Creating an A team

Building a new house doesn’t only require great design, materials and craftsmanship, but also a trusty cohort of experienced professionals who work seamlessly together, says Amelia Thorpe

- Amelia Thorpe

GIVEN the complexity of building a new home, how do you make it an enjoyable experience? ‘The key ingredients are finding a professional design team and building team, and that everyone gets along well together,’ says Nigel Armstrong, chairman of residential builder R. W. Armstrong. ‘Make sure you are surrounded by people you want to spend a year or more with—you are going to be talking about personal things, in detail, on a very regular basis, so personalities are important.’

To find the team, most agree on the benefits of personal recommendation from friends, colleagues, and other professionals—and COUNTRY LIFE’s Top 100 published every spring. Search engines and services, such as RIBA Client Advisers (www.architecture.com)and RedBook (www.redbookagency.com) may also be useful. Know who will lead the project —usually the architect—and that the practice is willing and able to take on the full gamut of tasks you expect, including co-ordinating all the other professionals involved.

‘Assemble the team as early as you can,’ advises Hugh Petter, director of Adam Architecture. ‘For example, I always like getting the interior designer involved when the scheme is still at the concept stage, so they can have proper input into the design.’ Not only will this result in the most joined-up thinking, but it may also encourage optimum creativity. ‘You get the whole team’s view from the beginning and develop the vision together,’ says landscape architect Marian Boswall, principal of Marian Boswall Studio.