Pentangle Design has been practising architecture from Hitchin for over fifty years. We are a RIBA Chartered Practice — and we still work the way good architects should: personally, carefully, and with a genuine interest in what we’re designing.
We are a small practice by deliberate choice. When you work with Pentangle, you deal with the same people from the first conversation to the day the builders leave — not a team who pass your project between departments, not a junior who has never met you.
The title “architect” is protected by law in the UK. Only those registered with the Architects Registration Board can use it. Pentangle is directed by an ARB-registered architect, and our RIBA Chartered Practice status means we operate to the profession’s highest standards — with the professional indemnity and accountability structures that protect you if anything goes wrong.
Fifty years of practice in Hitchin and the surrounding area means we know this patch well: its planning authorities, its character, its contractors. That local knowledge is part of what you are appointing.
Most projects follow three stages. We are happy to talk through what is relevant for your project at any point.
We start by understanding your site and your ambitions. We carry out or arrange a measured survey, develop the design with you through an iterative process of testing and refining, and manage the planning application from submission through to decision.
Planning can be unpredictable. We will give you an honest assessment of the prospects early — not after we have spent your money finding out.
Once planning is secured, the work shifts from how the building looks to how it actually gets built. We produce a full technical package — construction drawings, specifications, building regulations submission — and coordinate the specialist input your project needs: structural engineers, energy assessors, party wall surveyors, civil engineers.
Our tender packages are built around a simple principle: give contractors the information they need to price accurately, so the number you receive reflects the real cost of the project.
We can be as involved on site as is useful to you. Where we administer the building contract, we visit weekly, manage the design as it develops, certify payments to the contractor, and handle the practical matters at completion: snagging, certificates, close-out.
The builder works better when they know an architect is watching. We are available to both you and the contractor throughout.
Before anything is built, we can show you how it will look. We use current visualisation tools to produce images of your project — exteriors, interiors, material choices — that help you make decisions with confidence and arrive at construction stage with fewer unknowns.
These are not just presentation graphics. They are a working tool, and clients who use them tend to find the construction process smoother as a result.
Whether you have a site, a sketch on a napkin, or just a question — we are happy to talk.
