SERVICES

The RIBA Plan of Work 2020 has eight stages, number 0 to 7.

We are often appointed to design a project up to planning approval which occurs in Stage 3.

For the tender and construction phase, our appointment will vary depending on the agreed procurement route.

We have experience of the following arrangements:

• Architect and Contract Administrator for Traditional Contracts.

• Architect novated or employed directly to the contractor for Design and Build (D&B) contracts.

• Client’s design architect monitoring the contractor’s architect for D&B contracts.

Several members of our team are trained as Principal Designers for CDM and Building Regulations and to meet requirements of the Building Safety Act. We only offer this service as an addition to our appointment as the Architect or Lead Consultant and not as a stand-alone service. Depending on the complexity of the project, we will sub-contract safety specialists to assist us in this role.

Through our experience of delivering homes, schools, universities and health projects we have refined our engagement skills and can offer this as a stand-alone service or as an enhancement to our standard service.

We can assist in identifying stakeholders and mapping engagement activities and programme to align with overarching project milestones. We uncover local knowledge, build trust, clarify shared priorities and show how voices shape decisions. This creates stronger briefs, wider support and places that genuinely reflect the people who use them.

To achieve design excellence, we must learn how our completed buildings are performing. We have expertise in carrying out studies to measure user satisfaction as well as energy performance.

We have in-house expertise in preparing visualisations and graphics to support communication and engagement. Our clear visualisations, animations or info graphics can help convey complex ideas in an easy-to-understand way.

We offer a stand-alone service to explore the viability of your project to inform business cases or funding applications.

We are experts at helping private and public clients working with limited initial funds and have assisted many local authorities unlock proposals by performing an initial design analysis under a their £20k threshold.

We offer masterplanning at a variety of scales, from a local neighbourhood to campuses to townscapes. Cullinan Studio combines strategic thinking, community insight, urban design, landscape and low-carbon expertise to create clear, compelling frameworks for change. We balance ambition with feasibility, phasing and long-term value.

We can offer interior design alongside are architectural appointment for new build design or a refurbishment project. We consider building holistically with the architectural composition of space and light creating the backdrop for beautifully coordinated natural materials and furnishings. We can provide services from early engagement with end users, fully visualised interior proposal for organisation approval and detailed specification of finishes and products for tender and delivery.

Cullinan Studio has a long reputation of designing low-energy buildings, beautiful timber structures and, uniquely, working in botanic gardens. In recent years, we have advanced our skills in Passivhaus techniques, ‘retrofit-first’ thinking, and reclaimed materials. We have in-house skills to design and calculate both embodied and operational carbon. We have architects trained in Passive House Design principles and PHPP software to ensure design meets agreed targets. We are active in the following organisations and benefit from shared knowledge and training offered by them.

UK Architects Declare: we are signatories and we advise clients on how to apply the AD Regenerative Design Primer to the RIBA Work Stages to exceed business as usual sustainability targets.

RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge: We are signatories and therefore committed to measuring operational and embodied carbon and water usage on all are projects and have the in-house capability to do this.

Alliance of Sustainable Building Products: We are active members and have collaborated on research with ASBP on mitigating avoidable plastics in construction.

Good Homes Alliance: We are active members and through this can advise on the latest research on specific issues regarding PassivHaus, Enerphit, overheating and Post-Occupancy Evaluation.

The Edge: As members we benefit from this multi-disciplinary, built-environment think-tank which hosts debates and campaigns for positive initiatives to promote ethics in the professions and address the climate crisis.

Cullinan Studio has unique experience in Insurance Backed Alliancing and we are one of the few firms capable of delivering projects through Integrated Project Insurance (IPI). This procurement method replaces adversarial traditional contracts with an integrated team focused on shared goals. The IPI process assembles the whole team, design and delivery, at RIBA Stage 2. The team is signed up to a guaranteed price, programme and success criteria through a truly collaborative way of working. The project is insured so the team is liberated from the blame-game and can openly solve problems through a transparent interrogation of real costs.

We can offer an initial workshop to explain the process and further feasibility to explore whether IPI is suitable for your project. To find out more, contact Carol Costello: carol.costello@cullinanstudio.com