Architype

Following the recent accolade for Architype as the Sustainable Practice of the Year in June’s unveiling of the AJ100 awards, we further demonstrate our relentless push to improve environmental standards and building performance in the launch of a new consultancy service; PERFORM⁺ .

The creation of this service has been born from the increasing demand that we have experienced from owners and users of buildings that are not performing as they should.

“Buildings that perform as predicted at design stage are all too rare; that’s not good enough for us” said Architype’s MD, Jonathan Hines, a champion of sustainability in construction.

Due to the sheer volume of work picked-up by the practice outside of the usual scope of architects’ services, it was felt that a new platform that gave recognition and impetus to this direction of work, as well as a growing skill-set within the practice was imperative.

The core purpose of PERFORM⁺as an environmental consultancy service is to help clients to get the best operational results from their buildings. We work at design stage and with existing buildings to ensure that long-term performance tackles current issues for users and enhances the future potential of built assets. The service boasts a menu of 20 unique services that tackle 5 key issues of sustainable design. These are; Making-Buildings-Work; Energy Performance; Healthy Buildings; Cutting Carbon and After Care.

When it comes to delivering advice on existing buildings, which so far has been a major component of the service, we are offering clients a bold and innovative approach to consultancy fees. We are so confident in our ability to improve the energy consumption of existing buildings that we can offer clients a reduced fee up-front, with an agreement to charge a proportion of the money saved by the client per annum on energy costs. “This is a unique win-win approach that speaks volumes about our commitment to this service. We are prepared to put our money where our mouth is because we are so confident that we can bring about fantastic results for clients. We want to attract as much awareness as possible about under-performing buildings, that should be available to all of our clients,” announced Jonathan.

The service will work in synergy with the practice’s architectural services, which will continue to be the core focus of Architype’s practice. Our growing experience in delivering this consultancy over the past two years has highlighted the complementary benefits of having a practice which does both; a two-pronged approach is highly beneficial for both clients and the future of the practice.

“We go beyond quick- fix solutions,” said Jonathan, “offering a holistic approach to solving both specific and complex problems. Our advice is not an isolated stand-alone environmental consultancy, but is underpinned by decades of experience as leading sustainable architects. Time and again we have been able to achieve major improvements in the performance of building for clients. Clients see this as great value for money”

The new service has all been made possible by the specialised skill-set that has been nurtured and recruited into the practice over recent years. The practice believes to be unrivalled in the number of special-skilled designers and technical staff, who hail from all over the UK and Europe. “Architype finds itself in a unique position with the number and breadth of qualified professionals that have trained in a variety of specialist complementary areas of sustainability” said Hines. “There are certainly others with these skill sets in the UK, but our approach is enhanced by the experience our teams have gained on as both architects and environmental consultants on a wide variety of large scale and complex projects.”

Though officially launching this month; (July 2019), we already have PERFORM⁺to thank for our relationships with a number of exciting and inspiring clients, including British Council for Collections, Birmingham Museums Trust, several major universities, and National Records of Scotland to name a few. Client of PERFORM+, Erica Kotze of University of St Andrews Library and Special Collections had this to say about the service; 

“After years of unsuitable conditions in our stores, Special Collections faced the options of either investing in additional air conditioning or finding a way to make our existing building and facilities more efficient.  Architype helped us to realise the preferable option of maximising the efficiency of our building – for the first time the building does what we want it to! We have been liberated from the burden of constantly monitoring conditions and have made significant energy savings.  Architype’s background gives them an insight to building performance that made us feel heard in our concerns, and made it so very easy to work with them.  This has been a great project, it was cost effective and led to the sustainable solution we wanted.”

Author, Journalist and sustainability editor of the Architects Journal, Hattie Hartman commented on the launch. “With the launch of PERFORM⁺, Architype is proactively leading the profession where it needs to go in this urgent time of climate crisis. PERFORM+ unravels the complexities of building performance into five bespoke services for clients. The list of services should be not only required reading, but mandatory upskilling for every architect practicing today. This is where the profession urgently needs to go  – immediately. PERFORM+ is an approach with a proven track record that works. Therefore Architype is offering a unique performance-based fee structure: reduced fees up front with further fees drawn from energy savings over a five-year period.”

In the light of the current heightened concern about climate change, the practice believes that the time is right to launch PERFORM⁺and help clients address the performance gap in buildings

All of Architype’s approach and services can be regarded on the PERFORM⁺section of our website.