From affordable, energy-efficient housing to inspiring learning environments, each of our projects tells the story of a unique challenge and its unique solution.

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Our services

Tooley Foster is fully committed to providing the best possible service through all stages of the design and construction process.

For every project, no matter its size, we will provide a high degree of expertise and a competitive fee structure. We can offer strategic framework agreements with clients and are actively involved in Partnering on many projects.

Our services include:

  • Design
  • Engagement
  • Passivhaus & Sustainable Development
  • Planning
  • Impact Management
  • Conservation
  • Healthcare & Medical
  • Built Environment
  • Project Management
  • Technical Delivery
  • Principal Designer
  • Feasibility Studies

Passivhaus

Dobbins Place in Crawley

Regulations are constantly changing to reflect our need to reduce energy use and carbon emissions; this means renewables on their own will not be enough. The walls, floors and roofs have to be better insulated and better designed, windows triple glazed and ventilation has to include heat recovery. All of this is standard for a Passivhaus building.

We know how to design your buildings using passive approaches to minimise long term costs and also to achieve Passivhaus Certification. We have over 7 years Passivhaus experience and can provide:

  • Certified Passivhaus Designer services
  • Energy and comfort modelling using the Passivhaus Planning Package – PHPP
  • Thermal bridge modelling
  • Construction detailing for low air leakage and reduced thermal bridging
  • Co-ordination of building services with building design, including ventilation
  • Passivhaus advice for first time clients and contractors
  • Post occupancy evaluation and monitoring advice
  • Outsourced SAP and SBEM calculations for regulatory compliance

In addition to Passivhaus, we can use PHPP to achieve the AECB Building Standard which also offers performance improvements above Building Regulations standards but with similar construction cost.

Tooley Foster are early signatories to Architects Declare and support all measures to reduce operational and embodied energy use as ways to address global heating.

Our low energy and Passivhaus projects include:

  • 26 carbon neutral houses and flats in Basildon
  • Passivhaus advice for an award winning Passivhaus in Hackney
  • 19 local authority flats and houses in Crawley
  • Private Passivhaus dwellings in Ilford, Oxfordshire, and Essex
  • Passivhaus advice for other architects building their own houses in Guernsey and Suffolk
  • The first NHS Passivhaus modular GP surgery, located in Coventry.

See our low energy projects pages here.

 

 

Medical

We believe our designs should deliver benefits beyond those enjoyed by the communities who use them. One area we believe we really make a difference is in the design of health care related buildings & medical facilities.

Our staff are supported by Steve Muller and Joh Marsh; two very experienced colleagues in the design of Health facilities in the NHS, private and veterinary care sectors. Steve has worked with us as an consultant architect since 2005 and has nurtured specialist expertise in mental health projects. While Johns' specialism lies in laboratory projects, having worked widely on major hospital schemes, GP surgeries, MRI installations and the National Decontamination Programme. He also leads on several public sector framework projects with NHS hospitals in London and throughout the South East.

Our areas of work include:

  • Laboratories
  • Mental Health
  • Community Mental Health
  • Primary Care
  • Acute Care
  • Diagnostics

Veterinary Hospital in Lower Langford for Bristol University

We are all sensitive to our environments, and building design impacts the health of patients in many ways.  Whether by using technology to reduce disease or by more subtle changes to lighting or layout; whats clear is significantly better medical outcomes are achieved for patients where the their needs are central to building design.

Healthcare buildings are often not new. Hospitals in particular can be constrained by historic or listed building status, often requiring innovative solutions to improve healthcare standards in a way that is sympathetic to the design.

And whether for completely new developments or restoration works, implementing low energy design and construction will help meet national CO2 targets and drastically reduce a buildings running costs.

We are keen to implement low energy and Passivhaus design standards and are currently on site with Foleshill Health Centre in Coventry, due for completion in 2021: the country’s first GP surgery built to Passivhaus standards.

This ambitious projects scored "above 5 in all sections" in the Design Quality Indicator (DQI) report for the NHS published in 2018. It noted "...this means the building has the potential to be a very good public building. It could be suggested that this is an exceptional score..."

 

Illustration of the Foleshill Medical Centre

The waiting room at Foleshill

See further examples of our extensive work in the medical & healthcare sector here.

Small works

We offer a bespoke Small Works service aimed at the smaller end of the developer market, including first-time developers, as well as commercial, education, religious and charity organisations.

We can provide initial designs, detailed drawings and specifications, planning applications and building regulation submissions for a range of small projects such as:

  • Small residential developments (generally up to 24 residential units)
  • Small mixed-use developments (generally up to 24 residential units)
  • Extensions and alterations to commercial premises
  • Extensions and alterations to education, religious and community buildings

For further information please contact Nigel Goulding: ngoulding@tooleyfoster.com

News & Analysis

We have a long history of being at the leading edge of developments in architecture and design. From societal benefits to new environmental standards, research and development is integral to everything we do.