We create inspiring spaces that represent your business. From cafes, bars and restaurants, retail stores and pop-ups, gyms, spas and wellness centres, or office spaces and hybrid environments, we focus on strengthening brand identity, delivering memorable customer experience, and optimising operational efficiency.
Our approach blends creative concepts with practical solutions, ensuring our designs are aesthetically impactful, functional, and aligned with your budget. We guide you through the complexities of planning, regulatory compliance, licensing and construction, delivering spaces that support your business’ success.
The Ambient Studio Project Plan is a tailored, stage-by-stage framework, designed to deliver continuity, clarity, and efficiency throughout each step of your project journey.
While guided by the RIBA Plan of Work, our plan is uniquely adapted to address the specific challenges and ambitions of each project. By defining bespoke scopes and checkpoints, we align every detail with the individual needs of the project, and your specific circumstances and goals, ensuring outstanding outcomes.
See our Process
We begin with a free Introductory Online Consultation Call to understand your business, brand and values, the project objectives, and the wider commercial goals. Before the call, we ask you to complete a short form providing essential details about your project and business. This allows us to tailor our advice and offer valuable insights during the call.
Following this, we refine the project brief, outline the key stages of delivery, and agree on fees and timelines. Once appointed, we guide you through our onboarding process, aligning our approach with your business needs and laying the foundations for a productive and collaborative partnership.
This stage is about setting a strong foundation. We work closely with you and your team to clarify the project brief by establishing operational requirements, understanding brand identity, and defining the core commercial objectives. Leveraging our expertise, we identify necessary surveys, source relevant information, and determine the need for specialist consultants at key stages.
We assess the site and property to explore its potential for transformation, identifying both opportunities and constraints. Through feasibility studies, we develop design options, spatial arrangements, and visual concepts, presented in the form of drawings and precedent imagery. An early cost plan is prepared alongside our studies, providing you with key information to make informed decisions and advance the project on a realistic footing.
Building on the feasibility studies, we develop an initial design concept that aligns with your brand identity and operational need, and translates these into a three-dimensional, spatial experience. We present this through drawings, 3D perspectives, and mood boards, offering ideas on spatial arrangements, fixed and flexible furniture, aesthetics and materiality.
This stage emphasises creativity and collaboration as we focus on creating spaces that enhance functionality and impact. We ensure the design supports productivity, logistics and operations, customer experience, and brand reinforcement. Your feedback, ideas and input is essential for creating a healthy project dynamic.
Incorporating feedback from the concept design phase and integrating input from specialist consultants, we refine the design to maximise efficiency and begin addressing technical requirements. This may include initial design studies for lighting, acoustics and services, whilst ensuring compliance with the relevant critical regulations.
We also use this stage to identify and address any necessary consents, such as planning applications for change of use, signage or external modifications. The design is reviewed in collaboration with the cost consultant, who prepares an updated cost plan to maintain cost control and budget management. This cost plan allocates budgets across various works, fixtures, and finishes, serving as a framework for the forthcoming technical stage.
During this stage, we focus on developing the design in greater technical detail, collaborating and coordinating with specialist consultants, such as service engineers, acoustic engineers and lighting designers. Our technical package comprises drawings, schedules and specifications, capturing the scope of work and defining key decisions on fixtures and finishes.
We encourage early collaboration with specialist fabricators to refine the detailing of bespoke fixtures and we work with suppliers to establish costs and lead times for selected finishes and fixtures. Our technical package demonstrates compliance with building regulations while providing a robust and thorough tender package for contractors. We assist in identifying suitable contractors and evaluating quotes, ensuring the project is well-positioned for a high-quality, cost-effective, and time-sensitive build.
We prepare your project for construction by proposing and drafting a suitable building contract, and advising on key contract terms that safeguard your commercial interests.
Throughout construction, we maintain close involvement through conducting regular site visits to oversee progress, ensure quality, and monitor alignment with design intent, timescales and commercial goals. We maintain clear and consistent communication with the project team, coordinating contractors, specialist sub-contractors and suppliers while addressing queries, managing requests for changes, assessing additional cost or time extension claims, preparing valuations, and resolving site issuesUpon completion, we conduct a thorough inspection, identify any defects and overseeing their resolution before certifying practical completion.
Upon project completion, we guide you through the handover process, ensuring the space meets your expectations and business requirements. We talk you through the building’s features and provide essential information regarding its use, operation, and ongoing maintenance.
We also deliver a comprehensive handover manual, including as-built drawings and key documentation for future reference. Once any outstanding or arising defects are resolved, we issue a final certificate, marking the successful completion of the project.
Our support does not end at handover. Even after completion, we remain available to assist as your business settles into the new space. Whether addressing operational queries, optimising functionality, or planning future works and adaptations, we ensure your investment continues to deliver value.
We help you evaluate the project’s outcomes, summarise key learning for future projects, and offer guidance on upgrades, maintenance, or long-term strategic planning to ensure your space evolves alongside your business needs.
