Girls In Property

Everything you need to know about being an architect Verity Lovelock!

• Sophie, Athena & Julia

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In this week's episode, Sophie sits down with Verity Lovelock from BBD Architects who shares how female would-be architects have been discouraged from starting in the field, how she overcame this and encourages others to level up the industry with fantastic energy and determination!
Tips on how a project gets off the ground, what a great architect does to ensure a project comes through to completion and how it's not all drawings.
Look for Verity on Instagram @a_girl_architect and find her practice BBD Architects here.


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You listening to the girls in property podcast where we explore the world of property meet amazing guests to hear the stories and support you in your property charity. Hi everyone. It's Sophie hear your host and today. I'm with a very
 special guest. How are you?
 Get surviving the week at the moment, so we'll start the podcast with what are you celebrating or what good things can we talk about that happened recently
 had so I'm 27 and that was actually a couple of years ago and we've got a dream team going on at the moment and that's
 awesome amazing. Well done.
 This week is just a lack of issues in the in the portfolio like it seems to be quite quiet everyone seems to be very happy and friendly and so it's just a nice car lovely exactly so thank you for coming on the podcast today. You're an architect someone here all about that for our listeners. What is an architect? What do you do and tell us a story?
 How did you get there? Ok? So is someone who will help you from the beginning to end of project actually so much more than that and a qualified architect many years training in InDesign and the legal size of Architecture as well. So protecting a client through contract and building contractors well at the end of the project so we will.
 Residential building a home for a private client or it could be a small development and design it. We take it all three planning and managing all of that as well me know and understand planning planning policy and we'll take it through the technical size for the construction drawings the nitty gritty side of that that enables project to be priced and to be built and go through the fields and regulations and support all of our clients on-site as well and that's managing a building contracts. I was talking about earlier and it should be budget which is always the really funny though it really is a service.
 Project all the way through cos that's what we're trying to do.
 I did think it was drawing
 it really does relieve so much of the stress that can go with delving into that into the unknown and people having to manage that there for the service they're not normally fully qualified architect but you can have drawings and isolation. Have you got the most out of a building has that been looked in the best possible way in terms of design and budget and all the rest of it does it work as well as it could to is that's one of the things that you're applying an architect for their design expertise. Is it can save you money and and actually feels really good quality piece of Architecture project. They looked at that and then do you then have to take it away input?
 That's what you pay us to do. It really is saving
 your headache in the long run that's amazing and there's so much you don't know that you don't know how
 did you get into it had to be from childhood. It was actually something that I mentioned at school because I love that was my background not particularly academic school absolutely fine that I didn't feel like that. That was my
 The art side of things are really love and remember mentioning architecture careers meeting I had a school and she said to me well. It's it's a boy's and she can't be an architect. Just really scared me away from it and then she said
 yes,
 I didn't think too much of it at the time and now it makes my blood boil to think that was advised that was given that everyone said that you know parents said that because it was it was an older man and that you know he had to be really good at maths and when we do careers advisors.
 Play the whole of my parents come around and they say oh you know we we we told him that he needs to be really good at this so many routes into architecture sometimes people will really enjoy the physics kind of
 said the engineer
 people might be better at maths and physics or it's the design end of it and that could be your art and your text that kind of thing is wanting to get into the industry you can approach it from so many different ways and it's really important to have a look at that not just dismiss it as it's one of those locations that often kids will talk about from a really young.
 I actually went to college and interior design and I went to university and started a foundation year in interior design and the the first year of Architecture students with the same and my tutor actually said to me. I think you should swap your so much better from the Architecture point of view so I stopped over and then I realised 77 that was that was fun.
 What are you doing for?
 It doesn't feel that long. I don't think other people might disagree with me. You're so busy the whole time you go out in practise for a year. That's recorded with the RIBA the royal Institute of British architects.
 How your meeting certain criteria and you're learning then you go back to university again for 2-year either Masters or postgraduate diploma most of that 5 years is focused on the project as a whole in and big design work and you touch on technical aspects and you touch on the professional practice which is the legalities of Architecture but it's mostly what you've done that 5 years you can go back into practice again. You have to complete another year with recorded work experience to get your minimum requirement to be able to sit your Part II which final qualification course and that is it varies you have to do it was during practice because you have to draw on your experience that's coming through but the course is very so I actually did all of my other stuff at Portsmouth and then I went to Kingston University to do my part 3 because the way that different universes.
