Fourteen people, one mill floor.
Northline Studio was founded in 2011. We work across civic, cultural, residential and adaptive reuse, mostly in the north of England and Scotland.
We are deliberately a single-studio practice. Everyone works in one room, on one floor, and every project is reviewed by everyone at least twice — once at concept and once before it goes out to tender.
That is not a cultural preference so much as a quality control mechanism. Most of the errors we have caught over fourteen years were caught by someone who was not working on the project overhearing something that sounded wrong.
Three commitments
We survey before we draw. On any building that already exists, we ask for an opening-up budget at appointment, as a separate line, and we will decline projects where that is refused.
We test what we claim. Every completed project is measured against what we said it would do — airtightness, acoustic separation, occupancy, energy. Some of those numbers are on this website and not all of them are flattering.
We design for the second occupant. The person who briefs a building is rarely the person who lives with it longest.
Who you will actually work with
- 01
Elin Marchetti
Founding Director
Founded the practice in 2011 after eleven years in large-practice civic work. Leads the public and cultural projects and most of the difficult client conversations.
- 02
Joss Adeyemi
Director, Technical
Runs delivery and the technical standards the practice holds itself to. Responsible for the acoustic and environmental testing regime on every completed project.
- 03
Rhiannon Blake
Associate, Housing
Leads the residential and housing work, including the community land trust projects. Joined in 2016 from a background in rural and island construction.
- 04
Tomas Berger
Associate, Conservation
Leads the reuse and listed-building work. Accredited in building conservation and the person who insists, correctly, that the survey comes first.
- 05
Priya Ganesan
Practice Manager
Runs the office, the appointments and the schedule. Keeps a spreadsheet that has been right about programme more often than anyone else in the building.
What we do
- 01
Architecture
Full RIBA Stages 0–7, including planning and listed building consent. We work in two-stage design and build as often as traditional contract and are comfortable with both.
- 02
Interiors
Workplace and public interiors, usually where the acoustic or environmental requirement is the hard part rather than the finishes schedule.
- 03
Conservation
Reuse and listed building work led by an accredited conservation architect. Structural surveys are commissioned before design begins, not after.
- 04
Feasibility
Short, paid feasibility studies for clients deciding whether to build at all. About a third of these conclude that they should not, which we consider a success.
- 05
Post-occupancy
Measured review at twelve and twenty-four months on every completed project, included in our fee rather than offered as an extra.
- 06
Community consultation
Run directly by the design team rather than subcontracted. The people who draw the scheme are the people in the room when it is questioned.
Questions we are usually asked
01How far do you travel?
Routinely across the north of England and Scotland, including the islands. We have completed work on Skye and in Orkney. Beyond that we would want a good reason, because site presence matters more than most clients expect and we will not commit to a project we cannot visit properly.
02What size of project do you take on?
Construction values from roughly £250,000 to £12 million. Below that the fee structure stops working for either party; above it we would be honest that a larger practice is better resourced for the delivery phase.
03Do you work on new build?
Yes, though it is now a minority of our work. Where a site already has a structure on it we will generally test retention first and give you the numbers both ways before recommending anything.
04How do you charge?
Percentage fees on construction value for full services, fixed fees for feasibility and consultation work. We publish our fee scale on request at first meeting rather than after a brief has been developed.
05How long is your lead time?
Usually about two quarters for a project needing full services, and considerably less for feasibility work. We take on a small number of projects each year deliberately.
Come and see the office.
We are on the top floor of a mill we converted, which saves a certain amount of explaining.
Get in touch