We specialise in residential architecture with construction budgets of £200k-£1m (in certain particular circumstances, we will work on projects with a lower budget).

With a proven track record delivering refurbishments, home extensions, flat conversions and new build, we also have extensive experience in bespoke interior design project in London and home counties.

As a RIBA chatered architectural practice in London, we understand how important your project is, and the hard work necessary to meet it. Before we begin to design, we spend time with you to fully understand your design aspirations, we develop this with you to make sure we capture your brief.

We design holistically to ensure that we anticipate practicalities that can often be overlooked. It’s crucial to us that our adaptive, responsive and client-led approach achieves a timless quality. We’ll go through every detail to ensure that your design is bespoke and tailored to your unique  requirements.

Choosing an architect is a big decision and there’s a huge amount of information to consider. As you may have already experienced, different firms and architectural practices across London tend to differ in terms of the language they use, which aspects they emphasise and in their fees and scope structures. You will likely be working with your Architect for 1 – 2 years, so it is important you can develop a good working relashionship with them. They listen to you, and take on board your comments.
Take the time to explain the process and keep you updated on progress.

We’ve written a guide to why you should hire an RIBA Chartered Architect.

Most architectural practices operate with different teams handling the Creative design, Technical design and Project Management. The problem is that information can slip through the net, and it’s harder to develop a working relashionship with a team. Alternatively, it can be handed to a junior designer with little experience, and issues can arise from mishanding or learning on the job.

Fabian Danker is a RIBA Chartered Architect with over 10 years experience in London, and internationally.

From intial conversation, design, planning, tender, construction and handover, Fabian will be your point of contact throughout the process. Conversations we have early on, will help form and shape designs, and ensure a continous through process throughout.

At Studio Colab, you will have the director Fabian Danker, a RIBA chartered Architect with over 10 years experience and foundation of knowledge from working as a contractor personally working with you from initial conversation to handover.

Over the years, he has won numerous awards and multpe projects featured in Architects Journal, British Home Awards, Grand Designs, RIBA and Don’t Move Improve!

Every project starts with a meticulous analysis of your vision. Rather than just looking at floor plans, we ask you to describe your day, how you want to move through your home, interact with your family, and feel in each space. We translate these conversations into a deep dive brief that serves as the blueprint for everything we create.

As much as you want to be. We believe the best architecture is collaborative. Our design meetings are highly interactive, informal, and fun.

We don’t impose a signature style on you. We’re here to help you discover yours.

We avoid trendy aesthetics that feel cold or dated in a few years. Instead, we focus on holistic design approach that results in a timeless quality. Your home should feel warm, inviting, and familiar a genuine expression of your family’s story, not ours.

Yes, absolutely. We use 2D drawings during the early stages to help you visualise the functional layout and flow of the house. We typically present several options in our design workshops, and by blending your favorite elements from each, we often create a design that goes far beyond your initial ideas.

We then elevate these concepts into 3D models to better understand how natural light, space, and finishes work together. This stage allows us to spot new opportunities to enhance the design and test different layouts quickly.

To give you total confidence, we create photorealistic computer generated images that show exactly how the sun, light fittings and materials will look in your finished home.

Interior design is a core part of our service because it keeps communication clear between you and our team. These high quality visuals are also very helpful for contractors, as they provide a clear reference for the level of craftsmanship we want to achieve. By modeling the project in such detail, we can identify and perfect subtle elements that might be missed in flat drawings, ensuring your home is beautiful and perfectly realised.

You should allow for at least 10 to 12 weeks from the date we submit your application to the date a decision is reached.

While the official statutory period for a residential decision is eight weeks, the reality of the UK planning system means it often takes longer. 

The Validation Buffer
The eight-week clock only starts once the Council validates the application. This is the period where they check that all forms, drawings, and reports are correct. Depending on how busy the department is, validation can take up to two weeks.

Council Workloads
While legally required to provide a decision within eight weeks, many local authorities in London are overstretched and may miss this deadline by a few days or longer.

Negotiation & Extensions
During the process, a planning officer may request an “Extension of Time.” While this sounds like a delay, it is often a strategic advantage. It allows us as your agent to engage in professional discussions, resolve minor concerns, or tweak details to ensure a positive outcome rather than a flat refusal.

Our Approach
We monitor your application closely. While we don’t hesitate to apply pressure when a council is being unnecessarily slow, we believe it is usually better to grant a short extension to secure a successful approval than to rush a decision that may not go your way. There is a level of co-operation and collaberation needed especially on bespoke designs.

We have written a planning permission guide to help you understand further.

We work on fixed fees up to Stage 4 to ensure that our goals are aligned with yours, and you don’t feel that we have a motivation to increase the project cost to increase our fees. Each project is different and vary in scope and complexity which is reflected in our fees.

During construction and handover, we use a time charge, as there can be unknown issue which need to be addressed on site, and this allows us to charge for the amount of time required.

Purely as a rule of thumb, charges for our full service, from conception to completion, can be calculated as a percentage of the build cost, and range between 10% and 15%.

You can choose the services you require, whether you want our comprehensive full service from conception to completion, or just want our consultation on the initial feasibility of a project.

Currently we recommend allowing between £2,500 and £4,000 per square metre for side extensions, rear extensions, front extensions and roof extensions.

For basement extensions, which are the most expensive way to add space to your home, we recommend allowing between £5,000 and £7,500 per square metre.

These ranges are based on averages from recently completed projects in London. We only use these rough costs per square metre during the early stages of design. This helps to maintain awareness of your target budget until a cost professional is appointed and more accurate estimates are provided. The actual cost for your project will depend on many factors, including:

-The complexity of the design
-Level of structural support required
–Selection of fixtures, fittings and finishes

The estimated costs per square metre mentioned above are for build costs only and exclude VAT and professional fees.

We’ve written an indepth guide of how much a house extension would cost.