 I like the format but I had children in the middle because I'm a woman and you
 know yeah, and what have you watched your career be
 like since then a year in practise after my degree for for another small practise based in the Portsmouth and I really enjoyed it. I really understand I like the environment. I didn't want to go into the big corporate and I didn't really like the culture of the workplace.
 Architecture has authority bin a bit of a man's world and the external actually just published an article about leaving the profession but young people leaving the profession just because of the office and eating your dinner in the office. You're not working hard enough and because it's locational. There's a lot of you can keep doing you can keep me visiting things is not always an Endpoint it's it's something that I feel very strongly about because I think it's a really toxic working culture. You know companies also we do days and selling a culture. That's actually not in our company what Lawrence now. I've built is something that in a refill that with the way people should be working yet.
 Outside of the workplace we want them to come to work feeling refreshed. We want them to be fulfilled and productive and
 when your refreshed you are not productive I can imagine in the other cut more corporate one. There's a
 lot of burnout as well longer to complete a task you procrastinate on it you went feel you know like you can approach it with fresh eyes. Could you just been looking at it for so long to spend time with your family is so important people are doing that they begin to and that's not what I think. There's a lot of Architecture and a lot of women leave the profession do it in the first place only get part way through qualifications because you're kind of childbearing age when you're doing that last bit.
 A lot of people go back to work and they won't be given the project. They were given previously because they're only working part-time or they're giving full-time and part-time position and that's too much for them. All. They find that deposition. Isn't there when I come back from an entity leave and I think that's really unfortunately we need to be looking after women in Opera architecture is one where
 it's a real problem so much data now that people are more productive when they are allowed to work more flexibly and and you know the women after maternity leave and
 it's just awful because you love it. That's so hard and I think it's the real misconception that women don't work as hard when they've got children because actually and then you'll know your time is really.
 Sort of time you have to be able to go to a job that you love and then it's lovely to come back and you feel refreshed to the parent when you see that as well, so I think it's them. I think the profession are doing themselves a disservice change it I said tell us how your career has been sent to you. I'm still with now. I love the way light started the company. It's 16 years ago now. I love the way he ran his business and it with me and so we are now here running it together and we've built something that we really proud off and I was.
 Lucky to be able to go into a company where my input was listened to and valued
 and that's how we built it together that's awesome. So what kind of projects do you work on could it be anything come with me for the night with you come to me with an idea and I'll make it
 happen and then post the started specialising in residential design we both absolutely love it and that's with private clients and developers. We really love designing home with commercial aspect there it could be a conversion where in a converted pub and there's flats above it, but he's struggling commercial peace at the bottom.
 Tends to be those kind of project we do up to about 10 houses at the moment of practise candle. We could go to 15. I think or maybe even 20 comfortably but
 we wouldn't do in
 normal development because it is beyond our area of expertise. We need people to be able to undertake some of the tasks involved and we wouldn't do things like schools or big hospital because it is beyond our area of expertise and when you have a code of conduct that you have to stick to one of those points is that you cannot on something that is not something that you've been building up to you what you've done the phone and so you can take it if you employ other people if you go in join up with an that's a really good way of controlling the profession to make sure that everyone is to say.
 Huge scope and just because we don't do big schools or hospitals in between yeah, and can we really loved it and we love the Challenge wheel of a really interesting refurb and conversion. That's always great
 problem. Tell me about an interesting project and some of the obstacles
 you had a lovely project at the moment big house in Romsey that was and it has been converted into two flats and they're turning it into one family house and they have bless them everything they touch
 everything they are cover. There's more they knew that they were going to be yeah exactly
 so we we
 And bring back some of those original features as well and to make it feel like this really grand family hope because that's what it once was and they've gone into it and supported
 in the roof found a well in one of the rooms when they took the floor up
 exposure to you can see it, but then it's costing plan but I love the way that they working because they have taken on the to start they want to restore it, so it's beautiful and when these things are coming up there. Just taking it as saying ok right.
