Services

We provide the full range of services. If you have the idea we can design it within current planning frameworks, carry out all the necessary planning applications and ensure your project designs are fully compliant with current building standards. We guide you through the party wall process and we manage every aspect of your build from design right through to hand over at the very end. We personally guarantee our workmanship for a year and can provide an Insurance Backed Guarantee (IBG) up to 10 years.

At what point should we contact Creative Spaces?

We recognise there are numerous ways to approach a large project in your home. We are experienced in picking up with your project at different stages through the process.

• If you are at the very beginning and the entire process seems daunting, then contact us now. One of our experienced team will provide a consultation which will take you through the first steps of design and provide costs based upon a sketch proposal. We can then take you through our full service from design, construction and final handover
• If you have engaged an architect and worked through design up to planning stage get in touch now. We can base costs upon your planning drawings. We can take your chosen designs, provide engineering detailing and structural drawings prepared for building control. We guide you through the Party Walls process and move to construction on site and finally handover on completion
• If you have completed the full design process and are ready to begin construction on site get in touch now. We can provide full construction and management costs for your build. Once agreed, we schedule you build on site and move towards handover upon completion
• If you are an architect please don’t hesitate to send your project tenders for us to price. We enjoy a fantastic relationship with many architectural practices throughout London

First meeting with Creative Spaces

In your very first meeting with us we will discuss your ideas, the use of space and considering the existing property. This will enable a design proposal to be developed which we term as ‘sketch proposal’. In London many homes are originally Victorian, Edwardian or later thus we have many examples of previous projects that will invigorate the designer in you! We use this sketch proposal and our vast experience to provide a pricing model that accurately represents your project. From this point we expect lots of questions from our clients, this helps us refine the design and pricing to a point where you are comfortable to proceed to our design phase.

Architectural Design and Engineering

Our very experienced in-house architectural design team will take your ideas and put them to plans or give you guidance on what can be achieved. They will carry out a full survey of the property and then create drawings based upon the previously produced sketch proposal. Our team will continue working with you to make sure the design meets your brief for what you want to achieve in your home.

Once design has been approved, we will submit your scheme for full planning or a certificate of lawful development, whichever is deemed the necessary process. Both planning process will take circa 8 weeks to finalise. Once we have received the relevant planning permissions, we then get to work on the structural drawings with our Structural Engineer who will produce structural calculations to submit to Building Control. A reasonable timeframe for this process is circa 4 weeks. Generally, it is at this time we will also guide you through the party wall agreement process. We typically see the Party Wall process taking 4 – 6 weeks to complete but this does depend on how well your neighbours and relevant surveyors communicate. The important part of the party wall process to remember is that it is simply a process. Once the scheme is correctly designed and has a proper implementation plan in place, your neighbour is not capable of preventing you extending your home. In fact, if you have a non-communicative neighbour the party wall award can even be completed with them in absentia. Then the project can begin on site.

Planning Permission

For a flat, maisonette or a property in a conservation area, planning permission is certainly a requirement to carry out any works. There are also many circumstances in typical residential homes where full planning is required. Regardless of full planning or a certificate of lawful development, Our team will work with you on the design to ensure it will comply with the planning guidelines for that particular council. We will then submit a planning application. This normally takes 8 weeks to complete.

Permitted development rights

Permitted development rights allow you to improve or extend your home without the need to apply for planning permission where that would be out of proportion to the works carried out. Speak with us to find out what works you are entitled to carry out under permitted development rights.

We advise to obtain a certificate of lawful development. A certificate is granted by the local authority who will assess if a proposed use or development is lawful for planning purposes or not. This is a process we carry out for you as we have extensive experience.

Building Control

Every building project within our remit is required to obtain a building control certificate to show that the building works comply with the appropriate building regulations. The regulations are applied to ensure the structural strength of the floor is sufficient, the stability of the structure is not endangered, safe escape from fire, safely designed stairs to the new floor and reasonable sound insulation between the conversion and the rooms below. We coordinate with Building Control officers and schedule all the inspections for you.

Party wall Agreements

The party wall makes up the wall on one side of a semi-detached property or on both side of a terraced property that is owned by all parties whose property is connected to the wall. If you are planning a loft conversion, you must inform your neighbour about your plans. It is important to put an agreement in place. In some cases, a party wall surveyor can be engaged to satisfy all parties of the impact of the design and conversion works on the party wall. This process normally takes only 4 - 6 weeks and is a straightforward process when all parties work together and good will prevailing.

Project Management

From the moment you sign up with us, we manage your project from design right through to the very end when we hand over the final Building Control certificates. Once the design phase is complete, our project manager starts the communication process by scheduling the prestart meeting on site, discusses your plans and requirements with you and the build team in order to kick start the project and get moving quickly. Our role as project managers is the take care of the detail and coordinate with you on timings for ordering and deal with any issues that may arise. We are committed to providing the best customer service and have been awarded, a few years in a row, by Houzz for best customer service provider. No issue or query is too small, everything matters when making such a big commitment and change. Our project management team will run your project and deal with all the technicalities. The project manager is always the main point of communication throughout the project.