http://www.decade3associates.co.uk/

Decade Three Associates Ltd, Sawbridgeworth, Harlow (2026)

13/06/2024

ARCHITECTS
Are you looking to spend more time concentrating on reaching out to new clients?

Is your workload preventing you from focusing on concept work?

Are you losing out on fees because you don’t like the technical stuff?

If the answer to any of those questions is yes - drop us a line. We produce full stage 4 technical tender / construction packages based on your planning drawings. We coordinate all the SAP and structural engineering designs too.

12/06/2024

We're extremely proud to be collaborating with London practice Sister Architects on Hampstead Golf Club's new pavilion building.

D3A will be producing full RIBA Stage 4 tender packages for the timber structure as well as providing advice on how best to detail some of the building's key features.

The building is predominantly clad in burnt timber and features simulation rooms as well as a suspended timber decked drinking area for members.

The local ground area slopes by about 2 meters from one end of the building to the other so getting it all to work under Part M whilst keeping retaining structures to a minimum has been complicated.

The hit and miss cladding / window detail was something the client wanted particular attention paying to it. We came up with a metal preframe which has posts welded to it that cladding boards can then be fixed to. This means the window can remain as one large unit rather than try and break it down into 10 tiny apertures.

Watch this space for some hot CGI action!

09/06/2024

Our work in progress for a large renovation and extension project in Cambs is almost complete.

In the next few weeks, we will be sending the tender packages out and start interviewing contractors on site. The scheme includes a large loft conversion with dormer, a large new kitchen with a vaulted ceiling, and new porch/window features. Watch this space for the CGIs.

If you're looking to extend or renovate, give us a bell, we can help you get the most out of your home.

07/06/2024

ARCHITECTS

If you’re struggling with workload or want to free up some time drop us a line.

We’re collaborating with loads of fantastic practices to provide them with high-quality Stage 4 tender/construction drawings.

We also review plans for regs issues and potential cost savings.

We’re nice like that.

11/11/2023

The clients for this garage to office conversion came to us because they wanted something a bit snazzy but had a tight budget. No problem!

As I've always said, to get something looking nice doesn't have to involve hand- cut Italian marble or gold plated metal work.

We didn't want any of the internal joinery to have to be laminated off site so our starting point was to choose a cupboard, worktop and wall panels that were available off the shelf with the same laminate finish. We went for Graphite Fleetwood oak, available from multiple suppliers and from our friends at DIY Kitchens.

The vertical timber louvres were just sections of MDF with an oak finish, about 19p from any reputable home improvement store. Add a few LED strips mitred in and Bob's your uncle. Something 10/10 nice, for 3/10 cost!

That's how we roll! If you want a nice thing for not much money give us a shout.

10/11/2023

April 2020. The streets were empty. Shops and offices were closed, wild animals roamed the streets and for some reason there was no flour - anywhere.

Lockdown was a bleak time. Over the space of a few days I had gone from an incredibly stressful job, managing several large construction developments at once, to sitting in my room wondering if I could drink a second bottle of Cointreau before 10am.

Whilst the job was stressful, It was also a buzz. I worked for a large housebuilder and we moved at lightning pace. You’d get to the end of the week completely burned out but I loved it. Doing nothing was going to kill me, I needed to channel that energy into something.

And so Decade Three was born. It was a different animal back then though. More of a design and build enterprise than purely architectural, the two other directors both being from a construction background.

As the months went on and restrictions eased, we all ran back to our full time jobs, seeking solace in the warm embrace of PAYE. That was it. Turn the lights off on your way out. The end.

Except it wasn’t. Something was nagging at me. It felt unfinished. I felt like there was still something there that could be really great. So I did what anyone in my position would have done; absolutely nothing. Well for another three years anyway.

Fast forward to Feb 23 and here we are! We’re working with some fantastic clients, offering them that same pace, that same constant focus on cost that was engaged at my previous employer.

If you’d like to become part of that journey and find out how we can help improve your bottom line, drop me a DM or an email - we’re here to help.

Thanks lockdown!

Matt

09/11/2023

Exteriors get all the limelight, but interiors are just as important - if not more. These are the areas we live in, we see, touch and interact with. Every bit as much focus should be placed on the design of an interior as an exterior.

Over the years we’ve worked on dozens of interiors; kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, guest bedrooms and WCs. They’ve all been different, created for different people who have different budgets and requirements. Some for private homeowners, some for developers looking for the latest trends combined with cost efficiency.

