Marlborough Living Jan - Feb 2020

dolman architects
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With a new year come the decisions we make about where we live, and indeed how we live in the
future, and much of this depends on our homes, how we heat them, use the space within them
and what we can do to make full use of the resources and space available to us.
The practice, established in 1973 and based in Devizes, is family founded and run, priding itself
on delivering a reliable, friendly service to all of its clients.
We had a chat to Nick Dolman of Dolman, a firm of Architectural Designers and Building
Surveyors, about this long-established local practice with both a private and corporate client base.
With the emphasis on sustainability, what features are you
considering incorporating in new builds going forward?
First and foremost, orientation, then insulation, thermal mass,
natural light and ventilation. Some more ‘Eco’ than others. Fuel
source is a ‘hot’ topic at the moment with heat pumps being
pushed hard by Government and Manufacturers.
We saw, at the end of last year, the RIBA Awards go to
an incredible housing project which combines brilliant,
sustainable design with a very community centred approach,
how important do you think this is for our towns and villages?
As I’m a Chartered Building Surveyor, albeit involved closely
with Design all my professional life I defer to my three Architect
colleagues who say that architecture is a multi-faceted discipline,
we design buildings to be aesthetically pleasing, but we also have
an ethical duty with every building we design, that it should improve
the wider community even if only by improving the street-scene
and setting and incorporating sustainable elements to minimise
its carbon footprint. The palette of traditional and local materials
is where possible incorporated into the contemporary, giving a
continuity of the design language and connection to the existing.
We live in a rural area and so much of the housing stock is
older – what challenges does that give when incorporating
extra space into an older property?
Notwithstanding Planning and Conservation constraints
and budget, the inter-relationship / linkage of old and new is
fundamental. Achieving an easy and attractive flow is so important,
contemporary twists and the inclusion of natural light are also very
on trend.
And finally, what is your own favourite local building and why?
I must give credit to my father for his encouragement to open my
eyes in the late 1970’s at the start of my further education, to what
has been so local to me, and say Devizes Market Place – it has a
group of buildings and a setting which are my favourite – there are
so many architectural styles and features of note – if we slow down
and look up there’s an absolute delight to behold.
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