Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Howie Architects!

As 2024 comes to an end, we would like to take a moment to send good wishes to all our clients, partners and others we have worked with over the past 12 months.

It has been a busy time for us and we have been involved in a number of exciting, unique and interesting projects over the past year.

We have enjoyed the friendly collaboration with all those seeking our architectural skills and we have appreciated the support we have received from other property industry professionals.

The past 12 months have seen so many shifts in the world around us – locally, nationally and globally.

It has been a year of political change for us here in Britain, as well as continued instability elsewhere in Europe and further afield.

We all feel the sense of economic uncertainty in our fragile world and yet the demand and need to keep improving our homes to suit modern family life is as strong as ever.

Many of us are focusing on our families and our loved ones – and for some that means creating homes in which we feel safe and comfortable.

But, of course, for the vast majority of us, the cost of housing has a finite ceiling.

Therefore, with high building costs and increasing insulation standards, our role at Howie Architects has necessarily become even more creative.

We have found ourselves increasingly focused on finding cost-saving approaches towards meeting our clients’ needs and the end stages of all our projects.

For example, this has involved considering minimising – or even avoiding – extension by re-purposing under-used spaces within the home.

On another very positive note, we have at last found a way through the nutrient neutrality embargo.

Biometric offset calculations now mean that many new-build projects that had previously stalled can now finally get underway.

We are, however, still warning clients and prospective clients that local planning departments are under-resourced and facing increasing levels of pressure.

This means applications need more and more in the way of supporting documentation around ecology.

And, for us, this means that more of our time is taken in managing applications through the planning process towards getting consent.

But together we can get to where we need to be, helping you to realise the home of your dreams.

We look forward to continuing to work with you next year and to meeting new clients and collaborating together on new projects.

So, please do get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

And, in the meantime, we hope you are able to enjoy some rest and relaxation.

From all of us here at Howie Architects, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!