Part I — SBLY

Part: I Experience (Architectural Assistant)

A year after graduating form my undergrad and a little travelling, I was able to secure a Part I position at Seed Architects located in the heart of Manchester. Here I was lucky enough to gain a wide range of hands on experience, working alongside architects, architectural technicians and the directors themselves.

When I joined, the practice primally focused on design and refurbishments of railways stations, and was currently in the process of expanding the scope of work towards more residential projects, after recently completing a number of successful residential projects.

With the first phase of my academic career utilising 3D software such as, Sketch up, AutoCAD and Archicad. My fist month at Seed Architects was to primarily focus on teaching myself Revit through the use of online tutorials. I was tasked with modelling a pre-existing building for a feasibility study, that a client was interested in purchasing and renovating into apartments. Although I was initially given 4 weeks to train and complete the task, I quickly took to Revit and finalised the model within 2 weeks and the director was very happy with the level of detail.

From here on out I was heavily involved in a wide range of residential feasibility studies, working closely with the director, attending client meetings, and site visits on number on number of housing schemes and apartment complexes.

In-between feasibility studies I would also be involved in detailing renovation & extension packages, take part in onsite measurements, detailing change of use packages, writing up of plan of works, and detailing signage packages for National rail & Merseyrail.

The remainder of my duties within the practice also included, scheduling CDPs, reviving & maintaining the 3D printer into working order, creating a number of development models for various projects and of course making lots of cups of coffee.

The highlight of my time at Seed Architects was authoring my own Pre-App document to be submitted to Manchester City planning. I was able to apply my existing knowledge of proposal development obtained form my undergraduate and experience at Seed to further my knowledge of building regulations and Manchester City planning laws.