Design and build in Parsons Green

The properties we see in Parsons Green

The Peterborough Estate — the grid south of New King's Road — is 1890s red-brick terraces known locally as the Lion Houses for the stone lions on their gables. They are large, generously proportioned, and almost identical to one another: the same back addition, the same side return, the same roof pitch. Towards Hurlingham the houses get bigger and detached; towards Sands End the stock shifts to smaller workers' cottages and, along the river, new-build apartment blocks. The Lion Houses are a conservation area, which shapes everything.

Planning in Hammersmith & Fulham

The Peterborough Estate is a designated conservation area, so front elevations, roofs visible from the street and boundary treatments are all controlled, and the lions themselves are protected features. Rear alterations are generally more achievable. Hammersmith and Fulham is the same authority as the rest of Fulham, so the process is familiar to us, but the conservation designation here means permitted development cannot be assumed the way it can a few streets north.

What design & build involves

Design and build means one contract and one point of responsibility from first sketch to handover, typically 8–14 percent of project cost for the design and management element. It removes the most common cause of renovation disputes: an architect and a builder blaming each other while you pay for the gap.

Consider this if

• You do not want to manage an architect and a builder separately
• A previous project went wrong because nobody took responsibility
• You want a single fixed price for the whole thing
• The project needs planning permission and you would rather not deal with it
• You are overseas or too busy to run a site
• You want cost certainty before committing

What's included

• Measured survey and concept design
• Planning application prepared, submitted and managed
• Structural engineering and building regulations drawings
• Party wall notices and surveyor appointment
• A single fixed-price construction contract
• One project manager and one point of contact throughout

The standard we build to

Delivered under a JCT contract appropriate to the project value, with staged payments against certified progress and a defects liability period after completion.

For the full write-up on design & build — costs, timescales, certification and the questions people ask most — see our design and build page. The prices and standards are the same wherever we work.