Lincoln · Lincolnshire
Architectural Design& Build Specialistsin Lincoln
Extensions, loft and rear conversions, new homes and barn conversions across Lincoln, designed, costed and carried through City of Lincoln Council planning and building control by one team, so nobody hands your project over halfway.
Rated 5.0 on Google · 30 years in residential design and build · Planning and building regulations included as standard
Serving Lincoln
Lincoln is our home patch,not a postcode on a map
We are based at LN2 3PQ, a short drive north-east of the city, and Lincoln is the area we work in most. That matters in practice rather than in marketing: a site visit in Bailgate, Boultham, Birchwood or North Hykeham is a local journey, not a chargeable expedition, and we can usually be standing in your garden within a few days of your first call rather than a few weeks.
Lincoln is not one housing market, it is several sitting on top of each other. The uphill streets around the Cathedral and Castle are largely stone-built, frequently in a conservation area and often within sight of a listed building. Downhill you move into dense Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the West End and Monks Road. Push out to Ermine, Birchwood, Doddington Park and Hykeham and you are working on post-war and late-twentieth-century estate housing with generous plots and thin planning history. Each of those needs a different design conversation and a different planning strategy.
The requests we take most often in Lincoln are single-storey rear extensions to open up a cramped kitchen and dining space, two-storey side extensions on the interwar semis, garage conversions and rear infill on the terraces, and full remodels of 1960s and 1970s houses whose layouts no longer suit how people work and live. On the edge of the city and out into the villages we pick up new builds on infill plots and barn conversions.
Because our design work and our build team sit under the same roof, the drawings we produce for a Lincoln property are already tested against what it costs to build here: the access constraints on a terraced street, the scaffolding on a tight boundary, the cost of matching stone rather than brick. Roughly three quarters of what we do is design and professional services; the remaining quarter is construction on schemes we designed ourselves.
Response to Lincoln
Lincoln is within fifteen miles of our base at LN2 3PQ. Enquiries are answered 7am to 5:30pm, and site visits are arranged directly with Steve.
Property types we know
Stone uphill properties, West End Victorian terraces, interwar semis, post-war estate housing at Ermine and Birchwood, and modern homes at Hykeham and Witham St Hughs.
Planning authority
City of Lincoln Council for the city itself, with North Kesteven and West Lindsey covering the surrounding parishes. We prepare and manage the application either way.
Cost certainty
In-house quantity surveying runs alongside the design, so a Lincoln scheme is priced as it is drawn rather than after the tenders come back.
What We Do Here
Services availablein Lincoln
Architectural Design in Lincoln
Concept and scheme drawings for Lincoln homes, tested early against conservation area and neighbouring-listed-building constraints.
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Extensions in Lincoln
Rear, side and wrap-around extensions on Lincoln terraces and semis, designed around party walls, tight access and daylight to neighbours.
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Infill plots and single new homes on the edge of Lincoln, drawn to a standard a contractor can price without a hundred queries.
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Barn Conversions in Lincoln
Rural buildings in the parishes around Lincoln, with the planning route agreed before the design is committed.
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Planning Application Management in Lincoln
Full submission and correspondence with City of Lincoln Council, North Kesteven or West Lindsey, included on every project.
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Building Regulations & Building Control in Lincoln
Technical drawings and building control submissions taken through to sign-off on Lincoln projects.
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Quantity Surveying in Lincoln
In-house cost control, so the design on paper matches the price on the tender return.
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Design & Build Construction in Lincoln
Selected schemes built by our own team of up to 15, all CSCS card holders. One point of responsibility.
Learn moreWhy Us
Why Lincoln clientscall us back
Most of the frustration people describe on their first call is the same: they were given drawings by one firm, sent to a planning consultant by another, and then discovered from a builder that the scheme was never affordable. Every stage was somebody else's responsibility and the gaps between them cost money. We removed the gaps by keeping design, planning, building regulations, cost and, on selected projects, construction inside one business.
Steve Jones leads every project personally, with 30 years across design and construction behind him. You are not passed to a junior technician after the first meeting. Our Google rating is 5.0, and the reviews say the same thing repeatedly: fast, clear, and drawings that do exactly what was asked.
One point of responsibility
Design, planning, building regulations and cost sit with the same team from first sketch to sign-off.
Local travel, quick site visits
Lincoln is on our doorstep, so visits and follow-up measurements do not have to be batched up.
£5m public liability
Cover in place, and every member of the build team is a CSCS card holder.
Costed as it is drawn
In-house quantity surveying means the budget conversation happens while changes are still free.
