Flat & Apartment Architects in London

A flat project is two projects at once: a design project and a consent project. The design usually aims to win light, storage and a better sense of flow from a fixed footprint. The consent challenge is the lease — most significant alterations need the freeholder’s permission through a Licence to Alter, supported by drawings, and managing agents and their surveyors take a close interest in anything structural.

Between flats, the details that matter most are the ones you cannot see: fire separation, acoustic performance and floor build-ups, structural openings, and the routing of services and risers. We address these explicitly in the drawings and coordinate structural engineers and other specialists so the package satisfies both the freeholder and building control.

Working within a fixed footprint is a design discipline, not a dead end. A great deal can be achieved by reconfiguring how a flat is organised — borrowing light, rethinking circulation, and replacing dead corridor with usable space — even where the structure and external walls cannot be freely altered because they are not yours to change. At the more ambitious end, two adjacent or stacked flats can sometimes be combined into a single lateral or duplex home, which is one of the most rewarding flat projects but also one of the most demanding on lease, structure and consent. We test what your demise and the building genuinely allow before designing.

Much of prime London’s flat stock sits in mansion blocks and managed buildings, which bring their own rules. Communal heating, water, ventilation and risers have to be respected; the managing agent and the freeholder’s surveyor set conditions and approve contractors; and access, deliveries, hours of work and protection of common parts are all controlled. These constraints shape what is feasible and how a project is delivered, so we design and plan the works with the building’s management in mind from the start rather than running into its rules halfway through.

A flat project moves on two tracks: the design, and the consents that allow it. Most significant alterations need the freeholder’s permission through a Licence to Alter, and external changes generally need planning permission as well, since flats have no permitted development rights. We develop the design and the consent strategy together — preparing the drawings the freeholder’s surveyor and the council each need — so the scheme you commit to is one you are actually able to build. For the consent process itself, this works hand in hand with our Licence to Alter and estate and freeholder consent services.