Building Abroad

Nestled amongst the Andes in South West Bolivia, this small town appeals to a worldwide audience. Its salt lake and lithium deposits bring people from North America, Europe and Asia. As such this was an exciting opportunity for us.

The small town is undergoing rapid development including gentrification of the centre. Our client purchased a corner plot in an ideal location close to the central promenade. Her ambition was to create a hotel with a restaurant and shops.

After an initial meeting with her we were clear on what she wanted. However, firstly we had to be mindful of the local situation. Architectural laws and building requirements; building materials and construction methods; extremes of temperature, local flooding and so on. Could we feasible achieve her dream within budget?

We worked with a local builder, contractors and the local government to ensure we complied with the regulations and could source the necessary materials. Once we understood what was possible we had the important task of designing the building. It would require a fundamentally different approach from us.

The client wanted something simple but elegant which would be functional and stand out from the competition. Rather than simply designing a generic glassed building we used architectural elements we knew would work well combined with local features and colours to create a building with a South American feel. With the passion our team has for the built environment and a lot of hard work we drafted a number of schemes to show to the client. She settled on one for which the builder said was achievable and could be made to budget.

The project is currently in the development phase and set for competition in the following year. It showed us that we were flexible enough to deal with different requirements that initially put us out of our comfort zone. But the hard work and dedication shown by the team meant that we were able to deliver a high end project to budget over 6000 miles away from our head offices. The sense of achievement and pride felt by the team was enormous.

We deal with developments of various sizes and types across the UK (normally). Why not come to us about your project? Contact us today so we can help with your vision.

Building Abroad in the Andes

getting planning permission abroad Brodie Planning

Personal note to Kevin McCloud: A great project for Grand Designs don’t you think?