Local Conditions
What makes buildingin Lincoln different
Lincoln throws up a specific set of constraints. Knowing them before the design starts is the difference between a straightforward approval and a refusal you pay to appeal.
Conservation areas and the Cathedral setting
Large parts of uphill Lincoln sit within conservation areas, and the Cathedral and Castle influence views and heights far beyond their immediate boundary. Materials, window proportions, rooflights and even rainwater goods get scrutinised in a way they would not be a mile downhill.
We design to that from the outset: traditional proportions where they are required, contemporary interventions kept to the rear or where they are not publicly visible, rather than submitting an optimistic scheme and negotiating it down over three months.
Terraced access and party walls
In the West End and around Monks Road there is frequently no side access at all. Every load of muck out and every load of brick in goes through the house or down a shared alley, which changes both the design and the price. Party wall matters with two neighbours are the norm rather than the exception.
We flag those constraints at design stage and reflect them in the cost plan, so the tender you receive is not later revised upwards when the builder works out how the materials actually reach the back garden.
Older building fabric
Victorian and Edwardian Lincoln housing was built with solid walls, shallow foundations and no damp-proof course in the modern sense. Bolting a heavily glazed, highly insulated extension onto that fabric without thinking about how the two meet causes condensation and cold bridging at the junction.
Building regulations drawings deal with this properly: insulation lines that are continuous, junction details drawn rather than left to the site, and ventilation strategy considered for the whole house and not just the new part.
Ground, water and levels
The escarpment means level changes are common across a single plot, and low-lying areas of the city have surface-water drainage constraints that affect what you can build and how the run-off is dealt with. Clay, limestone and made ground all appear within a few miles of each other.
Levels and drainage are surveyed and designed rather than assumed, because a foundation redesign discovered after the slab is set out is one of the more expensive corrections available.
Our Process
How a Lincoln projectruns from start to finish
Site visit and brief
Steve visits the property, measures what is there and takes the brief in person, so the design starts from the building rather than an estate agent's plan.
Concept and cost
Options are drawn and costed together by our in-house quantity surveyor, so the budget is tested while changes are still free.
Planning application
Drawings, supporting statement, submission and all correspondence with the case officer, handled on every project as standard.
Building regulations
Technical drawings, structural coordination and the building control submission, taken through to sign-off.
Build or tender
Either a tender package your builder can price accurately, or construction by our own CSCS carded team on selected projects.
Questions
Working with usin Lincoln
Do you cover Lincoln?
Yes. Lincoln is the closest area to our base. We are based at LN2 3PQ and work across the whole city: uphill, downhill, Birchwood, Ermine, Hykeham and the surrounding villages.
How quickly can you get to a Lincoln property?
Lincoln is a short drive from our base, so a site visit is usually arranged within a few days. Calls and emails are answered 7am to 5:30pm.
What does a project in Lincoln cost?
We do not publish fixed prices, because the honest answer depends on the size of the scheme, the condition of the existing building and the level of finish. What we can promise is that costs are worked out in-house alongside the design, so you get a realistic figure before you commit rather than after the tenders come back.
Do you handle the planning application to City of Lincoln Council?
Yes. Preparing and managing the planning application is included on every project, including the correspondence with the case officer and any additional information they request.
Are building regulations drawings included as well?
Yes. Technical drawings and the building control submission are handled on every project and taken through to sign-off. They are not charged as an extra stage.
Can you work on a house in a Lincoln conservation area?
Yes. We design to the constraints from the start: materials, proportions and the effect on the street scene, and set out the case in the application rather than leaving the officer to guess at the reasoning.
Do you offer emergency or out-of-hours work in Lincoln?
No. This is planned design and construction work, not an emergency call-out service. Our hours are 7am to 5:30pm, and Steve answers the phone during those hours.
Will you build the project as well as design it?
On selected schemes, yes. About a quarter of our work is construction, delivered by our own team of up to 15, all CSCS card holders, with £5m public liability cover in place. The rest of our work is design and professional services for clients using their own builder.
Do you work outside Lincoln itself?
Yes: Newark, Gainsborough, Sleaford, Louth, Horncastle, Scunthorpe and Grimsby, and generally anywhere within about an hour of LN8 3SB.
Nearby Areas
We also work in
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Where to go next
See every service we offer, browse all the areas we cover, read more about the practice, check the Google reviews, return to the homepage or get in touch about your Lincoln project.
Planning somethingin Lincoln?
Send us the address and a rough idea of what you want, and Steve will tell you honestly whether it is achievable, what the planning route looks like and roughly what it costs, before you commit to anything.
£5m public liability · all build staff CSCS carded