HEM Architects Ltd

Working with HEM has been a pleasure. Excellent at what they do and really nice people. Although it can be tempting to save on the design or go for a cheaper alternative, I have learnt that good design is well worth it and results in a superior end product.

Very disappointed with their service. Designs didn't fit our brief at all after 6 different designs and repeatedly expressing our needs, they were wildly over budget (£65k for a 3m x 3m single storey extension was laughably the cheapest option) and we're sad to say it was an absolute waste of time and money.We'd asked for open plan and were given a sequence of smaller rooms.We'd asked for a large dining space for our family and in most designs were given a much smaller space than we currently have, one could barely fit a 4 seater table.We'd asked for more light and nearly all designs didn't address this, some even making it worse.One design removed our utility room in favour of a long thin galley kitchen we specifically asked not to have.If you have any concerns expect them to be ignored and some heavy gaslighting.

From our very first meeting with Paul and then Claire, to our perfectly finished home, we have felt nothing but totally supported and guided through this once in a lifetime experience.Choosing our contractor was a big decision and with Paul and Claire’s guidance we found a team that would prove to be second to none-Sean, Ryan and Jonathan (Jordan and Somerfield Joinery).Even in the difficult times of Brexit and Covid nothing was compromised on and everyone went above and beyond to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible and finished to the highest possible standard.We now have our amazing new home that not only looks amazing it is very energy efficient too!!Many many thanks to everyoneAlison and Jonathan

We used this company to help us remodel a tired 1930's house with lots of small dark rooms into a stunning bright and airy modern home. Their vision was fantastic adding a full height front extension to bring the stairs out of the central footprint, creating extra space and bringing light to the previously dark front spaces. This created a full height entrance hall and helped give us two extra rooms in a previously small attic space. Internally they tied all the spaces together with clever design features giving us a house where every space is used and the house is quite literally a joy to live in!They persuaded us to invest in making the external envelope as air tight and well insulated as possible and fit an MVHR system. Initially we were very sceptical but are now delighted with the thermal performance of the house both in summer and winter.They were thoroughly professional throughout dealing positively and practically with the inevitable challenges along the way. Our contractor had never done anything like this before and they supported him technically when necessary.Their clever design and attention to detail added significantly to the value of the finished property and we could never have achieved this on our own.

Excellent service from the whole team at HEM - the resulting design is great but more importantly they shared our excitement for our project, listened to what we really needed, came up with some super ideas that we would never have thought of and helped us be brave enough to go for it - our cellar conversion looks fab! Would very much recommend!

With a difficult planning process for a site in 'countryside', PTA designed an innovative house exactly as requested - despite some of the quirkiness we required! After initial rejection, the appeal was successful and it was a pity we couldn't find a builder to commit to a price and build it! Jess at PTA was very helpful throughout.

We first met Alan, at our house in Oakham and we knew immediately that this was the company and guy for us and our project. He made us feel at ease immediately, creative and driven and was on exactly the same page as ourselves but with added experience.What Alan and our equally fantastic project lead Alasdair, along with Sam, have achieved is fantastic. Taking down an extremely tired 50s house that doesn't comply with modern regs to construct two beautifully designed modern homes, in a conservation area was no small feat at all.We are second generation property developers and perhaps trickier clients than first time self builders and we have also worked with numerous architects and professionals over the years. We love working with these guys and beyond excited to see our latest project come to life, together. Great job, thanks HEM/Paul Testa Architecture.

We are very glad we used Paul Testa Architecture on our retrofit project. We chose them because sustainability is at the core of what they do. Paul understood – and shares - our aims: to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, to make our house as energy-efficient as possible and ‘fit for 2050’. He walks the talk. Our confidence was justified! He promised us a warm and comfortable home with reduced energy bills, and that is what we now have! His calm, and his professional and personal experience of builds, was enormously reassuring at our lowest ebbs. He works collaboratively: it was never just ‘lowest tender gets the job’, so we always felt that whatever was agreed with the builders was fair to all of us.

We had the pleasure of working with Alan to design and project manage the renovation of our new retail premises. From the first meeting to the final sign off he was extremely professional, thorough and easy to work with. He clearly communicated the expected output of each stage of the process which made the experience stress free. He listened carefully to our requirements and came up with innovative solutions to enhance our project, while working collaboratively with our other partners to ensure we got the best result.Alan produced some really imaginative designs all under our tight budget constraints. The final results really surpassed our expectations, highly recommended!

Alan MacDonald and Paul Testa Architecture did a great job in advising on and redesigning our new home. As always with building projects (I think!) then the few small issues we experienced were interfacing/communication between us, our architects and the builders. Very happy with the end result after big 18-month long project.