Brian Hoolahan Architect

Brian was instrumental in the development of our dream home. His work over two phases 10 years apart was sensitive and thoughtful, creating spaces and vistas that continue to delight our family and guests daily. Not only do shapes and flows work so well, but the sensitive choice of materials and finishes continue to give pleasure. Brian worked with both budgetary and planning constraints to make the very best of the opportunity, and we would have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone looking for a sensitive and thoughtful architect to work with.

A highly creative architect who worked closely with us to produce a stunning, light, contemporary home that is a joy to live in, and which 'sits' comfortably in its space and surroundings. Brian clearly understood what we were looking for in our house - and turned our dreams into reality. Fifteen years later, our house still looks beautiful, often evoking admiring comments from passers-by, and from our friends who love to come and stay with us.

The house was completed in 2002. For us at ‘Seagrass’ this remains as a brilliant design and build of a single storey wooden house, work place and home for two practicing artists . It was carried out by a highly imaginative and practical architect despite the local planning restrictions, and he has provided us and our family with a perfect place to live and work in. It is modern yet it tunes in perfectly to the harbour surroundings and thoroughly deserves the award given it by West Sussex County Council, including the very favourable comments from Chichester Harbour Conservancy.

Brian Hoolahan acted as our principal architect as we embarked on our project to replace our harbour fronted home in Chichester. The location of the property was particularly sensitive as it is situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Our brief was for Brian’s practice to design a family home using traditional materials whilst at the same time satisfying some of the highest environmental standards with respect to energy efficiency and material sourcing - including ground source heating and significant reliance of a sustainably sourced oak structure as an alternative to steel. Further, as a resident of Bosham we very much required that our new home was to be sympathetic towards the local environment, being close to Bosham village and its grade 1 listed Anglican church. Brian led all aspects of the design and planning approval process - which included satisfying the requirements of the District and Parish counsils as well as other authorities, including Chichester Harbour Conservancy. Following planning approval, Brian, through his construction company, Harbour Contractors, project managed the build covering all aspects of compliance and certification addressing architectural matters as they arose. We were delighted in choosing Brian’s organisation for our project and were able to benefit from his many years of professional experience as well as his deep architectural knowledge, having developed many projects throughout West Sussex.