Community Land Trusts, we want to help you! Read on to find out how...
About Studio Bark
Planning expertise
At Studio Bark we are experts in rural planning policies and housing on sensitive sites. Our positive approach to working with local planning authorities has resulted in our track record of success over the past 10 years of practice.
We are a small, agile practice, with a unique business model made up of architects (Studio Bark), contractors (Studio Bark Projects), and a modular building system (U-Build). The structure enables us to work alongside others in a dynamic way, empowering clients and communities alike.
New and affordable construction methods
We designed the U-Build modular construction system to invite anyone to engage in the construction process, regardless of skill level. We have loved seeing it in practice, equipping diverse communities from cultural spaces such as Boundless Theatre, to housing groups such as the Salvation Army.
Our mission is to create architecture for a better future, and by pairing this with our agile practice structure we offer architectural services that are truly accessible, affordable, and community-led.
What We Do
We offer full and partial design and planning services, from feasibility all the way through to project completion.
And we’re not just architects, we also provide construction through our contractor arm Studio Bark Projects. This means we can be involved in the actual build of a project, assisting with self-build, or hosting workshops.
We work collaboratively with housing associations to design a scheme to suit all parties.
Site Finding + Assessments
The very first step of any project is making sure the chosen site is suitable, and how to give it the best chance of gaining planning permission.
Our desktop appraisal service draws upon our many years of experience obtaining planning permission on sensitive sites. This service seeks to provide you with a good understanding of the likely planning constraints and risk factors for a particular plot, or comparative analysis of several options, helping you to select a suitable site for your project.
We’ve developed a bespoke tool and methodology for appraisals. Firstly we gather information on planning history, statutory constraints and relevant planning policies. We then provide a concise report covering our key findings along with our informal professional steer on the potential of the site.
Services:
- Technical desktop appraisal of the site
- Understand key site risk factors upfront
- Analyse planning context and pre-empt likely challenges
- Compare opportunities + constraints at site selection stage
Design Team Coordination
Your build project may need a range of consultants to give it the best chance of success.
As architects we can take the lead consultant role on your project, coordinating a multidisciplinary design team. Typically up to planning we work with consultants including surveyors, ecologists, structural engineers, landscape designers and hydrologists, according to the needs of a particular project. In the delivery phase we coordinate a technical team in addition to engaging with any specialist suppliers and carrying out a tender or negotiations with a main contractor.
We are experienced project managers and use a range of robust internal processes and tools to manage risk and keep your project on track.
Services:
- Keeping a project overview and managing programme
- Coordinating and integrating information from of a range of consultants from different disciplines
- Facilitating design team meetings and communication
Rural Planning Challenges
Gaining planning permission in rural areas is challenging. But not impossible with the right knowledge.
We have an extensive track record of winning planning permission outside of settlement boundaries in difficult rural contexts. Many of our projects have taken a planning route drawing on our specialism in Paragraph 84 or Paragraph 139 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). We have also carried out ‘Class Q’ conversions on farms, and projects on sites affected by coastal erosion.
If you’re working with a countryside site, we can provide our knowledge of rural exception site policy and common site challenges. We work with and without involvement of a separate planning consultant - having the option to undertake this role in-house gives you a cost effective solution for overcoming the hurdles of the planning process.
Services:
- Extensive experience gaining planning outside of settlement boundaries
- Experience engaging with local authorities and managing the pre-application and planning processes on behalf of the client as ‘agent’
Public Engagement
Our view is that the best route to project success is engaging the local community. Our open and collaborative approach to our designs is founded in the motivation to design for both people and planet in equal measure.
We can lead a range of engagement events and activities in the build up to your project, from presentations to local interest groups through to hands-on workshops involving end-users and community members.
We can also assist in preparing a strategy to manage and engage with a range of stakeholders and interest groups. Our motivation is to empower people throughout the project process using a collaborative approach.
Services:
- Engagement with local interest groups and decision makers
- Presentations for parish councils, design review panels and planning committees
- Facilitating community workshops + co-design
Affordable Construction
We believe that good quality design and architecture must be affordable. We keep a sharp eye on cost through the project stages, with tried and tested principles to ensure that cost is concentrated in the places where it can have the most impact.
On past projects with restricted budgets, we developed an effective self-build approach. Using our contracting arm, Studio Bark Projects, and our modular construction system U-Build, we equipped our clients and teams with the tools and knowledge to build beautiful, sustainable, resilient homes.
Explore self-build projects: Warren Lodge, Box House, Mill Lane, Nest House
Services:
- Establishing client budget at the start of the process
- Early stage cost benchmarking
- Later stage cost plan services
Environmental Design
We are architects for a better future. All of our projects are designed and built through the lens of the climate crisis, both reducing damaging impacts and designing climate resilience into our projects.
Being both practical and aspirational, we seek to create homes which are both environmentally exceptional, and deliverable. We embed a simple and pragmatic approach to environmental design, through consideration of site microclimate, form and orientation, glazing and shading, and a sensible choice of materials to ensure that your project performs well for you and the environment.
Planning authorities are increasingly looking for proposals to substantiate and evidence their environmental credentials. Where needed we provide sustainability statements as part of planning applications, along with supporting energy and carbon studies.
Services:
- Track record delivering rigorously environmental buildings
- Embedding good environmental design principles to ensure comfort, health and reduced operational costs
- In-house energy modelling + whole life carbon assessments
Self-Build
Using our extensive experience of live-build projects we developed the U-Build system to make construction more accessible. U-Build uses a modular kit-build approach to simplify the building process for self-builders of any experience level.
