About us
Projects should put the fabric of clients requirements, the built environment and the construction first.
Fabric First Architects was born out of a desire to reconnect with the design process, focus on our clients and adopt an approach that prioritizes the fabric of context, built form and materiality.
We have many years of experience across a wide variety of sectors including master planning, residential, elderly care,production/manufacturing, R&D facilities and rural diversification.
Creative Thinking
Fabric First
Approach
Listening
Passionate People
Residential
We create residential environments that merge community ideals and convenience, informed by lifestyle trends and local aspirations. People thrive when their homes are just right for them.
Commercial + Office
Office buildings, corporate headquarters and operations centers must be suited for today’s changing cities and business models as the nature of work is continually evolving.
Workplace
We design personalized and sustainable spaces that improve collaboration and flexibility, support new ways of working and promote health and wellness.
Hospitality
Businesses or leisure destinations, the successful hotel ignites the imagination and elevates the typical stay to one that is unexpected.
Industrial
We see our civic and cultural clients leveraging sustainable design to reflect community values, and our design teams find innovative ways to express each venue’s community.
Heritage
We have experience working within the heritage setting, restoring and sometimes re-purposing historic buildings to ensure their future viability and protect them for generations to come.
“ Fabric First Architects worked closely with us to form a brief and vision for our exciting self-build project. Obtaining planning consent required patience and the construction information was very well coordinated resulting in very few issues on site.
We are moving onto our next project and have engaged FFA to help us with the space planning and Listed Building consent for a large barn development in Suffolk. ”
“ We have worked with Stuart for a number of years on a variety of projects. He has an excellent knowledge of industrial buildings and strategic site development.
Stuart engages with the client, end user teams and stakeholders to develop a detailed brief for each project and uses this to develop options for each project. He has worked with us on many strategic concept designs for factories, warehouses, offices, our new restaurant and customer experience facilities.
He continues to be engaged throughout the project, resolving issues with contractors and end users. Stuart chairs post project review meetings which feeds back into our next projects. ”
Architecture
We are committed to creating places that have a limited impact on the natural environment and accommodate the needs of the people who inhabit them. We listen to all voices and build sustainable, resilient communities together.
Master Planning
Our approach to Master Planning adopts fabric first principles but provides the opportunity to apply these more fundamentally to a development.
Executive Architect
Between us we have many years of experience within this role across many project sectors. Interpreting and developing designs by others to provide coordinated information for construction.
Design Management
We use our experience and knowledge of the design process to assist contractors with the collaboration of the Design Team to deliver coordinated construction information for construction.
Environment
We believe that sustainability should start with the basics of any project to shape built form, orientation and construction -the fabric. Establishing these principles first reduces the demand on building services and technologies to reduce operational costs.
Feasibility
With a creative but commercial approach we work with stakeholders to investigate the opportunities for projects and assist with early engagement with planning authorities and other statutory consultees to understand and mitigate project risks.
Stuart Jones
Stuart found his designers feet as a young boy building with Lego, this evolved soon into building Airfix models and then enjoying art and design as school. He identified at the age of 11 that he wanted to be an Architect, from there he took every opportunity to understand the industry,first with work experience, followed by summer placements, trips abroad and then beginning his formal training at University.
Having achieved his Part 2 he was let lose into the world of architecture and developed his knowledge across many sectors. He has worked on projects covering education, science, care homes, commercial, industrial, hotels and residential. He has found that careful listening and understanding the client’s primary needs is the most powerful design tool an Architect can have – always mindful that it’s the clients project first and foremost. Once fully qualified he has worked on all scales of project and has delivered projects across the region from initial feasibility through to completion.
One of Stuarts principles for setting up Fabric First Architects was to look at making sustainable buildings achievable for all by using proprietary products effectively and efficiently.
Outside of work Stuart loves spending time with his family and he enjoys DIY on his house, in the garden and on cars which has varied from building a tree house one weekend to swapping an engine the next .
Dale Cooper
Dale is an Architectural Technologist with over 30 years of experience within the industry across various sectors. He focuses on the delivery of technical aspects of our projects, specializing in job management and coordinating production information. He leads technical teams, taking pride in design control and management of the process through to project completion.
Although technically focused, Dale has an eye for design and detailing both traditional and contemporary schemes and has successfully completed many interesting projects that we are very proud of. Prior to helping to establish FFA Dale managed his own company for 15 years, taking projects from inception to completion across residential, heritage and commercial sectors.
Dale has recently completed his own sustainable self-build that adopts Passivhaus principles, to considerably improve on current regulations. Dale is keen to share this hands-on experience with our clients to help them improve their homes and places of work.
Other more sizeable projects delivered in recent years include large scale offices, car parks, aircraft hangers and production facilities for the automotive industry.
Outside of work Dale likes to mix an active outdoor lifestyle with reading, travelling and learning new things about the world.
Chris Read
Chris found his enjoyment of architecture during work experience when he was 14. Continuing to work in a practice throughout his school, college and university education and qualified as an architect 17 years later.
Having worked across many of the construction sectors during his 21 years of work, Chris has experience throughout all the project stages, having successfully delivered many from fruition through to completion. His particular interest is residential architecture and master planning for larger phased developments.
Most recent notable projects have included comprehensive later living, mixed use developments and the completion of a complicated EnerPHit certified deep retrofit project also achieving BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Gold certification. This hands-on experience through to project completion provides Chris with invaluable knowledge to inform clients and projects moving forward, particularly given the importance to improve energy efficiency of existing building stock.
Outside of work Chris is busy raising a young family with the recent addition of their puppy Jasper, an adolescent Golden Retriever. When he can, Chris enjoys cycling.
