- Walters Architects

Apprentice Architect

This summer marks the first full year completed by our apprentice architect at Walters Architects. Here we intend to provide a short insight into the experience from the perspective of both the student and practice. The Apprentice Architect Will came to the office 3 years ago wanting practical experience whilst studying a BA (Hons) full…

Class Q – Planning Permission for Barn Conversions

What is Class Q – Planning Permission for Barns? Class Q – Planning Permission for Barn Conversions is a form of planning permission which allows owners to convert agricultural buildings under a rural ‘Permitted Development’ scheme. Introduced in 2014 the scheme helps with a shortfall in rural living. What are the Parameters? Class Q covers…

RIBA East Midlands Student Charrette 2022

What’s a Charrette? On Wednesday 24th Feb 2022, Walters Architects supported the first ‘RIBA East Midlands Student Charrette’ since pre-pandemic times. The local Leicester School of Architecture stationed at De Montfort University hosted 50 students from across the East Midlands currently studying for qualifications in Architecture. Students ranged from years 1-6, creating a fantastic mix…

Recruiting Architectural Staff

What we need Walters Architects are recruiting architectural staff to join our expanding creative team. Situated in the centre of Leicester, we work on exciting projects locally and nationwide. Varying from one off houses and domestic extensions to commercial buildings and business parks. Our projects involve working for private and professional clients, individuals and company’s,…

How Long Does Planning Permission Take?

What do we do? At Walters Architects we help clients achieve planning approval all the time but are often asked, ‘how long does planning permission take?’. The truth is, it varies between application types and planning departments. How long does the Planning process take? Domestic applications should take approximately 8 weeks to be decided. A…

Student Architecture Prize

Walters Architects Prize (WAP) for 2021 The Prize Walters Architects are happy to announce this years winner of our annual student architecture prize (Walters Architects Prize – WAP). We’ve awarded Asmaa Ahmed (BA 3) of Leeds Beckett University the prize for her design of a refugee camp in England. This is our second year of…

How to Develop a Small Residential Scheme

The Scheme It is difficult knowing how to develop a small residential scheme. They are all so very different. Walters Architects have recently completed a Pre Planning Application for a small residential development in Leicester. It involves an infill site with an existing red brick coach house to the rear. The client wanted to maintain…

How do Architects Work

What do Architects do What do Architects do? Architects design and deliver buildings. How do Architects work? They help clients realise buildings by assisting with regulations, securing approvals and providing details for costing and construction. This is a long and complicated process and means working with many consultants, contractors and organisations on behalf of the…

Commercial Architecture in Leicester

When discussing services with our existing clients we are sometimes surprised to learn they didn’t realise we assist with the design and construction of commercial buildings. Most think we only provide services associated with domestic appointments and, in particular, Listed Buildings or properties within Conservation Areas. Truth is, Walters Architects Leicester have always been involved…

Top Class

Walters Architects, Leicester welcomed back a familiar face a couple of weeks ago. Will Lumby has been with the company (on and off) for the last couple of years. He first came to us as a work experience and after showing real enthusiasm for all things relating to design and small practice, we employed him…

We Are In!

As of today, Monday the 21st of June, Walters Architects have finally taken full occupation of our new office at St. Martins House, 7 Peacock Lane, Leicester. Like most businesses, the Covid Pandemic has had an effect on our staff working arrangements during the last year or so, but today we had all our staff…

Case Study – Contracts

Having recently finished Jan Knikkers’ ‘How to Win Work’, I found it especially interesting flicking through the Case Studies in the final part of the book. Before I go any further, it’s possibly best to explain the book is great as a whole but for the purposes of this blog, I just want to consider…

We work with Listed Buildings

Walters Architects strongly believe it is important to get detailed feedback from clients and consultants in order to progress the practice and improve our services. When we first receive an inquiry we’re quick to ask how the potential client found out about the practice and what it is they know about our services. This isn’t…

Good Service

We finished last week on a high. The pinnacle, for me, was receiving a phone call from a domestic client for whom we had just (earlier that day) gained Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent. The client wanted to speak to the member of staff who had led the Planning submissions. I explained she wasn’t…

More Straight Forward

Walters Architects are hoping to get involved with more Commercial and Industrial buildings this year and are sampling a new campaign where we specifically target private and professional developers who build, let or sell these structures. Ideally, we are looking for warehouses, distribution centres and office owners/managers who need new facilities or want to extend…

A Bit of Sparkle

Walters Architects have just completed this latest design for a refurbishment, extension, new garage/hobby room and new swimming pool to a Grade II Listed Building within a Conservation Area of Bedfordshire. The scheme will be submitted as a Preliminary Planning Enquiry tomorrow following the client’s approval of our final design. We have undertaken a lot…