 So they are wonderful
 clients to work with the looking after the pennies there. They are expecting the quality of this house as well, so they restored.
 Original cornices and ceiling roses and some of its structure in their little quite ornate and putting his beautiful staircase. There's a really interesting project uncovering but then we have other things I'm working for developers a great challenges. OK how do I how do I get the criteria? They need they need 10 units on this site. How do I get out of this site? Whilst keeping the quality of the spaces as high as we can because we don't we don't have up things into unusable rooms for a long period of time so something where we really enjoy
 so you you often must have a blank canvas and just go bright. How do you even do that you come up with plan ABCD
 What do you like grill the developer or the residential clients for their
 Vision and is to come up with a brief and then we'll will pull as much as we can out of that or we help them to determine their briefs because we can't do anything without that private client is more about evolution and how they want to live and if it's developer is mainly about the numbers and how much they need it and we're putting the division into so it's it's a kind of bit of both on both sides. We actually have a brief writing toolkit because this is so important that we have available to to download will help you go through a series of questions that you can ask yourself.
 What do you just like in places that you visited before before what to do holiday homes inspiration come from what what kind of are you expecting? Where are you going to be spending time? Where do the family or hang out that they're all really really important question and often clients come to us with the pain. They will put together a series of options and we always like to investigate as many options as possible. We liked it. Really really hammer the brief. We don't ever want the client saying that's nice, but I thought maybe had this idea and I thought maybe this might work better. You know we want them to see everything in front of them.
 How old are ideas working and mostly what happens then we have a very distinct individual design process don't do all of the available options and then we present them to then we used to show them in 3D and populating with furniture. So you can get really like space and then 1 x 3 and then you go away you could have blend things together. So what they end up with is that Dave feeling well, and they have they've helped to develop over time and they feel really comfortable with that there's no questions about whether something else will work better I can see it. It's a slightly different way of working because you're approaching it from the other side, but we will give options you know we might say ok. You can get to three bed houses.
 In here, but the
 second is very very small
 things that don't work because that's just as important to say this is this is what it looks like what you think you make an informed decision about it and we will work out how it works best as well, so it might be an actually you can get two units in here. There's two beautiful you can have an ensuite. You know it might be better quality of space and then it's up to them to make the the choice about them slightly different process to develop coming from the same. Yeah, it was interesting the
 moment because supplies of gonna prices have gone up. We've got inflation. We've got rates. You know what do you make of it?
 Is it has been really interesting when?
 First hit that's what we were worried about we were prepared for it to be horrendous, and then he is through lockdowns happen, but they showed the most home and living in these places to study in a lot of would have been a bit of an extra. You know if maybe if it was possible now. It's we need to study as an absolute minimum
 312 working from
 home lots of people at home and younger people move home with the family symbol family space is needed so that really changed the dynamic up the way home work for people and that's something that we taking to developers now because we have to understand that you know what developers a building now is what people
 need and we are understanding.
 It now in this change and climate. So that was one of the ways literally changed that took us by surprise. I think cos we were expecting the worst like everybody out the private residential market interest rates as well as private ready stuff was great and what we've seen as the interest rates have Risen is that people that we're looking to remortgage haven't necessarily got the scope to do then we working slightly differently with those people now because we do not have phasing of work. You know this might be your whole dream that you're thinking of vision that you were planning and how do we break US into easily you can execute over the next few years so we doing quite a lot of that actually if you put everything on one planning
 application and do it now then.
 Have implemented
 one piece of that you've taken away your 3-year time restriction, so we're
 insuring that people can
 then build as they are you know as they are able to and they don't have to go through to future-proof things in terms of material price increases. We had to go now. We used to work on a private residential basis, so fully managed by main contractor and about £2,000 a sq metre for new build floor area and all of a sudden it must have been in a space about six weeks because we could hear about the material price increases and seeing anything happen if there was massively health staff there was so many things that had a knock-on effect brexit factoring inflation on top of that.
 So the prices all of a sudden went from about 2000 to 2600 £2700 and we had only a couple of clients that suddenly couldn't afford to building designed it budgets and costings. We give a range of prices to say ok will look at the bottom line one just in case because it could end up at that, but we are weird. We've got things settled at about 2.3 2.4 m thankfully settle down but individual material prices steel and timber still has gone up by 100% and 18 months of something like that is mad absolutely mad, so that has had enough.
