Scottish architect on Grand Designs, successes and planning

Job title: Co-founder & architect

What is your business called? Staran Architects Ltd

Where is it based? Edinburgh

What does it produce/do? Full architectural services

To whom does it sell?

Domestic and commercial clients across Scotland and the north of England. We design new, individual homes but also undertake extensions and alterations on existing properties. Our commercial clients are a mix of developers and business owners. We help them add value and develop new assets or create/ improve current facilities to enable them to grow their businesses.

What is its turnover?

£400,000.

How many employees?

Six full-time staff.

What attracted you to your current role?

Since my early teens I’ve known I wanted to be an architect, and was lucky enough to study at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art. I love being involved in the design process but always wanted to have my own business.

What were you doing before?

During my career, I have worked within both large and small companies but prefer smaller practice where you have much more contact with the client and get close to every area of the project - rather than having a smaller part to play in very large projects. I co-founded Staran with my business partner, James Ferguson, in 2012.

What do you least enjoy?

The ability to communicate effectively with local authorities is becoming increasingly difficult and this can hamper project timescales and leave clients feeling frustrated.

What do you consider to be the main successes of the business?

We now have a number of returning clients, and the majority of our work has been through referrals. We build strong relationships with our clients and care deeply about the home or commercial environment we are creating for them. Project-wise, the recent completion of the new Edinburgh Gin Distillery and Visitor Centre, just off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, has been a huge accomplishment for the team. What are your ambitions for the firm?

Since being featured on Grand Designs in 2021, we have grown our private residential offering and are enjoying working on a number of bespoke new-build properties and interesting extensions and renovations. Following the success of the new Edinburgh Gin Distillery, we hope to continue to grow our commercial offering and have also started a new project delivery business which will officially launch this year…watch this space!

What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these?

Governmental shifts and economic uncertainty can slow up decision-making for both commercial and domestic clients. This, combined with delays in local authority processes, have resulted in challenging trading conditions for many in the sector throughout 2024.

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What single thing would most help?

Paid-for pre-applications are helping with early engagement, but a more streamlined and collaborative planning approach is required. Timescales can become stretched, and this can have a significant impact on project viability and a client’s appetite to continue with a project. Having better opportunity to engage and communicate with planning and building standards departments would make a difference and could significantly improve timescales and success rates of applications.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?

Always seek to gather information and the opinion of others, but ultimately trust your gut feel - it’s almost always right!

What was your best moment?

It’s hard to pick a single moment but seeing clients enjoying their new home or place of work is always hugely rewarding. A personal highlight was designing our own family home and seeing my children enjoying growing up in it over the past four years. Having Kevin McCloud saying nice things about it was pretty great too!

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What has been your most challenging moment in life or business?

Covid was tough. Like so many, we had to juggle the pressures of homeschooling, working from home, being away from family and friends and trying to process what was going on in the world. Added to that, we were building our own home and self-managing that. It all felt pretty full-on at times.

How do you relax?

I live in the countryside and enjoy getting outside and going for a walk or run with my black lab, Monty.

What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most?

Calm is Power. I think we all make better decisions when we are calm.

What is the best book (fiction or non-fiction) you have ever read? Why is it the best?

The best business book for me has been ‘Profit First’. It has made a huge difference to the way we work our business finances. You don’t get taught much about business in architecture school and this book provided some key lessons in money management.

Where do you find yourself most at ease?

At home with my family or in the company of good friends.

If you weren’t in your current role, what job would you most fancy?

I really enjoy working with people, so possibly something within the hospitality industry where you have the opportunity every day to make someone’s day that little bit better.

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

I enjoy visiting Greece with the family for the sun, sea and gyros! I also love spending time with friends in Copenhagen - there’s so much design inspiration in the city and in Denmark as a whole. I also have deep family connections to the Outer Hebrides, North Uist in particular, and would happily walk along the beaches there in the sunshine, or wind and rain!