We designed the system for ‘Box house’, a modest two bedroom self-build home which featured on Channel 4’s ‘Grand Designs: The Street’. The system embeds circular economy principles, being fully-demountable and reconfigurable. It is also flexible, designed to grow or shrink the building as required. Box House has since received planning for an extension, which will easily be achieved by simply adding an extra room using the reconfigurable U-Build panels.
U-Build versatility opens it up for a range of applications; including houses, tiny homes, office fit-outs, garden studios, community spaces and interior fitouts.
Services:
- ‘U-Build’ system - Developed by Studio Bark as a self-build modern method of construction
- Timber flat-pack plywood boxes - easily built, reconfigured and demounted
Workshops + Education
We love to share our knowledge and enthusiasm for hands-on construction with others, and frequently offer design and construction workshops. These are a great way to engage local community and stakeholder groups, giving them a tangible insight into a project.
We are passionate about education and providing the next generation of designers and builders with the knowledge and skills needed in a changing climate. To do so we set up live builds, working more intensively with a student or community group to deliver a particular building or method. This has developed into our own student live build programme, No Building As Usual.
We want your project to not only be life-enhancing for you, but also for those involved in the construction.
Services:
- Day workshops
- Education live build projects
Our Projects
Claude Road (Forest CLT)
- 7-units
- Feasibility Study
- Public Engagement
- Bid Stage 2022
Claude Road is a proposal for seven homes on an infill site on a Victorian terrace street for Forest CLT (a community land trust based in Waltham Forest).
The proposal would transform an informal car park into affordable housing and green space. Five of the homes would be ‘sustainable shared ownership’, with two homes being London Affordable Rent.
See project
Climate Community Housing
- First Whole Life Zero Carbon Rural Housing Scheme in the UK
- Design Stage
Climate Community Housing is a self driven project by Studio Bark for a rural exception site. The proposal is for eight high performance, zero carbon homes, with a mixture of tenures from 1 bedroom to 4 bedroom houses. The design seeks to be the first Whole Life Zero Carbon Rural Housing Scheme in the UK.
Each home is designed to the highest environmental standards using fabric-first passive house principles. Meanwhile the form, orientation, and window locations have been carefully considered to create privacy from neighbouring homes, and to achieve good levels of internal daylight and useful solar gains. The envelope will be highly insulated and achieve excellent levels of airtightness.
The community build approach will give an opportunity for the residents to start building neighbourly relationships, and to feel truly connected to the place and the people who live there. More than ever, it is important to provide homes which are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.
See Project
St George's Wolverhampton
- 400-units + commercial
- New build + change of use
- Competition Stage, 2024
St. George’s is a 400-home scheme in Wolverhampton, including 15,000ft of commercial space and the reuse of St. George’s church as a community hub. At the core of the design is the engagement strategy, working with local people, organisations and institutions to define what the scheme is and how it is made.
Viability has been a key consideration for the scheme, maintaining generous open spaces, landscaping and communal facilities.
The scheme is the result of an invited competition Studio Bark were shortlisted for, with the design a result of our collaboration with Metropolitan Workshop, Mole Architects and Jan Kattein Architects.
Easton Bavents
- 4 units
- Full planning approval
- Planning submitted 2024
Easton Bavents is a 4-home scheme in East Suffolk, designed to replace a series of homes which have recently been lost to sea through coastal erosion.
The area has suffered extensively from coastal erosion, losing an average of three metres of land each year - with storms and high tides sometimes accelerating the loss. Several houses have had to be demolished in the last 25 years, most recently in 2020 when three terraced homes, East End Cottages, had to be knocked down.
The four houses have been designed for ease of disassembly and reassembly, using Studio Bark’s ‘U-Build’ modular self-build system. U-Build is a pioneering solution for any site threatened by coastal erosion as it is designed to be demountable at the end of its lifespan.
The proposed replacement dwellings are sensitively designed for the homeowners to be able to continue to enjoy the landscape they love. It is a creative response to both the coastal location and a situation where the effects of climate change are impossible to ignore.
Nest House
- Completed 2022
- Herefordshire
- Cost £280,000
Nest House is a single storey accessible home, designed to cater to the client’s long term physical needs, while accomplishing a low carbon footprint.
It was a true community build; completed with help from a team of willing students as part of our No Building As Usual programme. Nest House was constructed using Studio Bark’s modular and dismantlable U-Build system, having a light footprint on the land and maximising views of the surrounding countryside.
The fully accessible home is free of concrete and steel and instead uses reclaimed timber foundations, and timber roof and floor beams designed by U-Build and Structure Workshop. These design decisions, alongside many others, have created a ‘circular‘ home which is fully demountable at the end of its useful life.
See project
Warren Lodge
- Completed 2015
- Norfolk
- Cost £56,000
Warren Lodge was built by architecture students, and supported by Grown in Britain, The Royal Forestry Society, TRADA, and Woodland Trust as part of our live-build education programme, No Building As Usual.
Studio Bark designed and built the 100m² low-energy timber barn. Taking inspiration from the locality, Warren Lodge is a modern interpretation of a traditional Norfolk barn featuring a Dutch-style roof and showcasing our commitment to sustainability and local craftsmanship.
The building materials are exclusively UK-sourced: FSC-certified whitewood structural timber, handmade clay roof tiles, locally made custom steel gussets, reclaimed bricks, and local Douglas fir cladding.
See projectContact Us
If you have questions about your particular community-led project, we can help you. We offer an initial 45-minute free consultation to discuss your project; whether you have specific questions or just need some initial guidance.
We understand the difficulty of gaining pre-development funding. We want to do what we can to support community architecture, and so we will work with you to develop a bespoke fee structure that best suits your needs in a way that is fair for both parties.
Speak to our team to find out how we can help get your project off the ground:
