Approach

I provide a personally led architectural design service for homeowners, landlords and small developers in Brighton & Hove, London and the South East.

Good design adds value by helping clients understand the full scope of possibilities before committing to a direction. It can unlock space, improve function, increase comfort, make better use of light, resolve awkward layouts, and help a building work more naturally for the people using it.

My work ranges from domestic extensions, loft conversions and refurbishments to listed building projects, small residential developments, live/work proposals, HMOs and change-of-use applications. Across this range, my approach is to listen carefully, understand the building and the client’s priorities, and shape a clear route through design, planning, building regulations and construction information.

I bring together design experience, planning knowledge, practical construction understanding and clear communication, so that each project is shaped around the building, the budget, the approvals process and the people involved.

Tom Booker’s career has followed an unusually broad path through architecture, construction, regeneration and property, shaped by a consistent desire to understand buildings from every side: as designs, as part of the urban fabric, as construction projects, investments, and places people live in and use.

His experience includes work in large London architectural practices on mixed-use and commercial schemes, client-facing roles on complex projects, and running a small London-based construction company delivering domestic extensions and small commercial retail projects. This included work for clients such as AllSaints and in sensitive central London locations including the Royal Academy.

He has also worked on social housing regeneration projects for housing providers, managing schemes from feasibility through to completion. This included close work with resident groups, consultation and engagement activities, landscape design and whole-estate improvement projects.

Alongside this, Tom has developed property personally, worked as a landlord, and undertaken unusual projects including cave property in Andalusia, Spain.

Domestic refurbishment, extensions, listed buildings and small residential projects have remained a consistent thread throughout nearly two decades of independent practice. Across this work, Tom has chosen to stay closely involved in the whole process: from early client conversations and design thinking, through planning, construction information and site questions, to the way buildings are ultimately used.

His approach sits at the intersection of design judgement, construction knowledge and experience of buildings in use across a broad range of communities and occupants. This gives him a practical understanding of how projects affect the people who commission, build, occupy and maintain them — helping him shape proposals around real buildings, real budgets and real lives.

• M(arch) University College London
• Ba(hons) Architecture University of Central England