Autumn 2025 Newsletter
— 29 October 2025
Autumn is a time for new beginnings, learning from the past, and planning for the future. The rain has made a welcome return after a long and mainly hot summer. We enjoy Autumn as there is a renewed focus on new and existing projects as staff and clients return for work. Construction rarely stops and so we have remained busy as we look forward to new projects and collaborations as we continue to elevate our depth of design and service.
We have welcomed some interesting project enquiries in both the countryside and London, a lovely mix that we do enjoy based on the unique context, opportunities, and challenges. If you have a project in mind then please do contact us to discuss how we can provide architectural design services that meet your specific requirements.
On the drawing board
Planning
We have numerous planning applications in with a variety of district & city councils and have found a number of proposals have really struggled for a variety of reasons, but ecology and LPA resourcing have especially impacted the length of time taken to get applications determined. Although we could write an essay on this point alone, be assured we provide a service that continuously pushes the statutory bodies to make positive decisions in a timely manner. With this in mind we eagerly await a planning approval for a two storey extension to a family house in Oxford.
Remodel and extending a Cotswold Home
We have recently gained planning permission for a whole house remodel with significant extensions to a lovely family house on a beautiful Cotswold village site. The designs looked to reconfigure the home to provide improved front door arrival, modern open plan living and a primary bedroom suite with a dressing room on the first floor. The overriding concept was to connect the house and family living spaces to the lovely gardens (see image above), whilst taking the opportunity to rationalise the elevations window openings to create a cohesive designed whole.
On-Site
Providing services like Contract Administration, Lead Designers and Project Management, enables us to be involved with a project from inception to completion. We of course enjoy this for a variety of reasons, but foremost is that it enables us to share the project journey with our clients and ensures that the investment in design is realised on site.
Progress on site
Our full refurbishment and extension to a Grade II listed building continues at pace. As the photos show, the house is prepared for the changing seasons, protecting the intricate works beneath. New rooms are taking shape, following careful attention to brick detailing. Skilfully crafted by the contractor’s team. Currently our focus has been on ensuring the proposed glass package meets design intent, as the project moves towards becoming watertight.
Elsewhere we have been attending site at several existing and new dental practices, as they take shape to provide leading accommodation from which to provide in demand health services. We enjoy applying good design to boutique health buildings as we feel good design is a benefit, rewarding all on a daily basis, for both the staff and the patients.
Project Showcase
Solid is a firm of structural engineers who allow architects to push the boundaries and facilitate great imaginative designs. Solid asked us to create a new head office for their company in what was an old storehouse.
The old building had been neglected over the years and its plain brick and concrete exterior created a very solid mass. This was at odds with its position in the Chipping Norton Conservation Area, which had become more prominent since the redevelopment of the neighbouring supermarket.
Our design for Solid’s new head office dramatically changed the character of the old building. The goal was to catch the public’s attention and create a modern, sophisticated building with a cohesive design language.
Thoughts
William Green Architects enjoys designing kitchens and understanding what that means to a project and how it influences how our clients live in their houses. Kitchens are where we all head when we arrive home. There is a sequence of arrival, with the initial destination for family members being the kitchen. It acts as the hub and gatekeeper to the family’s presence. As Architects, we enjoy the power of open plans within the home. The space afforded enables more dramatic design events, for example a feature screening wall, a volume space, long internal views, external connections, material pallet arrangement and patterns. All helping to enrich and inform the experience of being in the kitchen.