Hawkins\Brown

Architecture has to be built. When it becomes visible, it reflects the thinking, the organisation and the effort of the team behind its conception. Buildings have to satisfy at the small-scale, human detail as well as the wider scale of urban design. The choice of furniture, light fittings, door handles, finishes should be evidence of the same level of care, consideration and forethought as the external appearance of a building. The outside stairs, ramp, car parking, signage and wayfinding that bring a visitor to the front door are often more important than the main elevation. Achieving a really well designed building involves the active management and motivation of a huge team that includes all the builders, subcontractors and suppliers. This takes built experience, systems, processes and clear and dynamic organisation to deliver buildings with real quality. Hawkins\Brown uses tried and tested ways of ordering information, selecting products, structuring decision-making, checking and rechecking through proactive design management. We have a reputation for delivering projects on time and on budget, which is only achieved by working as part of a positive, creative team with the contractor. We are committed to improving and reviewing our working methods and return to projects wherever possible to learn from them and how they are used. These lessons learnt are fed back to the office through CPDs and presentations and contribute to the practice being awarded the international standard certification for quality management ISO 9001:2008 and environmental management ISO 14001:2004.