Our early-stage design work is structured to de-risk your project, improve decision-making, and give you complete confidence before you commit to full design or construction.
Starting with a feasibility study, we test the brief, the site, and the budget against each other before any serious design work begins — so you know a project is genuinely viable before you invest further.
What’s included:
Site inspection & surveys
Feasibility studies
Early design concepts
Budget estimation and value engineering
Identification of planning and infrastructure risks
As your understanding of the project improves, so does the accuracy of design and budget expectations. This phased approach allows you to commit only when the time is right.
New build projects require strategic thinking, animal welfare expertise, and rigorous design delivery.
AWS excels at bringing together master planning, RIBA-aligned design, and construction documentation to create fully integrated facilities. We understand how to future-proof layouts for evolving operational needs, design against regulatory frameworks, and coordinate specialist inputs like MVHR, acoustic treatment, and infection control. Our staged design process ensures clarity and cost certainty from the earliest stage, with a clear fee agreed before each phase begins.
Scope of Works
Refurbishing animal care facilities demands careful planning around ongoing occupancy, outdated infrastructure, and legacy layouts that no longer meet modern standards.
AWS specialises in phased refurbishment design that minimises disruption while significantly upgrading compliance, usability, and welfare conditions. Our experience addressing drainage challenges, material compatibility, MVHR (Ventilation) retrofits, and acoustic improvements makes us a trusted design partner for upgrading ageing assets.
Conversions often involve complex existing conditions — poor drainage, inadequate structural loading, unknown foundations, or unsuitable environmental controls.
AWS brings deep technical knowledge to tackle these issues through early site investigation, value engineering, and design adaptation. We understand what it takes to turn a generic space into a purpose-fit kennel or cattery block that meets welfare regulations and user needs.