Dear All,
Following government guidance updates over the past few weeks, whilst Darrington Architects will be continuing to largely work from the office at home, urgent and required meetings for existing clients will be commencing from late July, where remote dialogues are not suitable. These continue to be unprecedented and uncertain times, and we at Darrington Architects feel the safety and wellbeing of us all must be the ultimate priority.
Set out below, under key project stages, is some revised guidance and outline of my planned approach.
SCHEDULED MEETINGS AND SURVEYS
Postponed scheduled meetings and surveys are now being booked into the diary from the end of July. New clients will be booked in following these. Where possible, scheduled meetings will take place outside the property. For meetings that are required to take place inside the property, or during measuring works, I will wear a mask for the duration of the visit and hand sanitise on arrival and departure from the property. Where possible, drawings and updates will continue to be done by email or phone rather than face to face meetings.
DESIGN AND PLANNING STAGE
I am confident it will be possible for us to continue to develop your schemes remotely towards the submission for planning permission or certificate of permitted development. This working method has been successful since March.
PRE-APPLICATION ADVICE PROCESS
For those of you who currently have an application in for pre-application advice, these are proving to be significantly delayed with Bedford Borough Council but all other local councils are generally meeting their outlined dates. For those who have applied for written advice and a meeting, the meeting aspect is not taking place until September at the earliest and a call is being offered instead.
PLANNING PERMISSIONS
Applications are generally being significantly delayed with Bedford Borough Council but all other councils are generally meeting their outlined dates.
CONSTRUCTION INFORMATION / WORKING DRAWING STAGE
Whilst this stage requires more communication, I continue to be confident it will be possible for us to still form the detailed design information for the construction stage and for the submission for plan stage approval from building control. This working method has been successful since March.
BUILDING CONTROL PERMISSIONS
Once the architectural and structural (and any other involved consultants) information has been formed, the plan stage approvals can continue to take place with Building Control. In terms of Building Control inspections on site, these have successfully managed to continue since March.
TENDERING
Some tendering has continued to be able to take place and I am confident more tendering will now occur now the restrictions begin to lift.
ON SITE
As building sites continue to return to work there are of course arising queries that can occur. If these queries cannot be dealt with on site, depending on my appointed site involvement, I can undertake a site visit on the basis all those on site abide by the government guidelines on social distancing and we can largely discuss matters outside the property / development.
I hope the above is helpful. If you have any questions in relation to the above or would like to discuss, please do let me know.
Thank you for your continued support and wishing you all good health.
Kind regards,
Alice
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