Two hands, one table.
An architect and a builder, working from the same drawings, in the same room, on a small number of houses at a time.
AVERLY began on a difficult listed restoration, where the drawings and the site were at war.
Iona Rendell, an architect, and Thomas Vane, a builder with a structural engineer's training, met on that job and decided the two trades need not pull against each other. They started AVERLY in 2009 from a workshop off the Clerkenwell Road, with one bench and a kettle.
The studio is now in Notting Hill and the bench came with it. The idea has not changed. We design what we can build and build what we have drawn, so that nothing is promised on paper that cannot be made well in the world.
We are deliberately small. A handful of houses a year is the most we can give our whole attention, and attention is the only thing that makes the difference you can feel.
Four steps, and no shortcuts between them.
- 01
We listen
Every project begins with a long conversation and no drawings. We want to understand how you live, what you keep, and what you would never change.
- 02
We draw
Design is architect-led and tested in the round. Physical models, material samples and full-size mock-ups settle a detail before it is ever committed to site.
- 03
We build
We run our own site teams. The detail on the drawing is the detail that gets built, because the people drawing it and the people making it share a table.
- 04
We stay
One point of contact from the first sketch to the last snag, and for years after. A house is never quite finished, and we are easy to reach.
Discretion
We do not name clients or publish addresses. Most of our work arrives by introduction.
Permanence
We build to outlast us. Solid materials, proper structure, and details that age well.
Restraint
One clear idea per house, made carefully, beats ten competing for attention.
Tell us about the house.
Introductions are welcome, but not required. We read every enquiry ourselves and reply personally. A sentence or two about what you have in mind is plenty to begin.
Email the studioNotting Hill, London W11 2AF
London and the Home Counties