Expertise

We are known not only for our design excellence but for our ability to think beyond the obvious—navigating the intricate interplay of planning frameworks, stakeholder interests, and site-specific challenges while redefining what is achievable. Every project is approached with a precision-led strategy that unlocks potential where others see obstacles. Working within the RIBA Plan of Work, we offer a highly tailored experience, allowing clients to engage us at the stages most relevant to their vision. Our commitment to discretion, technical expertise, and design ingenuity ensures seamless delivery from concept to completion. We are known not only for our design excellence but for our ability to think beyond the obvious—navigating the intricate interplay of planning frameworks, stakeholder interests, and site-specific challenges while redefining what is achievable. Every project is approached with a precision-led strategy that unlocks potential where others see obstacles.

Working within the RIBA Plan of Work, we offer a highly tailored experience, allowing clients to engage us at the stages most relevant to their vision. Our commitment to discretion, technical expertise, and design ingenuity ensures seamless delivery from concept to completion.

The transition from concept to construction demands precision, expertise, and an unwavering attention to detail. Much of our work at this stage follows the securing of Planning Consent or Listed Building Consent, ensuring that every aspect of the design aligns with British Standards and Building Regulations.

Technical design encompasses everything from straightforward elements—such as the integration of extraction systems within structural floor slabs or ceiling joists—to intricate detailing and the coordination of specialist building services. This phase often involves the production of comprehensive Building Regulations drawings, services drawings, specifications, schedules, and SAP calculations, all of which are critical in shaping a project that is both technically robust and elegantly resolved.We excel in managing and coordinating the diverse range of consultants required at this stage, including MEP engineers, façade specialists, fire consultants, and other technical experts, ensuring seamless collaboration and alignment with the overall vision. Our expertise extends to working within the High-Risk Building (HRB) sector, where stringent compliance, safety regulations, and complex technical requirements demand an elevated level of diligence and coordination.

This is often the most rigorous and demanding stage of a project, requiring meticulous oversight and precision. Our detailed technical blueprints ensure clarity and efficiency, enabling all parties to work towards the same vision with confidence.

Conceptual design is one of the most dynamic and rewarding phases of a project’s lifespan. At this stage, we engage in a collaborative process—listening to your aspirations, exploring possibilities, and presenting a series of carefully considered ideas. These concepts are communicated visually through a combination of hand sketches and 3D modelling, conveying the ethos, proportions, scale, aesthetic, and overall character of each design direction.
 Iteration is key at this stage. We refine ideas through a dialogue with you, exploring both radical and subtle variations until we arrive at a concept that is both inspiring and achievable. Alongside this creative exploration, we conduct essential feasibility checks:

Can this be delivered within the budget and timeframe?
Does the scheme align with planning policies and site constraints?
If a listed building is involved, what additional parameters must be considered?
Great architecture is born from both creativity and strategic problem-solving. To unlock the full potential of your project, we encourage an open-minded approach, allowing us to think beyond conventional solutions and explore perspectives you may not have yet considered. This approach ultimately leads to the most rewarding design, the best return on investment, and an architectural outcome that stands the test of time.

Our team carries out feasibility studies regularly for both domestic homeowners and commercial clients. These are most often commissioned to establish:a. the viability of a scheme, or set of schemes within the LPA (Local Planning Authority) and National Planning Policy Framework. b. the application of financial costings to that scheme. This stage will usually encompass the production of a set of draft scaled drawings via a survey of the existing property, application of constraints such as light corridors from neighbouring properties among others and outline concepts drawn onto said scheme. A report of say 10 pages for a small domestic project would be produced and provided to the client at completion of the project detailing potential pitfalls, constraints, and an assessment of the viability of a proposed scheme from the director. We have produced c100 page reports for commercial institutions testing various schemes, parameters and analysing various facets of the businesses to determine a schemes effect on them.

A good architecture practice will boast of creative and daring vision, but will know that its project can be delivered for the client. Masterplanning bring many facets together, and allows a practice to show that it can think creatively but factor in financial, legal and policy constraints simultaneously and on a much larger scale than an individual property.
We thrive in delivering schemes which impress, inspire and exceed the brief requirements in this regard and are able to offer Masterplanning design work to you as part of our architectural services package when required. Working within the constraints of the given site, a masterplan presents opportunities to maximise value, quality of living, long-term revenue incentives, communal living schemes and ensures the viability of the scheme is grounded in a long-term vision. Our 2017 – 2018 masterplanning experience includes: – 2.5 acre sites aiming to deliver 20 homes in the South-East – .5 acre sites aiming to deliver homes in Salisbury – Two-property developments on generous plots in and around Buckinghamshire

Cohanim Architecture are regularly engaged by developers to design fantastic schemes which maximise the potential of their site, make a local contribution, build and maintain relationships with the LPA and simultaneously generate a superb RoI for the investors. One of our architectural services which is only available to those who we enjoy a long-term working relationship with, is carried out through a mutually beneficial agreement between ourselves and a developer to carry out regular feasibility work on their potential site purchases. Advising and providing consultancy on pre-purchase and off-market opportunities. We have been requested to scout for the sites by other developers, primarily on 1acre + sites, including Green Belt, Brownfield, PD Rights and more.

Our knowledge and experience in the field of historic restorations and renovations is extensive. Materiality, historic construction techniques, context, and consultations with third party historical interest groups all form part of our core knowledge which is applied to each project, ensuring that your goals are met and achieved. We also boast of extensive experience in ecclesiastical architecture – with Grade I, II, & II* listed buildings – and have a 100% track record in achieving planning permission for these schemes, including on several buildings dating back to 1500ad.

Contract administration involves the planning, negotiation, execution and performance of the relevant contract with clients and their chosen contractors and consultants. Typically we will use RIBA or JCT contracts. We have acted as Contract Administrator on large Prime Central London commercial fit-out projects and also private residential projects.