 And it will have for developers as well because obviously your costings then go up and do they need to be able to get more out of a site if you can't get more that site the site of no the only bonus is obviously you would have to pay and we are seeing those prices coming down a little bit at the moment the residential market private residential market gone quiet quiet compared to what we had but the developer market is swinging the other way because there are some sites for two available for really good price is right now that hasn't
 for a project opportunities
 out there.
 Does decisions you can make
 that means you can still either phasing or something like that you can still do something and we actually had the other
 day. She said she said she's come to us and advisor and then taken the equity from the house and they're buying a much smaller house, which will have a mortgage and they are spending the money that they take after their house on refurbing something new into what they want, but then maintaining the small and that's a really
 interesting
 as well.
 What do you find people just don't know or just don't realise what your top tips.
 Private clients they might have a pot of cash and they might say ok with this is what we've got through for a construction budget, but doesn't factored in the 80s and they haven't factored in consultants fees or the other consultants fees and statutory fees even though the statutory fees are relatively small and something that we do all prospective clients is a proposal together which details exactly what we're doing for our feet but we will also put together something called a budget appraisal and that takes the place of cash that they have and we'll take off VAT and we'll take off the consultants fees and any expected fees and then what's left is your construction budget and we'll go through an exercise where we were exactly what they could do.
 Snow from the outset and if that means managing your expectations in terms of what you're going to get your extension or renovation whatever it is that that's ok. It's better to know a project and ultimately having everything you want that's great if it means downsizing it all looking at it slightly differently making different decisions.
 Yeah, they always comes down to the does it work on paper
 that sit
 on the podcast talk about property disasters, so my one is probably talked about this before utilities like we have a lot of house and we have like account management companies that say they're going to manage it and they don't have the 20 grand but all the other day that was just an error and admin error when I report it.
 6 weeks of my life, so if anyone's got this got a good utility business or some kind of business idea because I think there's a matter of Duty out there. Please. Tell me how about you and
 well. There's exactly the same thing as a great way of trying to avoid the disasters unemployment architect in the first place, but having someone on site to help manage your project so if you've employed Builder
 Having an architect contract administrators we manage the building contract for you. This is between you and your builder be able to get a project through as you expected is really important and managing people's expectations something will go wrong on site 100-percent you will find something but we have had so many so many disasters where people we don't need a contract with a Belter we know them. They were recommended to us. We don't need a contract administrator. We're going to manage it all cells often. They haven't got time to do this. They don't fool and you can end up if you don't know what you're looking for and you're not experienced. You can end up with some disasters and we have had people coming to us to use to sort out these.
 We had people went back of the house has been falling down to haven't been propped up correctly. They haven't had contracts with their builders. They've gone into a contract where the price isn't fixed so the cost of massively dilated drawings and unfortunately if you don't do that end it correctly you're not going to end up with what you spent the time in the first place then we've seen on site, but it can be avoided if you if
 you do it all. We've got a listeners question for you from Victoria who says is 35 too old to get
 into architecture no children in between.
 Something you want to do I think he would get to 7th yeah, and you still got a huge amount of working life ahead of you do an apprenticeship. So you can qualify and a slightly different way whilst you're working ok,
 so you don't have to earn for 77
 years because the normal difficult but the RIBA and now doing this this apprenticeship. I can't exactly how is setup. It takes you longer, but it doesn't matter cuz you're working and actually I think it's a really good way of learning because it's as a big difference between what you later University and what you learned practice what university is 8 and really fun, but what you learning practise is the nitty gritty stuff so
 being able to go into it that way is great brilliant. That's so good to know go for it Victoria
 I feel like we need to get way more girls in the Architecture and so go for it. If people want to contact you or find out more where
 can I find the practise bbd architects we have and we have on all social media channels Facebook Instagram and LinkedIn I am also on LinkedIn and on Instagram I am
 a girl architect lovely. Thank you and Sophie and school rooms and we are girls in property Pod on Instagram and if you have a question it's girls and property at gmail.com thank you very much.
 Before you go here's a message from a future Girl In
 Property to the park, please and if you're feeling really fancy leave it.

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Athena Dobson

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