Harvey Wright Architects

Excellent work. Easy to communicate. Prompt action with amendments when we needed.

I contacted Ian Harvey to both design an extension and to project manage the work for me. Now it is completed and I am really happy with it. It is just what I envisaged and Ian's help in overseeing everything was invaluable. As well as organising planning permission and visits by building inspectors, etc, he drew up a very comprehensive contract between myself and the building company, detailing all the work and materials to be used. Included was a schedule which was checked every three weeks at a meeting between myself, Ian and the builder. If everything was on time and satisfactory, Ian gave me the okay to pay an interim amount. This meant that everything was checked along the way - something that I don't have the knowledge to be able to do - and it meant that the whole experience was much less stressful than it could have been. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Ian.

We worked with Ian at HW to prepare designs for our renovation and extension of a chalet bungalow to 3200ft. Ian listened to what we said, made lots of suggestions and presented many options. The resulting internal space ticked every box and minimised costs by using the existing footprint and supporting walls where possible. Unfortunately we did not progress the scheme as we put our property on the market and chose to buy the dream house instead,

If we were doing another project, we would do it with Harvey Wright. That's how positive our experience of working with Daniel Wright has been - and we are really pleased with the result. From the outset, we found Daniel & his team to be creative, thorough and easy to work with. We were often reassured by his eye for detail and his concern to follow through and ensure quality of delivery with our builders (who were also excellent). We trusted Daniel both technically and relationally - and he didn't let us down. He did a great job of guiding us through some of the more technical aspects of the project and he steered us through the challenges we encountered with skill and good humour. This helped us to maintain good humor and positive working relationships across the project - and it delivered a great result. Thank you!

Harvey Wright drew the plans for alterations to our office. It was a small project but they were timely in delivering the drawings and excellent at providing advice and carrying out minor alterations at our request. For this experience I would certainly recommend them to others.

Harvey Wrights have delivered exceptionally well on my project which was my first and so was quite a learning curve for me. They guided me carefully through each stage, from design to put some structure around my idea of converting my loft into a kitchen/diner/roof-terrace and reorganising the rest of my 2 bedroom flat into a 3 bedroom flat, though the tender process, party wall agreement, signing build contracts, managing the whole build and eventually to completion. The build clearly would not have been the success it was without their ability to bring to bear their substantial experience in all aspects – it is the quality I most appreciated, that no issue was beyond their abilities to find a solution and to properly manage the builder to achieve the end result – in particular to budget and to quality. I am delighted with the results and would not hesitate to recommend Ian and Dan who work so effectively together – thanks to both of them for meticulously leading a quite complicated project to completion and a happy customer.

No hesitation in recommending Daniel and his team at HW. We have added a c1000 sq ft extension with cinema, bedroom suite (bathroom, bedroom, study, dressing room) and replaced the roof, all windows and undertook a major redecoration. HW were the architects and project managers, with Daniel Wright leading and involved for c3 years. The build included insulating the double garage and adding a new central heating system (dual zone), new doors throughout etc. Spend was >£200k + VAT. Our aim was to extend our house [4 bed / 2 bathroom / 3 receptions (c2,200 sq ft)] to 5 bed / 3 bathroom / 4 receptions (c3,200 sq ft) without changing the footprint. The tender for construction went to 5 firms recommended by HW – 4 firms provided credible quotes and clearly worked hard to complete the tenders. The contract was awarded to Flaherty Builders Limited and all sub-contracting was handled by them. Design work commenced late 2014, finished mid 2016. Build work commenced Mar 2017, finished Oct 2017. This was entirely at my pace and involved multiple drawing iterations. The result of the work is fantastic – and a recent valuation is c£50-100k in excess of the cost. The new bedroom suite is a great private space and although we have yet to fit the cinema the room design and finish is exciting and gets great feedback. We asked for LAN extensions but there doesn’t appear to be much benefit in adding these to extend wifi (not HW fault) - it is not easy to configure a second router and BT offer simpler solutions using electricity circuits. In future we would pay more attention to minor detail in the design and contract – for example we missed a few things from the contract which was irritating (such as blinds, new utility cupboards, shelving for the dressing room) and with hindsight we would change a few electrical positions and widen a couple of doors and stairs. Spotting other minor issues on site led to delay, but HW helped us overcome these. If we did another project we would always add modern tools such as ‘nest’, ‘hive’ and ‘light-wave’ to any spec. The new dual-zone heating controlled by hive has cut gas use by c50%, nest provides reassuring smoke / Co2 / night light protection and light-wave allows us to control lighting when we are away. Elmbridge B.C. offer a GOLD service offered which allowed design modification ahead of formal submission and our plans were approved first time without challenge. I believe it must be possible to create 3D internal fly-through and this would have helped enormously. As part of the design we commissioned a 3D model – this was great to visualize and modify the design, led to increased sq ft in the cinema and enabled us to provide assurance to neighbours that the design was in keeping with the street. Daniel Wright and his team are patient and never pressurised our decisions. HW took my ever changing brief and followed it entirely, adding valuable suggestions at all times. At no point in the build did I feel that either work or finances were out of control, and using a “Minor Works Building Contract” ensured all parties engaged professionally. Daniel is personable, highly professional and provided constant assurance that he was on top of the project. I’m very happy to provide further detail or arrange a site visit (via HW).

We hired Harvey Wright for a loft conversion and front door porch. The scope included drawings, planning submission, specification package, tendering and construction management. A year on and we are very happy with the design and the work undertaken by a reputable builder.

From idea to end, Ian did a fantastic job of designing our extension. He brought new ideas that we had not thought of, put up with our never ending mind changing and got us through a challenging planning application process.

My wife and I decided to carry out a remodelling and extension of the rear ground floor of our house in the summer of 2012. Daniel Wright from Harvey Wright architects pitched for the design and project management contract and we were impressed with the innovative design work and also with his overall professionalism. The projects was carried out on time and to a very high specification and Daniel personally ensured that the contractors met every aspect of the plan. I would have no hesitation in recommending Daniel and his company to anyone looking for an excellent architect.

I used Harvey Wright Architects for the design, technical drawings and guidance through planning permission for a two story extension on my victorian semi. They were helpful and professional at every stage , quick to respond and very good value for money.

I would highly recommend Harvey Wright Architects. We used them to plan major renovations to our home last year and are delighted with the end product. Dan gave some real inspirational ideas, which I loved. I was especially impressed with the attention to detail in all aspects of the project; in particular the drawings and briefs which were created. The team were clearly experienced and knowledgeable. They were patient and professional at all time, and a stressful project so much easier to deal with.