Practice

We offer a complete architectural service from concept to completion. Working across private, public and commercial sectors we design new buildings, undertake sensitive work on historic properties and support the evolution of country estates, as well as civic and cultural projects.

Our work is shaped by classical and traditional principles, informed by detailed historical research and delivered with meticulous attention to detail. Collaboration is key. Under the leadership of one design partner and their team, we guide clients through every stage of the process, from briefing and planning to technical design and delivery.

We have extensive experience in contextual urban design, having created communities of thousands of new homes. We have been involved in many award-winning schemes including Poundbury and Nansledan for the Duchy of Cornwall. Walkability, sustainability and long-term legacy underpin all our mixed-use schemes and reflect our commitment to creating places where people can live happier, healthier lives.

We work with public and private landowners on new settlements, town and village extensions and estate-wide strategies. Clients value our distinctive designs, and our ability to guide schemes through the planning system and deliver at scale.

ADAM Architecture is unusual in providing a diverse set of skills from masterplanning to the detailed design of individual properties, as well as writing design codes and pattern books to ensure a consistent architectural vocabulary within a scheme while avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. As well as designing new places we also know how to deliver them, working collaboratively to ensure that the original intent is not diluted during construction.

We are one of the few architectural practices with the breadth of expertise required to meet the diverse needs of historic and more recently developed country estates.

With decades of specialist knowledge, we help owners unlock the future potential of their estates, often introducing new residential or commercial uses for existing buildings, designing new buildings and even estate villages to ensure a sustainable legacy for the wider community.

Our experience includes the restoration and extension of estate houses, the adaptive reuse of listed buildings, the introduction of new structures and landscape elements, and the development of long-term strategies. We understand the delicate balance between conservation and evolution. Our approach ensures that an estate’s architectural, historical and landscape heritage is respected, while enabling future social, environmental and financial viability.

Sustainability underpins our design thinking and commercial operation. Our in-house sustainability team offers technical expertise, dynamic thermal modelling, parametric analysis and future energy and carbon predictions. The team includes specialists trained in Passivhaus and BREEAM, ensuring that best practice is embedded from the outset.

We look beyond minimising the carbon footprint of our projects by seeking to promote increasingly sustainable lifestyles to deliver environmental, social and economic value.

We are widely recognised for our expertise in the sensitive repair, conservation and adaptive reuse of listed and historic buildings.

Our dedicated in-house historic research team, produces comprehensive reports that trace the evolution of a building’s ownership and structure over the decades and centuries, and analyse its significance. This work can prove critical in supporting planning and heritage consent and inform our designs for alterations and extensions.

We also prepare pattern books and character analysis documents to ensure that new developments, whether urban or estate extensions, are sympathetic to the form and materials of the surrounding architecture.

As with the exterior architecture of a new or existing building, we bring our knowledge of traditional and classical design and a comprehensive understanding of materials, technology and finishes to the interiors of our projects. We collaborate with many of the world’s leading interior designers and decorators who share our attention to detail.