, collaborative, efficiently run, finished to a high standard and we are delighted with the results. David presented us with options (below) in terms of the level of support we wished to have, setting out a fee proposal with a very clear breakdown of the costs of the various stages, which permitted us to choose. We both work full time, and this was our first time undertaking such a project, so we opted for David’s support from Stages 0 – 7. Stage 0 – 1: Appraisal, design brief and survey; Stage 2: Concept Design; Stage 3: Design Development to planning application; Stage 4: Building control / tender drawings; Stage 5: Tender, construction – practical completion; Stage 6: Completion and handover; and Stage 7: Defects period. We were particularly keen for the space to have a feeling of openness, to maintain and maximise the light in the area which was below street level and to be able to enjoy the view of the garden. Throughout the process, David was incredibly friendly, patient and shared our passion for the improvements we wanted to make to our home. At all times it very much felt like co-design and co-production with David, with David sharing with us a numerous concepts and designs which we felt comfortable adapting and at no time did we feel that David was protective of these. David has great attention to detail, for example, thinking ahead to lighting (including in the garden) and use of space at an early stage. David presented us with many design options and was very patient! David’s advice for our small garden has made the garden feel bigger and we also get the benefit of the garden view from the kitchen on rainy days inside. David led us and supported us through the entire 7 stage process – including the administrative side as well as the fun, creative side. David was completely on top of the costs, who needed paying when, required planning permissions and all paperwork. David brought the whole project together. David was a regular visitor to meet with us, builders, inspectors, kitchen designers and structural engineers. If at any time we had a problem or needed his advice, David was always extremely prompt and responsive. David is professional, reliable, efficient, creative, collaborative and fun to work with.

We worked with David on a project in North London which involved commissioning us to design and build bespoke furniture for various areas in the property. David was very professional to work with and had a great eye for detail. Would not hesitate to work with David again in the future and would recommend him to clients looking for a Architect for a large scale project.

We hired STAC Architecture to work with us on our side and rear extension to our ground floor flat. We also retained STAC to project manage the build from start to finish. STAC created a great design, both contemporary and functional, encompassing everything we wanted with additional storage. They handled our planning application and our tender bid. They worked well with an extensive team of surveyors, structural engineers, tradesmen, builders, etc over a period of many months. They were highly professional in their work, with excellent communication throughout and were always on hand to help or advise. I feel they were excellent value for money and were instrumental in helping us achieve the standard of finish we wanted.