Input data: what it takes to start

The minimum

The idea and the title deed. With slight exaggeration, that is it.

This is the least strict input of our four services, and deliberately so: in general design it is our job to obtain the missing data, not yours.

What makes the start faster

If you have a plot

• land registry number, title deed, map extract,
• the relevant part of the local building code,
• utility data,
• the ground investigation report, if one was made.

Some of these have lead times measured in weeks, so we start obtaining them in the first week. Site data and survey · Utility connections.

If you have existing drawings

Send the whole set, not two sheets. Send everything.

If you are building onto an existing building

There the survey is the most important input, and the old drawings are not enough. Surveying an existing building.

If you only have a sketch

A hand-drawn sketch is a perfectly good starting point — often better than a written description of an idea.

What we ask for in conversation rather than as data

The design brief: what you expect of the building, what quality level, what budget. You do not have to write it in advance — we help assemble it with questions. Needs assessment · The design brief.

Why this input is loose

Because general design starts the process from the beginning. The strict input criteria are where we build on the result of a previous stage — in shop design. Input data for shop design.

The point

Do not wait for the material to “come together”. The idea and the plot are enough for the first conversation — we obtain the rest as we go.