Apollo Architectural Services offers advice for residential property owners seeking to submit planning applications for new builds and extensive remodelling/refurbishment projects.  Work is mainly undertaken in the North west London/South Herts/South Bucks districts and the firm brings a wealth of experience in liaising with the following planning Authorities: 
 

The London Boroughs of Hillingdon & Harrow;  Three Rivers District Council; Watford Borough Council; Chiltern District Council; South Bucks District Council and others...

Founding director Chris Harris is an RIBA chartered architect with a sound design ethos based upon green and sustainable thinking. The firm's guiding principle is to respond sensitively to often traditional settings, while combining modern and contemporary design ideas.

 

Apollo Archtectural Services was founded in 2006 and focuses on new build and large house extension/ remodelling projects.

 

We also have specific experience in handling planning matters pertaining to several local Conservation Areas and areas designated of 'special local character’.  

 

Take a look at our architectural projects where you can view a number of completed designs.

No one has a monopoly on good  ideas.  Apollo works closely with all clients and the design evolves on the  basis of a two-way dialogue.

​This principle extends to the way that fees are charged. We are happy to work to a reasonable hourly rate (as opposed to a standard architectural percentage fee scale) and this allows clients to tailor how much time they want to spend on the design input and also where they want the focus to be.  At the same time, in order to give some assuredness that fees will be kept fair and under control, we can arrange to work to a pre-agreed fee cap.

 

All our contractural committments to clients are held in a terms and conditions document drafted for each project. This document sets out our responsibity to provide quality professional services. 

Through our brand of modern eclecticism, we aim to take the best of the old and carefully integrate the new; this is usually important given the regional vernacular of North-West London and the Northern home counties.  This approach is also often important when meeting the requirements of planning authorities.

 

Set against this, in our experience the quality of internal planning of older propoerties is often actually quite poor.  In some cases it can be more appropriate to knock down and rebuild than seek to remedy a property that does not easily lend itself to conversion.  

 

Where the remodelling/refurbishment option is chosen, older houses often room layouts that are not compatible with modern living. For example, existing kitchens are more  like sculleries than the family-oriented hubs of the house that they have become today. Similarly, closed-off dining rooms have become rather outdated and often under-used spaces.  

 

In most projects we undertake, the aim is to remedy these deficiencies and add a quality of design that is often lacking. Across each project, there is also a common theme of creating more open plan layouts with the infusuion of more natural daylight.

Conforming to the natural laws of physics, use of stack effect and windows with cross-ventilation both lead to the  provision of naturally cool buildings in summer and comfortable light and airy spaces in winter. This type of green design should truly not cost the earth: a building that is well designed will deliver these advantages freely over and above poorly considered alternatives.

 

At the same time, we recognise that some of the more sophisticated green solutions such as the installation of ground pumps and rainwater/grey water recycling can be initially capital intensive. One of the key objectives of the firm is to steer clients through the maze of alternatives that are available and always seek to create a balance between capital cost and running cost. 

 

A common example of this is the installation of 'wet' underfloor heating systems: while the installation of these is typically 30-40% more expensive than a radiator equivalent, the running costs per annum basis are about 40% lower, so the pay back is actually quite short.