Newly Completed

Our photographer has just sent over the latest images of the house conversion we completed in Leicester at the end of last year. Being the absolute perfectionist he is, the photographer really wanted to wait until the weather improved before taking his final shots. He knows what he’s doing and, yet again, the results are…

Room at the Top

Walters Architects have recently been involved in a couple of residential projects which see additional stories being added to the flat roofs of existing buildings. Local authorities want to see higher densities in urban centres and this is a great way of developing and utilising existing land. These projects are always financially feasible because the…

Goodnight Sir

Following the sad news today at the loss of HRH Prince Phillip we, as a practice, would like to acknowledge the achievements of this great man. Not always in the news for the right reasons, Prince Phillip was a dedicated and strong-willed individual who was passionate about science, art, and conservation as well as his…

Quality Costs

When initially contacting us, one of the first things new clients try to establish is our fees. Most have never used an architect before, don’t understand the role, and really have no idea what services they provide. The only thing they are certain of is that Architect’s fees are expensive. I’m not sure I’ll ever…

Granted Permission x 3

Walters Architects secured Planning Permission on this Grade II Listed building last month, much to the delight of the client and their construction team. The private home is situated in Rothley, Leicester and the application was made to Charnwood Borough Council via the Planning Portal. Walters Architects are ‘Approved Planning Agents’ with Charnwood Borough Council…

A New Associate

Walters Architects are pleased to announce that Richard Giles is to become our new Associate as of April 1st, 2021. No, this is not a fool’s day gag, he really is. Richard has been with Walters Architects for three years now and has excelled in all things architectural, demonstrated a great understanding of the professional…

The Grand of Duke of…

Walters Architects are just finishing off the project we’ve been working on in York over the last two years. The scheme involved the construction of two new accommodation blocks providing a total of 11 new apartments. There are 9 new apartments within the two new buildings at the rear of the site and 2 new…

The Falcon Tap Side View Of Residential Housing

Bigger, Better

Walters Architects are signing a new lease agreement today to take on a bigger, better-equipped office in the Cathedral Quarter of the city. Situated on the second floor of the old Alderman Newton Boys Grammar School on Cathedral square, our new office has spectacular views of the Church of St. Martin’s and great access to…

Spot the Difference

Walters Architects visited one of the newly completed domestic projects in Leicester, earlier this week, with our photographer. When we received his images we were really pleasantly surprised! The build had been executed very closely to the original design, which is great to see. With only small changes to the design including the islands seating…

Celebrating the Best

This morning (19th March 2021) our Principal, Kevin Walters, will be introducing the WAP (Walters Architect Prize) to BA 3 Architecture students at Leeds Beckett University for 2021. Following the introduction of this year’s award, we will be attending a series of student Crits to understand what they have been doing the last few months….

More Mud

Following our previous post ‘Moving Muck’ on the 30th November 2020, we thought it might be nice to provide a quick update on our large commercial site in Hamilton, Leicester. We popped by again last week and saw great progress being made on the groundworks, drainage and retaining walls. The ground workers are very impressive…

Tender Opportunities

At Walters Architects, we excel at providing robust, complete and professional architectural services for both, domestic and commercial clients. We pride ourselves not just on the design of interesting structures but also on the delivery of buildings. We offer a number of services from full appointments to bespoke commissions. Whilst clients appreciate flexibility, our delivery…

New Build Offices

Walters Architects are pleased to have completed their Planning Pack for a new build office scheme in Leicestershire for a local house builder. The design is intended to look like an existing barn conversion due to the open nature of the site. The structure will be masonry with a feather edged cladding to the outer…

Post Production Long Clawson Building Front View

Phase III of New Trade Park, Leicester

Walters Architects have recently completed the planning package for the third instalment of our trade park scheme in North West Leicester. This next instalment is for three speculative trade counters to the south of the site once the new retaining wall is completed (see previous blog post 30.11.20) and the new levels are resolved. We…

Post Production NL Trade Park Front View Of Car Park

Moving Muck

Works started a couple of weeks ago on our commercial development in Hamilton, Leicester and last week was our first opportunity to visit the site. The scheme initially involves extending an existing car showroom by building a new valeting suite and associated parking to the south. Due to the topography of the site, the plot…

More Stuff – Inclusivity

In a previous blog post (We do ‘Other Stuff’) we mentioned one of our less-known in-house services like Commercial Interior designers, see blog post 18th November 2020. Richard in the office is a qualified and experienced Interior Design and whilst he can tackle any architectural challenges he does like to keep his eye on his…

It’s a Privilege

Walters Architects are extremely pleased to have been invited to provide a short article for local estate agents, Knightsbridge, to be included in the December issue of their Land & New Homes publication. The practice has been working with their head of the Land and New Homes department for a while now and find him…

We Do ‘Other Stuff’

Walters Architects are trying to remind people that we don’t only design and deliver new buildings but we also provide other services such as commercial interior design for existing and refurbished properties. One of our senior staff is a qualified interior designer and has a wealth of experience in Hotel, Retail and Office design. This…

Walters Architects Prize 2021

Walters Architects are excited to report that WAP ’21 is on. Despite recent challenging times at Leeds Beckett University the staff and students are trying their utmost to carry on as best as possible and this week the university has confirmed that they will be arranging for Walters Architects to launch the award for best…

Sound Advice?

