Pentangle Design - Practice Profile

Chartered architectural practice, Hitchin, since 1974.

Pentangle Design has been practising architecture from the centre of Hitchin for over fifty years. Founded in 1974, we are believed to be the longest-established practice in Hitchin and Letchworth — and we have the completed buildings, long-standing client relationships and planning track record to show for it.
We are a deliberately small practice: four technical staff and an office manager, led by director Jonathan Read, an ARB-registered architect. Every project is run by a senior member of the team from first meeting to completion, and the first conversation you have is with the person who will design your building. That is not a marketing line — with five of us, it could hardly be otherwise.
From the practice’s earliest days the working method has been the same: thorough preparation, a properly agreed brief, and senior involvement at every stage. Buildings should give their owners good value — presence and character, yes, but also flexibility, low maintenance and low running costs for the people who use them.

What we do

Our work spans bespoke private houses, extensions and remodellings, residential development for small and medium housebuilders, barn conversions and rural projects, listed buildings and conservation work, and commercial and community buildings. We act for private homeowners, developers, local businesses, sports clubs and charities — and for Hertfordshire County Council, for whom we regularly secure planning permission to unlock the value of redundant sites.

Most of our work is in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and London, though projects have taken us as far as the Scottish Borders, Swansea and Surrey.

Where we work from

Our office at 21 Bancroft sits in the middle of Hitchin’s historic core, a few minutes’ walk from the market square. Working for fifty years in and around two towns with strong architectural identities — medieval Hitchin and Letchworth, the world’s first garden city — has taught us to design buildings that belong to their place. It has also given us an unusually deep working knowledge of the local planning authorities, conservation areas and contractors.

Credentials

– RIBA Chartered Practice – we operate to the profession’s standards for quality management, insurance and professional conduct.
– ARB-registered – “architect” is a legally protected title in the UK; the practice is directed by a registered architect.
– Three LABC Building Excellence Awards – for small new housing developments: Wilbury Farm (Country Oaks), near Arlesey (2021); Land at Bancroft, Hitchin (2022); and Stockham Gardens, Wantage [year/category to confirm].
– Earlier awards and commendations – including the North Hertfordshire District Council Civic Trust Award Scheme, the National Civic Trust Scheme, and the Letchworth Garden City Design Award Scheme [specific projects/years to confirm if known — otherwise this general wording stands].

The Team

Jonathan Read

How we've lasted fifty years

Not by standing still. The practice moved to full BIM working in 2008, and we use current visualisation and AI-assisted tools today — because clients make better decisions when they can see what they’re getting, and because a practice that has lasted fifty years did so by adapting, not by being old. The constants are simpler: honest advice, careful design, and the same faces throughout your project.