“Marienne’s professional and friendly approach helped to make our extension go smoothly. From liaising with the council regarding planning and building control, to party wall agreements, structural engineers, piling companies and builders, Marienne helped keep everything together which led to the project running to time. I would highly recommend her, and will miss our meetings.”
“Marienne was commissioned to redesign a 1930’s house for my family in 2013. We were a bit woolly about what we wanted but there was never a time that she made us feel a nuisance. We built a loft conversion with en-suite, an extension on the ground and first floor and a conservatory. Marienne is highly professional and takes you through the process with a calm pragmatism to ensure the planning office, building control, client and contractor are well informed and working on the same page. It was major decision for us to develop our home but for meeting Marienne we might still be at first base.”
“Marienne was extremely helpful and full of ideas when it came to planning our extension. Throughout the project she was always on hand for alterations and any problems that arose were dealt with swiftly and methodically. She was always prepared to go that extra mile to make the process as seamless as possible. I would not hesitate to recommend Marienne’s services. She is professional & hard working”
“Marienne worked with us to conceive, plan, design and manage our rear extension, ground floor reconfiguration to include new utility and cloakroom, and rear terrace with built in seating. She has an incredible head for detail and pays attention to every aspect of the project, exudes patience and calm, and is tireless in pursuing the optimum result for her clients. No question is too small for Marienne and she was happy to answer all our queries, even advising on interior design and finishes. We loved working with her and are so happy with the end result! It has quite literally transformed the way we live. I would recommend anyone who wants to achieve a stress-free, high end result.”
“We have been delighted with Marienne’s help with our extension project from start to finish. As build novices, she was a great support to us throughout the project, keeping us focused on creating a space that we would be able to use to best suit us, within the constraints of space and budget. Her help in the planning and tender process was brilliant and made a potentially baffling procedure much more straightforward. Marienne really came into her own though in the site supervision phase and help with the finishes package. As a result of her regular contact with our builders, we never felt anything less than really well supported. We knew that the project was progressing all the time, and that Marienne was maintaining a close and professional eye both on the physical progress of the build and the budget. We have been left with a space that feels completely ‘ours’ but that we would not have been to create without her help. Thank you so much Marienne.”
“Marienne showed a clear understanding of our brief from the outset. She was proactive in identifying alternative solutions and finishes and clearly took the time to understand our aspirations for the project. She was also proactive in identifying the key decision points in the project and managing us to ensure that we maintained the timelines for the project.
What we really valued from Marienne was the way she helped us design our extension from the inside out. Whilst we didn’t employ Marienne as an interior designer, she was an invaluable sounding board for our own design ideas.
In the construction phase we really valued Marienne’s organisation and her communication both with us and with the builder.
We would thoroughly recommend Marienne and would not hesitate to use her services again”
“We brought in Marienne to redesign a very outdated basement rental flat in Chelsea, and design and submit planning for an extension. She understood our brief and realised our vision, inputting some innovative ideas to great effect. She researched and led the project through the pre-planning consultancy process ensuring the process was in line with the tight RBKC planning criteria and the requirements of being in a Conservation Area. Marienne took a creative approach to skylights and roof coverings and navigated the tight requirements around the new front entrance and replacement windows.
Our builders started the refurbishment from the date of purchase, and Marienne worked extremely quickly and effectively to obtain planning permission, building regulation approval and permission to alter from the freeholders to enable the refurbishment work to follow on seamlessly to the extension build. Despite working to a very tight time schedule, Marienne worked very calmly, methodically and promptly to avoid any delays in the build schedule. She was in control of the project at all times, liaising with and co-ordinating the various parties (surveyors, engineers, party wall experts, contractors) taking the pressure away from us (we had a 4 day old baby when the project commenced)!
Marienne’s excellent design transformed the space from boxy rooms to spacious, light, open-plan living, creating a desirable home which rented out within 4 days of being put on the market.
We would have no hesitation in using Marienne on other projects and hope to work with her again in the future.”
“We have nothing but positive things to say about Marienne and the service she delivered to us. It became clear to us early on that the abundance of experience Marienne had was going to be a massive boost to us on the project. Based on the way Marienne worked early on we had no hesitation in asking her to manage the project which thankfully she accepted. Marienne approached every aspect of the build meticulously and all of the tasks associated with the project were completed efficiently, professionally and always on time. The confidence this ultimately gave us meant that we did not have to worry about anything slipping and the project delivered on time and to the standard we expected. Attention to detail was key and her ability to communicate the detail to the contractors on site was excellent. We expected a certain amount of anxiety and conflict within the project but we can say with complete confidence that we experienced absolutely none. Therefore, we wouldn’t hesitate on recommending Marienne to anyone who is looking for a proven and reliable Architect.”
“When we met Marienne we immediately knew we had found the right person to design our extension. She showed real understanding of our needs as a family, and what we would need out of our building project. She listened to us and helped us think through some of the key questions about what we wanted to achieve from the build. Our project was a kitchen extension that aimed to achieve two things that will massively improve our family life: one was to have a bigger kitchen area with space for two people to bake at the same time, and the other was to add a downstairs toilet. She completely understood why we wanted to do this. She was totally in tune with what we wanted to do and created a design that works in sympathy with the house. She was highly professional in her approach. She was able to draw on her huge experience in the building process to create realistic project plans. She gave us a real feeling of confidence in her and our plans and she delivered all the stages of design work on time.”
“Marienne translated our objectives for a large ground floor rear extension and garage rebuild into feasible plans for the planners and builders, managed the necessary use of a structural engineer, dealt with the planning permission process and managed the process of seeking and assessing tenders for the work. She also kept in touch with the work right to the end and was called on a few times to help resolve knotty questions that arose, as they tend to do on projects of this and perhaps any size. She did all of this very efficiently and sensitively, always seeking to understand and meet our objectives but gently pointing it out when it looked as if we were choosing options which were contradictory (we had a tendency to think of things piecemeal whereas Marienne had the overall concept always in view). At the same time, she was ready to adapt and produce new plans where we were determined on a particular approach. Communication was very good, with us, our neighbours, the local planning office and the builders; everything was rapidly and successfully dealt with. We were abroad quite a bit in the initial stages of specification and seeking permissions from neighbours and the planning office but this presented no communication problems and we were able to leave negotiations on our behalf (with consultation as necessary) to Marienne. She did the tender specifications and found a good range of tenderers; the process enabled us to select a particularly good company which we had thought might be beyond our resources. In sum, we were very glad we decided to use an independent architect and we can thoroughly recommend Marienne Pachonick for work of the kind she did for us.”