Here's a secret - to get a fantastic looking kitchen or bathroom you do not need to spend a fortune! Every kitchen I’ve ever designed has come in far cheaper than the main high street kitchen designer names. We design bespoke but we order from a supply only stockist which keeps the cost right down.

Garage conversions, you name it, you can achieve an amazing look by using materials that are cheap to buy - MDF, vinyl, paint.

Give us a shout.

08/11/2023

Technical drawing packages are incredibly labour intensive and time consuming, particularly with the new fire safety and energy Approved Documents B & L.

If you’re an architectural practise with a heavy focus on design why not let us step in and pick up the technical drawing packages. We’re very fast and very cost effective. We will even evaluate the concept designs as we detail them and establish any areas where savings can be found or suggested to the client - happy days all round I say.

07/11/2023

Property Investment: Top Tips for Top Profits from D3A!!

Front Entrance:
This is the first thing that any potential purchaser sees when being shown the property. If it's knackered, replace it. A purchaser will start forming an opinion of the house they’re viewing before they’re even inside.

Living Areas:
Adapt an old living room to modern standards! People in the olden days were rubbish. Tellys were 8 inches wide and sat in the corner of the room broadcasting pictures of the queen. These days people have 75 inch TVs and they want to sit in front of them. Moving a door that's in the wrong position is relatively easy.

Kitchens:
Think second hand! The kitchen in the vid was almost brand new. It was purchased for £3,000 (including all the appliances!) and refitted into a new property. Three grand! The worktops were new as the layout was completely different, but the same kitchen new would have been 8 or 9k.

Bathrooms:
Word of the day - plywood. Good quality marble effect panels provide an excellent cost effective alternative to tiles. No cutting, no grouting. They can be fitted by a carpenter too which removes the need for a tiler.

Hallways:
Keep it simple. No one spends any length of time in them unless they fall down the stairs. Experiment with different colours for doors, banisters and handrails. They don’t always have to be white. Paint grade doors are a fraction of the cost of timber veneer doors and they look great in a dark or light grey.

06/11/2023

When I was ten I wanted a Super Nintendo. But there was one problem; it was financially out of my range. To be honest back then, a pack of hula hoops was also fiscally unobtainable. So what did I do? I suggested to three of my friends that we buy one together. We joined forces. Between the three of us, we made the impossible possible. We dared to dream…OK that's all getting a bit melodramatic, but the principle is still a brilliant one.

You may be out there, as a conceptual architect winning commissions everywhere. Let us step in and join forces with the technical detailing or offer some cost saving options? It might mean that you can start tendering for bigger and better projects or enable you to quote for Stage 4 or 5 work? We’d certainly love to collaborate with some fantastic designers out there.

Together the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. Message us for more information or comment on this post!

05/11/2023

I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life. I remember always being envious of people who had mapped their own careers out. The fact that Decade Three even exists is but an accident, but more about that later on.

My first proper job was a weekend job on a supermarket fish counter of all things, 7am on a Saturday .

To alleviate the boredom one morning, I decided what the customers would really like to see was me holding up an enormous display salmon and making it ‘talk’ like a puppet. It was quite a performance - I even gave it a Scottish accent.
What I didn’t realise was how many teeth these things have, or how literally razor sharp they are.

My finger was shredded, there was an alarming amount of blood everywhere and the customers were all slightly bemused. Even more idotic, I had to fill in the accident report book with ‘bitten by a dead fish’. Which the duty manager found so amusing I got suspended for a week.

Rather ironically, if this surreal event had not taken place, I would never have come to the conclusion that I just wasn’t cut out for fish-based ventriloquism and wandered down to the job centre….

04/11/2023

Got a garage that needs a bit of life breathing into it?? Well you’ve come to the right place!

The client for this garage already had plans from a previous architect to convert it into a one bed studio. But they were a bit….uninteresting. The clients were eventually going to modernise the main house on their property so we thought why not do the garage to match.

We proposed re-rendering of the existing brick walls, and added features in cedar cladding as well as a grey brick main entrance wall which looked great.

The good thing about garages is the expensive bits are there already, foundations, walls, floor and a roof. Converting them can be a great way to add value to your house at a very efficient cost.

If you’ve got a garage that would be more useful as an office / bedroom / kitchen / laboratory just drop us a DM!

Decade Three Associates Ltd

13/06/2024

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