Getting tenders back for a project can be a strange and unnerving experience. Having spent time estimating the cost of your project before the tenders were issued, it is now time to see what the contractors think. Will it be smiles all round, or cries of despair?

Planning and preparation will help to ensure that you job goes as smoothly as possible. There is always going to be a surprise once work starts, so it is best to stay flexible and be prepared to adapt your strategy in response to changing circumstances to ensure that you hit your project goals.

Applying modern computing techniques to historic buildings is full of challenges. This is unsurprising as the industry has been developed to address the needs of modern methods of construction. Eventually new buildings will become old buildings and the issues that our current historic environment has to deal with, will have to be confronted.

This week we have been examining the building fabric at St Andrews Cathedral and we have gone “old-school”, doing it the old -fashioned way, with pencil, paper and the tape measure.

The secret to transforming a traditional or historic building into your ideal living, community or business space; keep your eye on the prize. It is a phrase we are all familiar with. It is sounds so simple, and yet when it come to restoring a property, it is soon lost in a fog of unexpected complexity, rules and regulations. If you are not careful you will end up tearing your hair out and regretting the day you started.

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Whether you are looking for tradition or innovation, boldness or understatement, an architect can lift your project out of the ordinary. Many people will offer to alter your building. It takes an architect to maximise its potential and to do it with flair, imagination and style.