What do I do?
My core offerings are grouped below, and I am more happy to have a chat about your specific needs to tailor services around you or to discuss collaborative projects.
I like my work to be:
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Creative.
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People facing.
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Project based.
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Collaborative.
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Engagement led.
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Problem solving.
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Learning oriented.
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DEI and wellbeing focussed.
Whether you're an individual or an organisation, I will work with you to co-design a bespoke service around your needs and timescales, ensuring our values and expectations are aligned.
It may be necessary to introduce other specialist consultants and practitioners to leverage specific services and knowledge that will benefit the wider project. I can help with this.
I work with:
Organisations, Charities and Community Groups
Sole Practitioners
We've all got tasks that we dread, or outright hate. And sometimes the 'to-do' list is so long that it feels never ending.
Perhaps I can help. That might be through a coaching conversation to discover why you might be putting off certain tasks, or how you might find different approaches that work for you. Or it may be that I can actually take something off your plate and do it for you.
Workload and Workflow Coaching Review
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What is working well? What isn't working so well? and why?
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Formulate an action plan together.
Design and Technical Reviews
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A sounding board for:
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Sense checking plans and technical details.
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Building Regulation compliance queries.
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Project Admin Support
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Keeping track of:
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Planning/Building Regulations submissions (and reminders for follow-up action).
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Outstanding client comments holding up design progress.
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Fee proposals that need following up.
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Project case studies and client stories for websites and social media.
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Collating reviews and feedback.
Project Support Generally
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Help with carrying out a survey.
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Drawing packages, translating sketches into CAD drawings (AutoCAD), and schedules.
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Digitising sketches, diagrams etc. for use in presentations and reports (Affinity Studio).
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Formatting presentations and reports (Affinity Studio).
Organisations, Charities and Community Groups
Providing reliable, professional guidance to organisations looking to reconfigure workspace, expand an existing building, move to new premises altogether, or rationalise an existing estate.
This includes Stakeholder Consultation and Engagement, and Design Brief Development and Guardianship.
Stakeholder Consultation and Engagement
We can easily overlook how a space we use day-to-day might be working against us - getting in the way of work itself.
Inefficiencies are passed off as idiosyncrasies; the types and size of spaces may no longer be appropriate for your needs; or it might simply be the name of a room, or the type of door leading into it, affecting how people use that space. Issues like these can limit the realisation of the true potential of the space(s), building(s) or wider site.
Everyone's experience and use of space is unique, and often this remains subconscious until the right conversations allow for deeper reflection and the safe opportunity to speak that experience out loud.
In facilitating a consultation process to engage as many building users as practicable (including infrequent visitors), I aim to first understand - through questioning, listening and challenging - bringing an outsider's curiosity to the process.
An initial meeting will enable us to assess overarching objectives, identify stakeholders, and agree a suitable consultation methodology to ensure as many voices and minds from across the organisation (and beyond) are included. This will be followed by a visit to the building/site to identify and observe any immediately obvious issues.
The process may progress with questionnaires, interviews, participative workshops, and even field trips - whatever it takes to inspire open and ambitious conversation. Regular feedback opportunities will be built in to ensure issues and concerns have been duly listened to and fully understood.
Design Brief Development and Guardianship
Having a sound and detailed Design Brief will give you confidence that your vision is clearly communicated when appointing a consultant team to develop plans to improve your space(s), building(s) or wider estate.
Following on from stakeholder engagement, I can work with you to develop and draft a document that may include:
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An overview of the consultation process and collated responses.
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Reasoning, aims, and priorities for reconfiguration or redevelopment.
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Proposed schedule of accommodation.
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Proposed zoning diagrams.
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References to essential guidance or legislation affecting future design work.
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Precedent imagery for the aspired look and feel.
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Anything else you consider pertinent for design teams to consider.
With no vested interest in winning future design work, I remain impartial, working with you as a Design Guardian. In the early stages, this could involve helping you to draft appropriate criteria/questions for inclusion in a request for tender, as well as reviewing returned submissions against the vision and Design Brief, and assisting in team selection.
This role can continue into each stage of the design process - working alongside you as a knowledgable partner within your team - reviewing and commenting on drawings, specifications and relevant project information to hold the design and contractor teams responsible throughout.
Individuals
Coaching and Mentoring
We can all benefit from a listening ear, and gentle support, to help draw out answer to questions that (actually) we already know, but might not be able to verbalise.
Coaching provides just that - a confidential space to be heard, to uncover and explore your own potential; an opportunity to formulate your own plans for development, and the accountability to see them through.
What are some of the challenges you may be facing?
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Concerns that your career is stalling or not going in the direction you expected.
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Struggling to find motivation, self-confidence, or job satisfaction.
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Ineffective communication and/or strained relationships in the workplace.
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Specific issues on a project you're working on.
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Or you might be considering how to change the way you approach your work to be more in alignment with your own values and aspirations.
The list is never complete. The content of each coaching session is entirely guided by you, allowing you to bring whatever you're working through.
The benefits of coaching can often seem intangible to begin with. But soon they create a ripple effect, starting with the individual and spreading to the people with whom they work and live.
This might include:
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Improved morale and self-motivation.
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Better interpersonal awareness.
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Strengthened skills in self-leadership and leading others.
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Increased confidence and assertiveness.
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More effective communication skills.
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Balanced priorities.
I make coaching available to anyone working within the built environment.
This can be delivered in one-to-one sessions, or for small groups, and can be in-person or online to suit your preference and availability.
Coaching sessions are there for you to speak your mind, vent, blow off steam. I am there as a sounding board so you can discover for yourself new perspective and alternative solutions to the challenges that face you - all in the strictest confidence.
I am also happy to mentor students and early-career professionals, offering guidance and advice based on my own experience.
Variable pricing is reflecting of your own situation - with concessionary prices for students and early career individuals, and multi-sessions packages available.
Architectural Practices
Workplace Wellbeing Support
What would an inclusive approach to wellbeing focussed on the workplace itself look like for your organisation? One where employees intrinsically find balance on work time, rather than being recommended strategies for finding "work-life balance" outside of office hours?
This approach isn't easy. There's no prescriptive, ready-to-use toolkit that can be universally applied. It's not a strategy. It is inherently unique, and ever flexible - taking transparency, awareness and intention from each person in the team to be present for, and with, one another. It is a process of ongoing learning and practice, with everyone feeling safe enough to engage in self-enquiry both as individuals and as a team.
I don't have a degree in psychology or counselling. I'm not an HR specialist. I can't (and won't) offer stats and data on ROI for "wellbeing initiatives" (I believe in integration over one-off initiatives).
But, I do come at this with lived experience - of leading teams and line managing; of burning out at work whilst putting every effort into helping others, and as a Mental Health First Aider and mentor. This has given me a deep appreciation for open, honest conversations that allow people to be truly listened to.
I offer an impartial ear through an approach based in coaching, not teaching - holding compassionate (and dispassionate) conversations with employees to understand what they value, and where they may see opportunity for different forms of recognition and inclusion.
I will work with you to design a process that will allow for observation, deep listening, exploration, and reflection on the values that are alive in everyday interactions amongst colleagues, not based on trending themes from social media or recommendations that worked elsewhere.
I make just one request: ownership, advocacy, and engagement from line managers and senior management throughout, to truly nurture mutual accountability. Be present; be visible; be involved. And, in return, I promise to respectfully maintain utmost confidentiality.
Get in touch to find out more about what this might look like in reality.