Leicester City Council has given Walters Architects the option to withdraw a planning application for an apartment scheme in the city centre due to the lack of an accurate sound survey. Alternatively, the Local Authority will refuse the application because we are unable to provide the required technical data to accompany the application. The sound…

Good Night Mr. Bond

It was sad to learn of the news that Sean Connery had passed away over the weekend. Most cinema fans appreciate he was a diverse and talented actor, starring in over 65 feature films and winning an Oscar in 1988 for his supporting role in The Untouchables, but for many, he will be most fondly…

Golden Boy – Sir David Adjay

Walters Architects are extremely pleased to learn that Sir David Adjay OBE will be awarded the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for his contribution to Architecture. The Ghanaian – British Architect has been a favourite of our practice for a while now and whilst his company (Adjay Associates) has seen global success in recent years…

Small (but perfectly formed) Commercial Unit

We are always happy to receive photographs of our newly completed buildings and this simple commercial unit on equestrian land in Leicestershire is no exception. Whilst it’s a straightforward design (not much more than a box really) it has made a significant addition to the property and the way our client uses their grounds. The…

It’s all about Perspective

Out of the blue, our photographer recently sent us some areal photographs of this project we completed last year. He had been out and about with his new drone and thought we might like to see how the building looked from the air. This particular building was possibly one of the reasons our photographer decided…

Stop/Start

Our retail unit and accommodation block in Hackney, London has restarted after the project was suspended for a couple of months due to the COVID 19 Pandemic and a change in client personnel. Most projects suffer from slight program delays, so we always advise clients to get going as soon as they can. More time…

A Sad Loss

I was sad to hear the news that Sir Terence Conran passed away last week at the grand old age of 88. Particularly sad because he was a personal favourite of mine and has been for some time. It’s fair to say that he and his brands have had a big influence on my early…

The End of an Era

The brilliant high-tech British/Italian architect Richard Rogers announced his retirement last week from his practice Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners at the grand old age of 87. Richard is recognised globally for his complicated steel and glass buildings which express both structure and services to give a truly unique aesthetic. Such buildings included Llyods of…

Living the Dream

Most people dream of building their own home in the open English countryside but let us tell you, it really isn’t a simple process. Firstly you have to have a suitable site and then you need a robust justification to satisfy the relevant Local Authority Planning Department. Be assured, the difficulties are endless, time-consuming and…

Before and After Works

During a conversation with a potential client a couple of weeks ago, we were told that our projects look great on our website but some clients would like to better understand the extent of the works undertaken, especially in domestic situations. So, due to popular demand (of sorts), we have decided to show this recently…

Care Home Project

Walters Architects have been working on a care home scheme in Leicester for the last couple of years and now the project is almost complete, we have sent our photographer to take a few snaps for our new website. Here is a quick preview. The project included two large single extensions, formal outdoor areas, the…

WAP!

Walters Architects are pleased to announce the winner of their 2020 WAP (Walters Architects Prize) which has been awarded to BA 3 Student, Haagar Yousif of Leeds Beckett University. The award was initially intended for the best final year image but has quickly evolved into the award for the best building related image. Whilst Haagars…

Walters Architects Drawing Award

Walters Architects are proud to announce that we will be sponsoring an award for the best sketch or drawing by an undergraduate on the Architecture degree programme at Leeds Beckett University from 2021. The prize is aimed at encouraging students to expand their sketching and drawings skills in order to explore creativity in a freer,…

North Finchley Development

Walters Architects are just finalising the relevant information required for a planning application associated with this small apartment scheme in North Finchley, London. The three-storey building is situated on a tight triangular site to the rear of an existing apartment building, also owned by our client, and is within close proximity to more conventional two/three-storey…

A Mock Up, Knocked Up

Walters Architects has just received word that the joinery workshop assisting the contractor has finished a “Mock Up” of the frame on our new timber extension in Leicester, for our approval. This is a really exciting stage of the project as Mock-Ups are brilliant for communicating ideas and resolving details before the contractor starts work….

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